Karavalli at the Gateway- One of my favourites in Bangalore

Karavalli came highly recommended- especially by Mr. Fox. Since work got me to the Gateway, I decided to give it a try.  I usually don't like eating at the hotel restaurant I am staying at unless I have to but I was more than pleasantly surprised.

Well first of all the Karavalli is set in a charming Mangalore type house garden with a little pond. Its what Mr. Fox calls an urban oasis. Secondly, the service is outstanding, the staff is well informed and explain the cuisine beautifully. As a matter of fact I requested Mr. Vinod serve us each time I went there because of his knowledge of the cuisine and his wonderful demeanor. Third- in the past few months I made several trips to Bangalore and made sure I had at least one meal there. And let me tell you each time the food was flavourful and surpassed expectation. It is a hard thing to uphold quality, I have noticed in the hospitality business.

So what did I eat? Below is a visual poetry of my meals at Karavalli. Each time I tried to order something different. Let me tell you about my indulgences- fish wrapped in banana leaves, their chicken and lamb curries, banana flower vegetables, pineapple stew, beef fry, lamb legs (to die for), Kerala parotha, appams. Each meal started with a glass of hot rasam and bowl of fried papads. The flavours are a mix of all coastal cuisines- Goan, Mangalorean, Kerala. I love coconut curries and these made my heart sing.

I can easily say that the Karavalli is one of my favourite places to eat in Bangalore.

Enchanting outdoor seating

Lunch with the lovely Maddie

Always a great host- Vinoth

The Urban Oasis

With the Chef and Vinoth

A cold beer - the best accompaniment

Eating traditionally on banana leaves

Fried fish. 

Fish wrapped in banana leaf

Juicy!

Fried fish all gone

Rasam in a lovely cup

Beef fry- spicy and succulent

Pineapple stew and vegetable pepper stew

Payasam (ooh check out my nail polish)

Paan to cleanse your palatte

Just the kind of place that takes you away from all your worries.

Thank you for the brilliant meal.
I leave you with this song that went so well with this meal.

An Unforgettable Meal at The La Plage, Goa

Some meals you never forget. There are many factors to that- 

- the process of getting to the meal

- the company

- the meal itself

I think each of the above factors played into making my dinner with Mr. Fox at the La Plage, Goa the most memorable meal of this year and I can safely say of last year as well. The La Plage came recommended by a couple of friends as a must go. Since it was supposedly only a 30 min walk from our hotel, we decided to walk along the beach and work up an appetite for dinner. Little did we know that the beach walk was not as simple as it seemed. What started out as a romantic, virgin sand, beachy walk soon got interrupted with fresh water lagoons that seemed too deep to wade through. At one point we were almost waist deep in water (not very romantic but still fun).  We worked our way to the road and what seemed like a never ending trek we finally arrived at our destination - The La Plage. It is located by the water next to the Amarya Shamiana on the gorgeous Ashwem Beach of North Goa. We were both exhausted but hungry. 

It also was a dry day in Goa because of the elections. So no wino for us. We went through the menu and ordered the calamari in cream sauce. My friend Anjalika sent me a message recommending the chicken pate. I have my reservations with pate. If done wrong it has a bile inducing effect. I did not want to throw up in front of Mr. Fox. But we ordered it anyways. This pate luckily was the most delicious creamy paste served with a sweet and tangy onion jam. It came with a basket of breads to spread on and play with. We were both delighted. 

For the main course we ordered a tuna steak- rare with wasabi potatoes and a serving a tangy squash and the special of the day- a jumbo prawn carpaccio with a generous drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Both dishes were beautiful. I really enjoyed the sesame encrusted rare tuna steak and Mr. Fox the prawns.

For dessert we ordered the Chocolate Thali another recommendation from Anjalika. This was a surprise and slightly overwhelming. Served in a traditional Gujarati Thali format - each bowl was filled with a chocolate preparation. Chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream, molten chocolate cake, a chocolate ganache pie, strawberries with chocolate, nuts with chocolate, almonds with chocolate, a chocolate drink with whipped cream. This variety was quite astounding. There was also a bowl of vanilla custard to interrupt the chocolatey flavours. We were in chocolate heaven.

Such gastronomically delightful food was also accompanied with super conversation. I am clearly quite smitten. It was also quite a turn on watching Mr. Fox enjoy his meal. There is so much you learn about a person over a meal. Such mirth hanging out and letting loose with a fellow food lover.

 

The gorgeous beach that we stayed at- Mandrem. We walked along it for at least 2kms in the night till we hit the deep lagoons. 

The lessons learned:

1. Walking on the beach at night though romantic is not always a good idea

2. The correct way of holding the fork- ask Mr. Fox

3. Goa has some of the best cuisine in the country

4. Always stay on the main road

5. Always walk facing traffic

6. Military walk vs a gaiety stroll when on a mission.

Clearly it was a fun night - Mr. Fox made a super date. 

"I am fulfilling" The Yoga House

Quinoa, tofu, wheatgrass, 10 grain breads, oatmeal, fresh juices, porridge, berries, nuts, paneer, sprouts, alfalafa & organic. One word- Powerfoods. I am always skeptical about such foods since I really love my meats and can't fathom most of the time eating out on purely vegetarian and really such healthy sounding food. 

My lovely friend Mark invited me to brunch at the Yoga House. He said its his new favourite place in Bandra. I arrived at this old house with a lovely verandah painted white with a row of tables and benches on either side with pillows. An old door that lead to an all blue azure room with a green chandelier. There were grey mattresses on the floor with orange pillows. Light streaming in from the windows. All the trimmings, doors, windows were white. It was a cheery space, relaxed the kinds you would imagine on a seaside in Greece but we were almost on the seaside in Bandra. Mark sat there relaxed totally fitting in with the space. The smile on his face showed pure satisfaction for finding this beautiful space. I was there with Sangeeta, Anand and Natasha. We ordered everything off the lunch menu- Quinoa burgers, Miknaos toast, Paneer burger, the Yogi's lunch, coffee, juices, and the healthy chocolate mousse. The food was amazing- the raw, colorful salads with sprouts, tomatoes, olives, lettuce, the fulfilling quinoa grain. I had seen quinoa around- but this was the first time I was eating it. The servings were not huge and I was skeptical if I would be full. But I was- not stuffed that I was uncomfortable, just perfectly happy with my meal. In fact I was energetic enough to walk back home with Mark (2 kms) something that does not happen usually after lunch. It was so good that evening I went back to the Yoga house to get some tea and laddoos. This masala tea had lemongrass and ginger. It was subtle and wonderful.

In fact I loved it so much that I went back there a week later with my friend Gopal for breakfast after a photo shoot. This breakfast was stellar as well. Slices of peanut butter on 10 grain bread, scrambled tofu sandwich, and a large healthy looking hash brown with cheese pancake. We ordered this with Caffe Frappe, Cappuccino, and a lovely banana milkshake (the best I have had). This time we sat on the outside patio in a window seat. The sun was still rising, the main blue room had a yoga class in progress. Bandra was slowly stirring and here we were with wonderful breakfast right in the shadow of St. Andrew's cross. White bougainvilleas crawling over the balcony. Gopal took some lovely pictures of me enjoying the morning sun and this delicious breakfast.

Ive been to the Yoga House now several times. Each time it has been a delightful experience. The owners Maud and Ajit are extremely welcoming. Maud teaches yoga there as well. I hope to take a class with her one of these days. There is also a little shop attached where they sell some lovely cotton clothing, pottery from Benares, and some other knick knacks.

Can I say it enough- I love The all vegetarian, very organic, completely fulfilling Yoga House. 

Many of the pictures that follow including some of the lovely portrait shots of me have been taken by MS Gopal the wonderful photographer of Mumbai Paused. He is a self claimed non- foodie but was a complete trooper to try out food outside his comfort zone. He did mention that he felt fulfilled for the rest of the day.

70 Days After Ramzan.

Its Eid- Al- Adha today popularly known as Bakri Eid. It is the festival of sacrifice to commemorate the day Ibrahim was willingly ready to sacrifice his son Ishmael to show obedience to God. However, God intervened and provided Ibrahim with a sheep to sacrifice instead the life of his son. 

This is still practiced in which a goat bakri is slaughtered and the meat is used to prepare a feast for the family and community. Biryani, kababs, goat curry are the popular dishes.

There was a thread of discussion on biryani cravings on the Mumbai Food Bloggers Page. Papa just told me that Shaffi uncle's wife is sending us some homemade Lucknow style biryani and kababs. I'm really excited. Its my birthday tomorrow so this is going to be a treat to eat homemade super sexy biryani from Lucknow. 

However, I remembered that I had taken some lovely pictures of Ramzan a few months back. I had taken my friend Mark to Mohammed Ali Road at the Minara Masjid area for to check out food scene. I had seen this post on Mumbai Paused and could not stop drooling. 

It was the monsoon and it was raining that night. We walked down the street during prayer time, it was a solemn affair. Right after the prayers, the place was alive. Stalls selling- chicken soups, kababs, tikkas, botis, niharis, fried chicken, breads, and of course biryani. Stall after stall, some sit down restaurants. Turn in a different direction and there are dessert stalls frying up malpua, jalebis, serving cold firni, badam flavored milk, pancakes, ladoos with fried puris. It was alive, energetic and most of people despite fasting without food and water all day were very friendly, explaining the food and tradition, open to discussions, and most of all everyone had a smile on their face. A nation of smiles. And why shouldn't they be, after a long hard day of fasting, this food would be the ultimate satisfaction.

Back to the best biryani debate- I ate some really fantastic biryani here that night. The best chicken biryani ever.

So without wasting more time & before I forget - I want to share with you the pictures I took during Ramzan almost 70 days ago. Looking forward to my biryani tomorrow. Yum!

Smiling away despite all the smoke. Some really succulent chicken kababs.

To die for Nihari- the restaurant owner told us that he sources his marrow for the Nihari for Rs 400 a kgs. The nihari is cooked for hours.

Also have you seen The Dewarists yet. The second episode with Zeb & Haniya and Shantanu and Swanand in Mumbai - they go to Minara Masjid for a meal in the rain and eat some really amazing kababs as well. We could have crossed paths that night. They came up with the most amazing song in collaboration as a group. I love this song and the lyrics are beautiful.