Manchester United Cafe, Bangalore

 

A cricket or football fan constantly desires to have just about every match to be played on weekend. If there are loads of buddies sharing the identical interest then it cannot get any better. But typically either you don’t have place to accommodate all your friends or home is just not the correct place to enjoy to the match.

What if you get to watch your desired matches on a massive display with your friends and with uninterrupted supply of beer ? The answer is the fresh and dazzling “Manchester United Pub”.

 

Manchester united pub opened recently in Kormangala,

 

View Larger Map 

Address

Manchester United Café
No. 1 Kira Layout, Hosur Main Road
Opp. Prestige Acropolis
Bangalore 560029

The pub is located opposite to the Prestige Acropolis apartments on the KFC side of the Forum mall. This is Bangalore’s outlet of the famous trademark “Manchester united Bar & Restaurant”, therefore excellence comes by default. The place is nice with a sparkling atmosphere but I will not say that its cozy because this pub tries to present itself more as a restaurant then a pub. It does not have sufficient settees and sofas where you can sit for hours if you are watching a match.

They have placed a gigantic screen which can be seen both from ground floor and 1^st floor. Apart from that they have screens placed everywhere it’s required. It has around 7 sections,

Ground Floor

1. Outside the main the bar, there is seating spot which is right opposite to the huge screen

2. There are number of ordinary dining tables

3. There are 3 couches presented for a group of 4 each

4. You can hangout by the bar

First Floor

5. 1^st Floor has an alike dining area with slight superior dining tables and chairs than ground floor

6. It also has 2 sofas for a group of around 6-8 members

7. They also have 4 separate royal chairs together with a dedicated screens for them

I outlined this is because I decided to go to this place 3 days in advance and for the same reason I booked the seats for 4 in advance but since I knew nothing about the place I just assumed that it will have regular pub atmosphere but when we arrived we were given dining area seats which does not set any pub feel. So next time you choose to visit here, make sure you advance book proper seats.

Pricing here is little loud but not awfully pricey. They do not provide any tap Beer; they serve only bottled beer and liquor with roughly all distinguished brands. A small kingfisher premium bottle is 150/- and Corona is around 250/- but I was interested in tap beer so I was little dissatisfied but the server swiftly offered me a separate menu card which had American and Belgian bottled beers, each priced at 325/-, I tried out one of them and it was just exceptional, the flavour, the after taste and the smell, everything was incredible about that beer. It purely outshined every Indian beer, therefore I went on with another one and yet again it was simply marvelous. The non-alcoholic drinks are very limited, 3-4, and each of them is approximately 200/- but according to my friends these drinks were absolute value for money because of the flavor and the size.

For food we ordered a vegan platter (425/- this was the top priced dish) which had assorted fried stuff like Onion rings, spring rolls and cheesy tops etc which sufficed for 3 of us, of course accompanied with drinks. Later we ordered a Penne Pasta which was wonderful for 195/-. [Update] But on my 2nd visit I realized that they charge 22.5% tax, which is waayyyyy to high.

 

I would unquestionably suggest you to go here even if there is a cricket/soccer game or not that day.

My score card for Manchester united Pub, Bangalore

Price – 5/10

Taste – 9/10

Service – 8/10

Ambience – 8/10

Value for money – 8/10

Will I go back – Hell ya

Real Punjabi Dhaba

 

I guess only few of us have ever seen and eaten at an authentic Dhaba and we know what it feels like. Gravy served with loads of butter melting on its top, Parathas with a pool of butter in the middle and butter drenched chapatis . You may get this either in your own house made by charming mother but more often in a Dhaba. People these days do not prefer Dhaba because Dhaba’s are considered shabby, dirty and un-hygienic, let me tell you, looks can be deceiving .

We usually do not get the Punjabi tang here in Bangalore easily and as I stated before that we usually hunt for different and extraordinary places. And yet again we ended up to a place which is very worn out in appearance but nevertheless very very well-known among people of Bangalore. We went to “Bobby da Dhaba”, well in fact “Bobby Dhaba”,

And that’s the set of choices you can order from, I told you that it’s a real Dhaba, so don’t go by manifestation, it’s supposed to look like this

Bobby Dhaba is positioned beside the Ulsoor Gurudwara,

View Larger Map

We heard about the place from a lot of individuals, people who have appeared here many times and people who come here every single day. The concept is straight forward. The Dhaba opens approximately at 12:30 till 11 pm I guess, so you wanna be here at just about 11:45 at least because then you can write your order down and hand it over to the person in charge and you will get a number. That number decides when you are going to get food. Dhaba has 5 tables meaning 5 groups can sit at a time. Typically waiting time here is approximately 1 hr!!! Believe it,

Can you see that large crowd ? Those folks are waiting for their turn to get in. This was the waiting queue when we got out. I have not seen people more fanatical about north Indian food anywhere. This is a sign towards the fan following of the Dhaba.

We arrived at about 11:45 and ordered not many items but you have to be very patient about the food because it takes ages to get the food here but once provided then there is no looking back.

There are few things you should to be acquainted with about this place in which the primary is coming early which I have already cited. Second, One plate Parathas means 2 Parathas, so you have to be cautious while placing the order because the food here is totally a dieter’s nightmare, take a look,

Can you spot the puddle of butter there …. Yes that one, looks lip-smacking right . The superior thing about this Dhaba was that it was neat and clean and it uses all disposables, Glasses, Curry bowls and plates. The drinking water accessible here is only Bisleri which is very much appreciated. The food smelled and tasted fresh . They served us with a massive glass of chhach (Butter milk) which is called as mattha. Look at the dimension of it and to give the idea I placed the water bottle next to it,

But I had some problems which I usually have . You might find yourself suffocated and sweating a little while eating which is a turn-off. The curd they serve is packet curd. The butter milk in that huge glass is also packet butter milk. The essence of Punjabi Dhaba food is that everything is made from scratch. Everything is made in the morning and consumed by evening which is not the case here. I and my wife are not massive fan of oily, buttery and greasy food but we pardoned that and even after that the food did not taste that great how people represented it . It was featureless and everything roughly felt the same. We ordered Aloo, Gobhi and Onion Parathas which all tasted same, Kadi pakoda had heavy butter coating and it was as thick as any heavy gravy which does not certify it as kadi at all. Rajma was good and the most excellent thing was the kheer. For 8 Parathas, 2 side dishes, 2 butter milk, 2 Kheer, 1 Rice bowl, 1 Packet Curd and 1 Bisleri bottle we had to spit out 400/- which I felt little high-priced, going by the overall experience. I am not making any conclusions for any of you and even if we did not like the food but the crowd waiting to get in tells the complete story.

My report card for “Bobby Dhaba”

Price – 7/10

Taste – 7/10

Service – 7/10

Ambience – 3/10

Value for money – 7/10

Will I go back – Nope

Ada Hind Ki

 

We have a lovely circle of friends and we keep finding reasons to treat each other but at the same time we ensure that wherever we are going is not repeated (Unless it was an exceptional place) and for the same reason we keep having parties at new eating places. This time it was “Ada Hind ki”, the restaurant was launched I think a year before. I first heard about it on one of the FM radio channels where they were gifting out its buffet invitations. From the portrayal heard on Radio, the restaurant sounded mouth-watering and classy. Ada hind ki is located close to Church Street near Empire hotel.

View Larger Map

Sorry I have no images to offer of the restaurant, in fact I deliberately did not take any picture of it. As soon as you will enter in the restaurant you will get a feeling of luxury and sophistication but that was all it puts forward. We were 15 and because it was Sunday it was completely booked. They have an array of,

# 2 Starters – Veg and Non Veg

# 1 Soup – Veg and Non Veg

# 3 Dishes – Veg and Non Veg

# Biryani – Veg and Non Veg

# 3-4 Desserts

They have a seating arrangement for no less than 50 people and they just have single serving bowls for each dish in a very compact area.

The area is so compact that if 5-10 people come simultaneously to get something it can really become annoying which in fact can happen without doubt and did occur to us but that wasn’t the most frustrating part. With every meal a beer was on the house, many of us did not take that and for non-alcoholics the sole selection was Sweet/Salt lime in a shooter glass holding barely 100 ml of beverage!!!

We began eating and then the actual pain started. Even upon constant demand to serve starters (On the contrary that they should supply it before we could even ask for) no one took interest in us and shortly we dropped the expectation of receiving any starters, so we thought ok fine let’s get underway with the main course.

The assortment of chats was excellent and had a quiet good flavour. The curries were not great and were pretty average, below average to be very specific. After some time few more people joined and it became chaos at the buffet counter. And as if that wasn’t enough, few moments’ later bowls were out of stock, Salad was unavailable, Biryani was absconding and a curry was no more!!! Even after waiting for 20 agonizing minutes in the middle of the meal there wasn’t any indication of any reinforcements for the bowls which went empty. My disappointment turned into rage. I asked for the supervisor, the person who was presented to me did not appear more than a head waiter so I asked for his superior who also did not seem as a person who could be of any help but I did complained to him. He at the same second pushed his panic button, he ran here and there and within 2 minutes he came up to me and declared that everything is back and I can take anything I want. I got up from my seat and went to the buffet; I could not believe that those same things were still missing. By then I understood that these hard skinned people are not concerned about anything. The reason for hold-up was Sunday and that’s why there are more people!!! What does that even mean!! If you can’t run a place for 50 people then why the hell have you opened a place for 50 people? I somehow completed my lunch with the help of just 3 side dishes. I asked for Roti and waiter never came back. Can you believe that even if you pay 300/- plus taxes and you could not even get rotis and Rice!!!

Thank god desserts were in ample quantity and were above standards in taste. Being a sweet tooth I managed to load my tummy with that. Terrible Terrible Terrible experience. I do not even wanna take the street where this restaurant is located. I in fact was in a VERY BAD MOOD after I came out of “Ada Hind Ki”. Go to Barbecue nation and there you will know the genuine meaning of “Service”. 

My report card for “Ada Hind Ki”

Price – 5/10

(Over priced for what they offered)

Taste – 6/10

Service – 0/10

Ambience – 7/10

(I think they believed in spending all the money on ambiance)

Value for money – 1/10

Will I go back – Dint you read the blog ??

Ranga Shankara

I expect many of us would have heard the name of Ranga Shankara and lots of of us might not recognize it,

Ranga Shankara is a performance space in Bangalore that proffers itself as a premier place for theatre performances. The auditorium was envisioned by Arundathi Nag, in remembrance of her late husband, Shankar Nag, who was a renowned actor in the Kannada film industry (Text from Wikipedia)

This is a one stop destination for all theatre enthusiasts. Ranga Shankara stages theatre almost in each language. You just need to keep a track of the calendar presented on the main page of their website.

 

View Larger Map

But I am intended to talk about its small cafeteria. I and my wife regularly look out for a tranquil and an uncomplicated restaurant where good quality food is served, place which particularly offer value for money. Other day we were hunting for the similar coffee bar on a rainy late afternoon. We required few good coffee sips with a lovely conversation in straightforward yet welcoming ambience. We went to Barista and then to Coffee day but these places are just for show off. I by no means like anything in both the places except for 1 or 2 things. I never appreciated the fact that, why they have to trade a cup of coffee for 100/- in the region where there is an abundance of coffee and coffee drinkers!! Neither both the outlets present anything excellent to eat nor whatever they offer is value for money.

The same evening my wife got struck by the thought of Ranga Shankara’s self-service restaurant and we considered giving it a try. I must tell you that I certainly not expected the place to be so decent, fresh, inviting, peaceful and different.

We ordered for 2 Coffees, 1 Bhel Puri and 1 portion of Chilli Pakodas. In any place up till now, these 3 things might straightforwardly turn into 150-200 rupees but here, it was sheer 75 rupees !!! I was astonished to perceive that how on one hand a flavourless Coffee from CCD or Barista is sold for more then 100/- and on the other hand a much superior coffee and belly full of snacks can be bought for much less than 100/-. We did not try anything else but they have an ample selection of food and drink, from Pasta to Vada Pav till Akki Roti. The place was extraordinary for us and would recommend you all to try it out.

My report card for Ranga Shankara Cafeteria

Price – 9/10

Taste – 9/10

Service – Self Service

Ambience – 9/10

Value for money – 10/10

Will I go back – Definitely

Kamath Lokaruchi

If you are fond of North Karnataka food which to some extent bears a resemblance to the mixture of north Indian and South Indian cuisine then “Kamat Lokaruchi” is the place for you. It’s away from City’s chaos and hence is just right place for a weekend retreat. It’s a kind of place where you would like to stay for hours. People travel from close by cities just to eat Breakfast, Lunch or dinner here. I have also heard that they serve buffet breakfast which is out of this world, will try it in the next visit. “Kamat Lokaruchi” is situated about 50 km from Bangalore city on Bangalore Mysore Highway.

View Larger Map

You will discover classic north Karnataka cuisine, Jawar Roti accompanied with aubergine curry and limitless butter milk is the prime attraction. Other than regular meal, they also serve mini meals which are good for kids and individuals who are not looking for unlimited food. You can also find fresh fruit juices, hot and cold beverages and freshly made sweets straight from the oven. Price tag is what makes this place extraordinary. Full meal is priced highest with a meagre 110/- rupees which is quiet remarkable.

The place has got an open kitchen at the centre, so you can park yourself and spot your food being cooked right in front of you and then comes to your plate right from the hot pan.

It has a lovely ambience which will make you feel like at home and hence you can hang around for long and as a result trip no longer remains just for the food.

Price – 9/10

Taste – 9/10

Service – 7/10

Ambience – 8/10

Value for money – 10/10

Will I go back – Definitely

It’s just a right weekend escape for 4-5 hours and can be extended up to the “Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary” which is just 75-80 km ahead.

View Larger Map

At Ranganthittu sanctuary, don’t forget to purchase the tickets for the boat ride at the entrance itself because they do not put up the tickets for sale inside.

The boat trip in fact divulges the true magnificence of the sanctuary. The water is filled with over 100 crocodiles which will give you a chilling sense of an Australian outback. Do visit it.

Egg Factory

I love to watch NDTV Good times and I especially like the TV series “Highway on my plate”. It’s a show about 2 guys, one vegetarian “Mayur” and one non-vegetarian “Rocky”. Their job is to visit any place in India and to taste it’s most eminent shops and their dishes. On the same show they went to Bangalore once and for breakfast they ended up at “Egg factory”.

                                 
                                                                                  View Larger Map

I personally believe that if Maggie and eggs were not there then the humankind would not have survived. I worship egg and was craving to visit this place as soon as possible. We made a plan and 6 of us made it to the place at 9 in the morning. The restaurant ambience is excellent, they have tried to make it like a factory with all kinds of equipments like siren, chalk board etc. It has wooden tables with wooden benches which are reasonably comfortable, it has nice windows because of which it’s kind of a polite place where you and your gang of friends can sit down and chat for hours and no one will come to bother you. And we did the same thing, we had breakfast for around 2:30 hrs, until we called no one came to us to take down the order because it was evident from the menu that it typically takes vvvvveeeerrrrrryyyyyyy looonnnnggggg time to make your mind up for what you would like to eat because they put forward a broad variety of Indian/Chinese/Italian dishes made out of Eggs.

We ordered countless dishes, roughly 10-12 items from the list of options but to our dissatisfaction we found only 2 dishes worth the money they demanded, Akoorie (Spicy scrambled eggs) and Roasted chillies frittata (which is basically a spicy spinach spread spread over a normal omelette), Everything else was just ordinary, as my disappointed wife said, “They served us a 10 rupee omelette for 100 rupees”.

Its always good to reach here in the early hours because this place has many followers and gets over packed in no time. If you are a freakish egg lover then you must go here at least once but price and the food for that price will make you apprehend why you should not go back.

As Mayur and Rocky does,

Price – 3/10

Taste – 5/10

Service – 7/10

Ambience – 8/10

Value for money – 3/10

Will I go back – Probably not

The Beach

The Beach is the restaurant which is located in Indiranagar, Bangalore,

View Larger Map

I have heard a lot about The Beach but never got an opportunity to be there until yesterday when 2 of our friends decided to throw a party for 10 of us . They have actually put sand on the floor to provide a fell of a beach. The place is decent, if you get to sit on “Couch” but if you get small stools you may get annoyed after sometime because they are very uncomfortable. At lunch time we were given 2 selections, 499/- limitless Soft drinks/Mocktails/Beer and 699/- unlimited Vodka inclusive of everything in 499/- batch. With all this you will be supplied with infinite Vegan and non vegan starters . There is no Buffet but you can choose what you want and order, it will be served to you on your table.

Now if I go to a place where I am asked to shell out 500/- I look forward to get at least a decent food and an upright service which were absent constantly. We were not given any menu cards but the server made us aware about what all is offered. We were given choices of 4 vegetarian starters and 4 non vegetarian starters. The food quality was under standards in comparison to what was I being charged for. Also, it was very annoying that every time a starter gets over we have to order over again instead we getting served all the time.

When we were done with the starters and demanded for the main course, the attendant offered us a menu card, trust me if I tell you this that the menu card was nothing but ONE A4 sheet!! The menu had the starters which we ordered and also something which we were not told of. It looked like that they wanted to supply all non-expensive food and saved themselves a tiny fortune. Main course also did not have much of a selection, overall it was a below average experience food wise.

Since we were 10 of us we had a blast and we had loads of fun, mind you that we enjoyed because we were a group. I think we had around 15 rounds of beer and 9 Tequila shots (Which were billed separately) in total with limitless starters for which we were billed around 7,000 rupees which was way beyond what it was worth of.

Verdict:-

My opinion, please skip “The Beach”, it’s not at all worth for what it puts forward (For lunch time, I do have any idea if it’s the same in the late afternoon) until you are intense drinker and can make your money count by unlimited liquor. I would rather advise “Barbeque Nation”, just next to “The Beach”, where you will get AMAZING food and even if you drink as much as we did, you will not cross that 7k mark.