Food brings about many debates! Authentic or tweaked to the market? Fusion or Classic? Modern or Classic? Original recipe or Modern Twist? Classic or Contemporary. These debates rage on forever and like most debates, there is never a winner! Canon or Nikon? Nope, no clear winner!

Then one smart alec chef decides to put on the plate! BOTH! I mean, no this or that. This AND that! Every single dish on the (festival) menu has two versions of dish on one plate! While I've been seeing a lot of interesting food promos at The Park recently, today I've been kicking myself for not attending those! Clearly, their Chef Saravanan has few tricks up his sleeve. He is already a mini celebrity with a TV show for himself on Sun TV, and gladly, I got a chance to meet him. It was the first day of the festival and the orders were delayed because they had an overwhelming response!

Obviously! If you are giving two dishes on every plate, this is something indeed! We started off with the simplest of simple salad! The Caesar! The original was simply the original. Some lettuce strewn and some dressing tossed with loads of parmesan cheese! It was classic, but the modern take was fabulous. A poached egg with a parmesan dressing on lettuce and I don't have a picture of that! Crap! Classic 0, Contemporary 1.

Next up was the soup! A lobster bisque! Classic was classic! Fantastic Lobster Bisque with a nice smoky flavour, but the modern take was brilliant too! Served with a little biscotti with meat and foam on top, you tend to think if this is a clever way to take a dig at the purists! Simply present them with the outdated form of food and a modern take right next to each other and with a IN-YOUR-FACE presentation, they are bound to take a view! Draw here. Classic 1, Contemporary 2

Three main courses (two of us and we shared each dish). Salmon was the only one that didn't vary too much between classic and contemporary. I guess you can't do much to a piece of fish flown in from Europe! So no points for either. Classic 1, Contemporary 2.

I definitely wanted to try the Shepherd's pie. Whoa! Classic was classic. Beautiful tenderloin topped with mashed potatoes!Yum till we had the contemporary version! Meat rolled inside thin potatoes! Whoa. It wasn't a deconstructed dish, it was a completely new dish altogether but retaining not just the essence, but the entire flavour of the original. Classic was good, but contemporary was brilliant. Classic 1, Contemporary 3.

Prawn Gravy. Mini dosa with a brilliant prawn gravy was the classic version which was yum as all of the classics were! The modern was a beautiful take. A rice pasta with the prawn gravy on top. Beautiful idea and a great way to bring a South Indian take to a modern presentation with the rice pasta, but the classic was classic! Modern simply did not kick classic's @ss here! Classic 2, Contemporary 3.

Dessert was a beautiful Lemon Merengue Pie! The classic was yum, the contemporary was yum and the flavours were all the same! So draw! Classic 3, Contemporary 4. A few more dishes on the menu and only then we will know which is the clear winner, but the winner is the concept!

Pricing is very nice. The starters were priced at Rs. 275 and the main courses between 425 and 575 and considering you get two dishes (smaller version) in each dish, a nice meal for two will cost under Rs. 2500 for a three course meal. The festival is on till the 26th, but I am more interested in what this chef is going to bring out next! Wouldn't mind going back for another cup of the Lobster bisque! 

If I had to choose one place that I look forward to eating in Bangalore, it will probably be Smoke House Deli. Located on the beautiful Indra Nagar 100 feet road with a black and white with red accents theme, this place has continental food that connects. This time around we were a big bunch and while it gives you the opportunity to taste a lot of dishes, it also means that not everybody will wait till you take photos. Some of them will make sure you don't. Keep them in mind when I get invited for a food festival next time! EVIL GRIN!

Three dishes stood out that night. One for being bad and two for being extremely good. The others were on par with Smoke House Deli's standards. We skipped starters and went straight into ordering a main course each.

The smoked chicken risotto, the first to arrive was the super hit. While it wasn't the perfect al-dente, it had supremely subtle flavours that was enjoyed by one and all! My dish, the chicken roulade penne was the other excellent dish. This one with a slightly, but nicely overpowering garlic with excellent red sauce and a fantastic chicken was a stand out. The other penne, a vegetarian version was supremely bad! The sauce was flavourless and the eater almost begged the rest of the table to help her finish it!!! The peri peri chicken along with the lamb shanks were the next best, but I got to eat only one spoon of them all!

When in Smoke House Deli, you need to leave space for dessert, even if that means skipping appetisers. We shared five desserts and each and every one of them was excellent. The chocolate tart with a tiny hint of peanut butter, creme brûlée, the awesome hazelnut bar, the panna cotta and cheesecake were all licked clean.

Being a big bunch, our bill was Rs. 6600 for 9 main courses and 5 dessert!!! This is like comfort continental food that is rarely off the mark!!! 

There used to be a joke that was doing the rounds in food meet ups. 'I want the largest buffet with lot of non veg options with alcohol, max budget Rs. 500.' A popular stand up comedian in Chennai used this left right and centre. Food forums were flooded with these requests. In the era of the 5 star brunches priced upward of Rs. 2000 nett/, the joke may actually not work anymore. OK, not 500 bucks, but at 1300 bucks, the large Sunday Brunch at Gateway Taj is really LARGE.

It starts right at the lobby. Yep, you enter the hotel and food stares at you. Besides the large dessert section, there is a live counter doling out French Toasts and Crepes and the likes. I couldn't resist and despite recommendations from that chef to try these for dessert, I insisted on having them straight away. The cinnamon kissed French toast was fab! Unlike most places, this is a nice thick, almost French baguette that is dipped and served!! Besides the fact that few places actually serve breakfast in their brunch and serve a glorified lunch, it was nice to see breakfast stuff!!!

The problem with these large brunches is that everything tends to be okayish. You can take a couple of mouthful of everything and by the time you taste everything, you would be full! This wasn't the case here. The food was of quality and taste that is definitely better than most brunches in the city (OK, technically this is out side city, New Chennai, sort of).......

While there is no way to jot down every dish, there were some super favourites. The Broccoli Almond soup was yum. The Madurai dosa, essentially chicken/egg or both paste on the kal dosas were yum. The starters - a little cannelloni was nice. This stuffed zucchini and the grilled sweet potatoes were excellent.

Then the Indianised version of Eggs Benedict and Scottish Eggs, both with fully cooked yolks. Now that I have started enjoying the runny eggs, I thought these weren't great, but the chef said that people complained about eggs 'not being cooked properly,' so they've decided to cook them up. Can't fault that.

A smart South Indian section with rice, a yum biriyani and lots of gravies with six types of papads and four types of raithas. Really thought out well for the local population.

Disappointments? Yes. The cheese counter wasn't great. All hard cheeses and no soft cheese. The Japanese counter was extremely limited with only vegetarian sushi. Really? C'mon. But the honey glazed chicken from the Oriental kitchen (the other restaurant that is part of the Sunday brunch) was fabulous. Breads were also disappointing with not-so-great croissants and others. But with so many good things at a killer price point, one can't really complain.

Desserts are the weak links in most places and here they've made sure it doesn't happen as they have the live pancakes, crepes and toasts, so that is a safe haven. Besides, there were at least three biscuit type ones that were lovely.

You can take a dip in the pool if you want to. For free. Spa at 20% off. Considering the drive, this is like a long weekend drive up, soak up, massage up, eat up and get driven back. There is a little table for kids with an elaborate spread of finger foods, breads, mini pizzas, mini burgers for the kids.  I wasn't planning to take up the invite, but with a friend going and me not having to drive, I'm glad I went. Missed taking my swim shorts though and planning to take the family back soon.

P.S There is a live bar counter with a bar-tender who doles out cocktails and mocktails, the alcohol version is Rs. 1600 plus taxes. 

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I wasn't too excited about mBessy. 'What is new about another resto-bar in a small hotel?,' I thought. Its the fashion these days! Tie up with a hotel that has the required 21 rooms and start off a watering hole! Hmm! Friends insisted on going when they launched and me, though dead tired that day, tagged along! The entry was typical. And the familiarity ended there!

This was a real fine dine setting hiding behind that typical-bar-door. We were whisked away to the first floor though and apparently that's where the action is. The setting is beautiful and eclectic. Completely different from the classy looking ground floor, this was a beautiful resto-bar! While I was still recovering from the beautiful setting that I least expected, we were seated in a nice eight seater with a low table. We can go down for the main courses after we are done with drinks and starters, said Mugesh, their manager. I have known him from his days at Casa Picola and he was as surprised to see me there as I was to see him there! 

Starters and drinks were excellent. I can keep going on and on about the starters as they were simply excellent. The crumb fried prawns, a bunch of nice big prawns, dipped in a flavourful crumbs and fried till crisp, was the pick of the lot, though the others were almost as good! Prawns took the cake as they I love them in general and was happy to not have to leave the shell on the tail behind. It was all done and you had to keep eating them! The Broccoli with cheese was quite excellent with the soft broccoli being coated nicely with cheese and the bruschetta that came along with it was fantastic. The other starter, the spicy chicken skewers were quite nice and didn't stand a chance compared to the other two, but that's okay. The mezze platter was pretty nice with fluffy pita bread to go with the dips. The drinks were excellent from a teetotaller's POV. Some had theatrics like smoke coming out to flavour a drink, but the mocktails weren't too bad. My drink had smoked pop corn on top and in general things were great this far!

And then they sort of went downhill. Being a bunch of six of us, we tried quite a few dishes and really none of them stood apart. By this time we moved down to the fine-dine type place with its rich looking decor and cutlery. Sadly, the food did not live up or maybe the starters were so good that the palate didn't like the mains. Whatever the reason, the pizzas were blah. The Australian lamb felt like it was being handled without care and was rather dry and leathery. The risotto was very very blah. Stuffed chicken breast was rather inedible. Dessert was slightly redeeming. While certainly not excellent by any means, it sort of cooled off the rather bad main course. 

 But going by the quality of the starters, I guess, this place since being rather new has a lot of scope to catch up and get on track with the mains. While the choice of menu is good, it needs some work to get it to match the ambiance and the starters! 

I'll be going back in a month or so to see how things have changed. Do the mains get to appetiser quality or vice versa? Only time will tell.

mBessy is in the ground floor of the newly revampING, Estelle hotel in Adyar, near the Aavin, the first building on the Bessy road. 

When you drunk, would you like to feel like a kid again? I'm not sure, but then how would I know? Then there are those who don't get drunk and want to feel like kids again. Not just anywhere, but especially when they eat out. Like kids running around in a restaurant. I mean....yeah. Having stuff to play with. So imagine a place where you have some adult toys....ok, that did not sound right. Imagine a place where you have some toys. In adult sizes. Much better description.

Hoppipola is one such place. As soon as you enter, the giant JENGA catches your eye. If you are not sure what that is, sorry. There are other toys for you to play with. Like a mini golf that is extremely difficult even when you're sober. Actually, the place looks like a little play area and definitely not like a bar or a resto-bar or anything that has bouncers outside. Its almost like proving you're an adult to the guys outside and then becoming kids again! No stags allowed, so just like when we were kids, you need to have company. Not just any company, well you get the picture!

The only problem for me? The food wasn't great. My 'drinker' friend says that their drinks are pretty good, though, so I guess, drinks and games (not the pool but board and JENGA games) are their focus. The golden fried prawns were poorly peeled and we had a tough time negotiating it in the mouth. The crumb fried chicken breast was way overcooked. The little pieces of lamb on a small roti were alright. The pizza was blah. The banofee pie was a little too sweet and the chocolate dessert was the only one that was really nice and thats the only one name I forgot. The food wasn't bad, just the ambiance and the service and the games and everything set the expectations higher.

But surprisingly, we didn't come out too unhappy. Despite only one being drunk (okay partially drunk. OK, just two drinks drunk), and the other three being sober, we tried our hand at JENGA till it came falling all over us. This is a HUGE JENGA and the photo doesn't tell the real story! We tried some golf and the drinker tried a tee off shot!!!! No damage done though. The service is friendly and even when the huge JENGA came down or when the golf ball went all over, no one batted an eyelid. Maybe they are used to it. Prices are reasonable and a meal for two without drinks will come to about Rs. 1500. This place is a fun pub and when I went they had just set up, so I hope their food gets better.

Hoppipola is the new pub in the basement of the Spring Hotel, on Valluvar Kottam High Road.

Discovering a new short cut (after 4 years of it being there) has its own advantages. Anna Nagar 3rd Main Road is much closer!!! And that opens up a new range of restaurants for me when I am lazy to drive to the city!!! Suddenly that night we thought we had a battalion of options!!! After wasting the driving time we saved on deciding where to eat, we just decided it was Coco Jaunt!!!!

Small, neat and with a bakery attached, Coco Jaunt is a simple eatery with a nice menu!!! With my camera not in hand, I so wish I could go back to get a few shots at the food!! The best of which was the Bunny Chow! A South African favourite, its a nice big bowl of bread with gravy, Butter Chicken Masala in our case!!! The gravy tasted nothing like a butter chicken masala, but it tasted great with the bread, so we really did not care about the name!!!

We started off with fries! Why? Because reading it off the menu, I thought it was going to be a nice cheesy liquid on top of the fries. Not! It was just fries. And apparently the cheesy stuff is just the dip. Nothing to write home about. Then the super nice bunny chow. Done. Dusted. We had a pita stuffed with some stuff that was alright.

And then a fantastic dessert. A super moist chocolate cake with ginger syrup. I think it had a little cinnamon and something else to it, but it was fantastic.

We then took home some sour dough bread and cookies hoping it will be as good as the bunny chow and the chocolate cake, but it was as average as the pita and the fries!

Short dinner. Short write up!!!!

I hear they've opened up another branch on Chamiers Road, but I went to the one in Anna Nagar.

Slowly, but surely, eating out is becoming expensive. And cheap! Uh? Contradicting, right? What seems to be happening is that the per person eating out at common places are slowly going high. And for something similar, the 5 star prices are coming down. Now, a first look at the menu and this may not seem right. Prices look ridiculous for a casual eating out or meeting with friends, but over the past two years with a lot of business meetings in the coffee shop of hotels, the overall bill is a little startling.

And that is why when our friends came down from the US and a bunch of 10 of us had to meet, we met once in a comfort coffee shop and eat well. We paid about Rs. 6500, which is about 650 per head. And for the second time, we met at EST, Hilton. This time we paid about Rs. 6900! Thats why opening statement that is contradicting itself!

So we had lots of cake. The ones on the counter are priced lower than most coffee shops! We loved the mango cake and the pistachio cream cake among the four or five different ones we had. And then, surprisingly their orange juice was excellent. I mean, how much can you do to an orange,but whatever they did, it was nice. The price (and the reason the bill was high) was about Rs. 300, so normally it might be avoided.

And then croissants. And french fries. And pop corn, a very nicely flavoured cheese and jalepeno pop corn!!! Two of it, in fact. And sandwiches. More sandwiches. More fries. More pop corn, this time another flavour, I forgot what that was! Tasty though. My US friend finally caved in and said he wanted the Biriyani. We warned him. He couldn't care less. He ordered. We all had one spoon. He was left with three. He wasn't complaining. Biriyani wasn't fabulous, but was flavourful and the lamb was soft. When you're a bunch of ten, it is very difficult to remember all that was ordered!!!!

Everyone was happy with the bill. And the ambiance. With a nice comfy sofa all ten of us had comfy seating with a large coffee table in between. There are tables of 2,4,6 too for smaller groups, but only one that can accommodate 10. So, fancy hotels are attractive now, at least their coffee shops when they have a counter. But food from the menu is priced 5 star!!! The temporarily-US-return-friend was happy with the bill that he foot it himself and no one went dutch.

Happy Eating. 

Bistro. Patisserie. I love those two words under the name of any restaurant! Jonah's has been around for a few months and the only reason it took me so long to get there was the distance! Besant Nagar! Finally found a fellow foodie to drive! He he! Yay! The setting is very very nice. A combination of high chairs, private dining space and regular seating, the display of the patisserie is very inviting. My eyes fell on the escargot  and I told the waiter that I would like to have it for dessert! Yep, ordered dessert well before we got seated!

The menu was a typical continental menu but with a few new names. Bashed Potato! The description said something like 'Creamy mashed potatoes in a crispy baked potato skin.'  Our mouths started to water. We also placed order for another unique dish, some chicken wrapped in turkey bacon! We ordered a burger, (yeah, I know), a grilled chicken with a side and waited!

The first starter was a disappointment. Well, not taste wise, but description wise. What would you think when you read, 'Creamy mashed potatoes in a crispy baked potato skin.' Yeah, I thought of that too. But what we got was a bunch of roasted baby potatoes, smashed with string of creamy mayo. We called the waiter to ask if they mixed the order, but the PR manager came and said that they were going to change the description on the menu. I wish the waiter told us this WHILE we placed the order. We asked him to change the rice in the main course to mashed potato because our minds suddenly wanted a mashed potatoes.

The chicken wrapped in turkey ham was an awesome dish! The chicken was juicy and the slightly smoky flavour in the ham went well and I wished I could have had a few more. We were raving and raving, when our friend, sitting at home told us that the burger is dry there and not to order that. When we saw up, the burger had just arrived. It was dry. End of story! The other main course had a very good chicken, but the mashed potatoes were very grainy, tasted stale and felt like the store bought potato flour. The PR manager denied it and assured us that it was mashed in house, but there was something totally wrong with the mashed potatoes. We were told that they have issues with the types of potatoes they got, but we would have been happy if they said, 'yes, this serving on your plate is bad, can I replace it with fries or something else,' instead of giving us a lecture on what all affects the quality of the mashed potatoes!

The escargot that I ordered at the start arrived and it was fantastic. The cookie was nice and crisp while the chocolate on top was just right without being too sweet. We also had Belgian Waffle, which were not shaped or taste like Belgian waffles, but tasted very very good! Very airy and light and super soft! Went well with the caramel and maple syrup! Great way to end a meal!

Jonah's is in Besant Nagar and I believe is coming soon to Phoenix Mall!