Bangalore Street Club - Majja Maadi!

So Lido Mall has a new place where you can head to to catch a quick bite before a movie or enjoy a leisurely meal after your show has ended. Sounds intriguing now? Lets dive in.

Ambience and Concept

Located in place of the rather tepid TGIF on the first floor, this place has been completely revamped and looks really pretty and spacious. The inside seating is well-spaced out, brightly lit and comfortable. The outdoor seating is more subdued and is perfect for a dinner date or a quick drink with friends while soaking in the lovely Bangalore weather.

So this place aims to be a kind of a cross between casual restaurant and a food court. It has a variety of food options ranging from the regular kebabs, biryanis, dosas and idlis to more region specific food a with a few surprises thrown in as well for the more adventurous diners. There are several counters under different banners, a bar counter(no alcohol right now, but it is in the works) and even a retail therapy section. Whether the concept flies or not with diners, remains to be seen, but I was certainly intrigued. The core philosophy of this place being, anyone can casually walk in at pretty much any time of the day and enjoy a decent meal, translating loosely to Majja Maadi!

Food

We ordered from across the counters to get a fair idea of the food all around. Here is a quick lowdown:

1.  Irani Salli Keema Pav: This was so surprisingly good.Crunchy butter toasted pav buns with a thick, meaty, slightly spicy meaty mutton keema which was cooked to perfection. Tender, but with a slight bite. Loved every bit of it and wiped the bowl of keema clean.

2. Telicherry Chicken Tikka: So this was almost like a malai kebab with a hint of spice. While cuisine for this region is famed for the use of black pepper,I didn't find any signs of that here. But leaving aside this fact, it was a pretty delicious dish.Soft, creamy and succulent.

3. Rava Fried Prawns: Another staple from the southern part of India,the trick in a rava-fried dish is to have a then, even and crisp layer of rava with the insides cooked perfectly. In this case, the prawns were beautifully cooked and the layer remained crisp. This one was superb!

4. Haleem Ke Kebab: Made out of melt in the mouth mutton mince, these kebabs transported me back to the shammi kebabs of the street of Lucknow. Very similar to a shammi,but even softer with the heady flavour of black cardommon standing out, I loved this dish.

5. Russell Street Mutton Biryani: This was supposed to be Kolkata Style Dum Biryani with the mandatory aloo and boiled egg. However, I didn't get either and it wasn't a dum biryani as well. It could probably pass-off as a Hyderabadi Biryani, but not a Kolkata Biryani for sure.Keeping the semantics aside, the mutton was well cooked and the spices were in check and not overpowering.

Verdict:
I went to this place, not expecting much in terms of beautiful, region-specific flavours, but just a slightly better version of your local mall food.It wasn't the case here. Most of the food was pretty close to authentic,or at least good flavours and they didn't cost a bomb. Good Pricing and Decent food make sure that this will be my pit-stop either before or after catching a movie at the Inox  above this. 

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Tempty's -> Gelato Based Shakes

Gelatos are different from regular ice-creams , in terms of fat, milk and air content. Gelatos have less air and butter-fat content, which makes them denser and creamier. This also makes their freezing temperature lower than ice-creams and enhances its flavours. So while it makes sense that gelatos are better than ice-creams when eaten on their own, dunk both of these into a milkshake, and I doubt, if you would notice the difference between the two. With this in mind, here is the review.

All the milkshakes I have tried from here are home-delivered, so there could be a slight improvement in taste if you have them at the store.

Here is all that I have tried here. Note that they have two options in most of their shakes, Gelato Bases(with regular gelato as its base) and Avalanche Base(with yogurt based ice-cream which contain much less fat than regular ice-cream). I had all of them except Crunch Orange. in the gelato base.

Crunch Orange Shake: This was an orange milkshake, topped with whipping cream, corn-flake bits, sprinkles and wafer-rolls to give it crunchiness. While it did have everything mentioned, the flavour of orange was so mild, than if I had not known my order, I might have failed to notice it. Thumbs up for effort and the combination, not so much for the actual overall result though.

Marshmallow Shake: Again, it was a thick marshmallow shake with marshmallow bits and tasted fine.

Peach Mango Shake: This shake was predominantly flavoured with mango, and it completely overshadowed the peach, if it was there at all. Probably not that great a combination, or perhaps, the recipe needs to be tweaked!

Black Bourbon: I am assuming they meant that this was Bourbon Vanilla, and not bourbon whisky, since there was no description anywhere. This was a disappointment, and flavours were of a muted vanilla shake, with an interesting colour.

Verdict:While the pricing is fairly competitive, and delivery is pretty fast, what ideally should have separated them from the rest should have been the flavour of their milkshakes, since gelatos are supposed to have a much richer taste when compared to ice-creams. However, the difference in their shakes is barely palpable when compared to regular milkshakes. Definitely not my first choice for milkshakes. There are better options out there at better price-points.

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Mama Mia - Here I Go Again!

Just one look and I can hear a bell ring
One more look and I forget everything

Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again
My my, just how much I've missed you? - Abba

I always start humming this song, when I hear the name of this place. Another ice-cream parlour in Indira Nagar, you ask, so what?  Located on Double-Road Indira Nagar, the first I heard of it was when one of my friends posted a picture of the famous charcoal-black coloured vanilla ice-cream here. That was a couple of months back. Several tries later, I am pleased to say, this place has really grown on me. Here is why:

Ambience:
A medium-sized ice-cream parlour this is, with several seating options to choose from. The place is overall minimalistic, with a few quaint touches here and there, that make this easy on the eyes, and yet not too flashy.

The Stuff:
This places serves everything from Ice-creams, Floats, Milkshakes, Ice-cream cakes, Mud-pies, Coffee and even a variety french fries. Interesting right? HEre are some of the items I have tried:

1. Star-Dust Vanilla Ice-Cream - This ice-cream is probably the one reason to put Mama mia on the map. Super-cream vanilla ice-cream with activated charcoal to give a black coloured vanilla ice-cream that is super-creamy and really good!

2. Black Label Chocolate Ice-Cream - This one is like having your cake and eating it too. A Delicate whisky flavour when combined with fine-chocolate gives you an ice-cream that sweet-dreams are made up off!

3. Blueberry Cheesecake Shake:  A shake that has zero-milk, a combination of blueberry coulis, and  several other ingredients that make this shake a must-try one, if you like Blueberries, cheesecake or even milkshakes. All the creaminess, without any of the milk!

Verdict: Amazing gelato ice-creams and a variety of other items to choose form at decent prices, this is a must-visit ice-cream parlour in Indira Nagar.

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