The Wine delight

Friday afternoon, a working day but you have taken a day off from your chaotic office timetable to celebrate your birthday in peace. On one hand you have enchanting garden-fresh barbecued skewered vegetables and on other a glass filled with Heritage Cabernet Red Wine; perhaps a finest selection of an Indian Origin wine.

 

I am talking about the Heritage Winery located on Mysore Road. On Mysore – Bangalore highway you will encounter an uninterrupted display of red boards guaranteeing throughout the journey that you do not miss the turn to this estate

Just near Kadambam Hotel you will find a series of red boards indicating you to take left but don’t take a blind left as you might end up in a pit (Trust me there was one when this blog was written). Go a little ahead and then take your turn. It’s still 4 km inside; road is are great only till halfway; later half; not so much; still better than current Bangalore roads. Once you pass through flower farms; you will reach the entrance to Heritage Winery. They have done one hell of a job in showing the directions.

 

Once you are in, you will be asked if you would like to have a winery tour which includes an attention-grabbing video on wines, a wine factory excursion and 4-5 samples of wine for tasting. All this comes at a fee of 150/per person. Personally I did not find it worth for the money because the tour was ordinary; the point is that a factory visit cannot be an exceptional one unless it’s Charlie and his chocolate factory. 150 bucks in my opinion is for 4-5 samples you get to taste at the end of the tour. But this place is not only about wine tour; even if you do not go for the tour; you can still enjoy the Epulo Restaurant that serve fresh food with noble home brewed wine.

Above Menu Courtesy, Zomoto.com

The place is located 4 km inside the main highway surrounded with farmsteads and that gives the place a resort kind mood over other places. Here you can talk for hours, enjoy food and drink wine in tranquil countryside.

They claim that they do not keep things prepared but cook from scratch, hence anticipate a delay of up to 30 minutes which is worth. Since it’s surrounded by farms; you get a fresh flavour in the cooking.

 

Overall experience was not bad at all, with wine tour for 2, a three course meal and 3 bottle wine for home concluded with just 1300 bucks, which is quite economical considering prices at restaurants in Bangalore. But having said that, this is not a resort; we were told that they are forecasting a resort here and sadly; after that this place also will become swarming

My Report Card for The Heritage Winery based on my only visit,

Price – 8/10

Taste – 9/10

Service – 7/10

Ambience – 8/10

Value for money – 8/10

Will I go back – Of course

Thank God its Friday, Again

TGIF 2nd branch has opened up in newly built Meenakshi mall,

Its located on Bannerghetta road

The place is luxurious and has an amazing vibe to it which gives you a natural feeling of leisure.

It’s a kind of place where friends can sit and chat for hours or enjoy the game of cricket for hours but only drawback is that its way overpriced

Food is mouth-watering

And for drinks also they have loads of selection,

My report card for Mandi, Bangalore is,

Price – 4/10

Taste – 8/10

Service – 7/10

Ambience – 9/10

Value for money – 6.5/10

Will I go back – Not on my money

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

The Couch

Yesterday night we were invited to this place which is recognized as 'The Couch'. It’s a Lounge bar at the MG Road.

Address: - 114/1 Sai Complex (above corporation bank)
Bangalore, Karnataka 560 001
Phone: - 080 41512898
Opening Hours: - 12:30 pm to 11:30 pm everyday

It is situated on 1st floor and extends till third floor. We went on Tuesday so there was no hitch in getting the place. Me and my wife arrived first and asked for reservation for 9 of us. The manager said that it does not require reservation on weekdays so there will not be any trouble. I and my wife had to kill half an hour till the moment everybody turns up, we went for window shopping. When we came back the 1st floor was chock-full and there was no place for us but in view of the fact that manager promised us, he shifted us to the 2nd floor which is closed all through weekdays.

We were given a quiet a large spot which was comfy for all of us. They have seating capacity for groups of 2-10 with extremely comfortable couches. Music was loud but not deafening. The interior was great and the place is neat and clean.

Let’s come to the food. We asked for some starters, drinks and main course. Let me tell you that this place is quiet expensive and sophisticated but even after charging a whooping 250 rupees for a main course, the quantity was an adequate amount for two. We ordered,

Hors d'oeuvres
2 French fries,
1 Seekh kabab,
1 noodle roll,
1 baby corn fry

Beverages
8 Bacardi (If I remember correctly)
5 Large Beers
1 Virgin Kiss (Mock tail)
1 Ice Tea
2 Mirinda
1 Sprite

Main course
1 Dal Makhni (Accompanied with 1 Bowl Rice/2 Naan)
1 Thai Curry (Accompanied with 1 Bowl Rice/2 Naan)
1 Mushroom Masala (Accompanied with 1 Bowl Rice/2 Naan)
1 Paneer butter masala (Accompanied with 1 Bowl Rice/2 Naan)
1 Ginger Noodles

It was adequate for all of us counting Parmesh :-) and the check was roughly 5K after tax.

Unlike other exclusive restaurants where you pay more and eat less, I found this place much much better. I thought it was worth till the last penny. The ambience was splendid. The food was yummy. The service was excellent. The food was served within 15 minutes we placed the order. But this may be deceptive because we were here on a weekday, things might get poles apart on weekends. But it was a very nice and cozy place and unquestionably a great place to hang out with a large group or for a Romantic outing.