Mangrove, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore

From the outside Mangrove looks like a small cafe with a wooden door to enter. When you enter, it seems like a small cozy place with all the desserts on the left of you. Then you realise it is really big because they have tables on the first floor as well.

Mangrove serves alcohol, but only Fosters beer and wine. There's this big stairway leading up to the first floor. We decided to sit on the first floor. Along with a few tables, the bar was also on the first floor. The ambience in Mangrove is good and so is the music.

We were recommended the beef stir fry as it was one of the specials of the day. Along with that we ordered chicken nachos and cheese garlic bread and a pitcher of Foster's.

The beef stir fry was small pieces of beef stir fried along with crunchy vegetables and tossed in this amazingly tasting soya sauce. It was a treat to our taste buds. The beef was fried just to right amount to be crunchy and soft enough to chew. We all loved the beef stir fry and decided to order another portion of it! I would highly recommend it.

The chicken nachos were good. I wouldn't say the best but they were good. Nacho chips topped with baked beans, olives, jalapeños and some veggies with smoked chicken and hung curd accompanied with salsa sauce. I wouldn't say these were the best nachos that I've had, but they were pretty damn good. The nachos were fried. A little bit of a disappointment to me because I assumed they would be baked. The sauce that was added to the beans was very tasty. The highlight of the nachos was the smoked chicken that was just amazing.

The garlic bread was nice and cheesy and the sauce given with it was great. The were 4 big pieces of garlic bread in one portion.

For main course, we ordered Alfredo Chicken Pasta with Penne and the Jerk Chicken Sizzler. Until this point the service at Mangrove was good because there weren't many people there. The main course took a good 25 minutes to come because the place got quite crowded by then.

The Alfredo Chicken Pasta was really good. It was nice and creamy and cheesy. There were some herbs that they used in the pasta which made it taste just amazing. They did recommend that we should have it in Spaghetti which we didn't do. I would recommend it in Spaghetti because it would have soaked up the creamy sauce really well.

The Jerk Chicken Sizzler came with sautéed veggies, French fries and 2 chicken legs with jerk chicken sauce. The veggies were very well sautéed and very tasted. The fries were a little cold. I'm sure they were pre cooked and kept ready. The jerk chicken sauce was amazing. Tangy, a little spicy and the chicken was cooked very well. They normally serve it with herb rice or mashed potatoes but since we didn't want either, we asked them to give us more of the veggies.

All in all Mangrove for us was a good experience and I would definitely visit again.

I used the Crown It App to get cashback on my bill. Don't forget to give it a try. Check it out on https://crownit.in

One thing that I would want to talk about is the sizzler's in Bangalore. It is very disappointing to know the quantity of the sizzler's out here. The sizzler's in Mumbai are much tastier and the sizzler pans are stacked and filled much much more than the ones out here. I am yet to taste a sizzler like the ones in Mumbai. I have been recommended a few places, will be going to try them out soon. I am open to suggestions about sizzler places in Bangalore. Do write in the comments section.

Check out Mangrove's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

Toit

These guys have been sending it since 2010!

When I moved to Bangalore, the first micro brewery that I was recommended to visit was Toit. 2 and a half months later, I finally visited Toit. Toit did not live up to my expectations, they over exceeded them! There is absolutely nothing that I hate about this place. The food, the ambience, the music and of course the beers are all top notch. Heard that this place is always crowded, so we decided to leave early and get there early. That was a very wise decision as we got a table on the first floor as soon as we reached Toit. I've passed Toit quite a few times and never once did I imagine it to be what it was when I entered. We finally sat down and the ordering began.

                

We started off ordering drinks which included TinTin, Watermelon Mojito & Margrita. I read a lot of reviews about the TinTin so decided to try that out at Toit and it did not disappoint me. I loved the flavor and it was very smooth. The watermelon mojito was loaded with alcohol, it was a little on the sweeter side but I'm not complaining. I'm not into Margarita's so not going to comment on that. We also ordered for a blueberry lemonade which was really really good. It was very different to anything that I've had before and it was also very refreshing.

            

                                          


Once we were done ordering the drinks, we decided to order some starters. We ordered the Toit Baked Chicken Nacho's, Fried Calamari and Beefy Loaded Potato.

The Toit Baked Chicken Nacho's were amazing. The nachos were nice and crisp, the cheese that was poured on top of the nachos had a great taste to it and the chicken had a very nice flavor to it as well. I would definitely recommend the nacho's to anyone going to Toit.

Calamari is one of my favorites cause of which I have tried calamari from loads of places and I can honestly and truly say that Toit Fried Calamari is the best damn calamari that I have ever had. These guys serve you huge chunks of squid batter fried to perfection. The squid was very fresh. This was served with 2 sauces out of which the tartar sauce was heaven. I'm going to Toit again just to have the Calamari with a glass of TinTin.

I'm not sure how these guys did it but the potatoes were baked to perfection. The skin of the potatoes were nice and crisp and the potato was not to soft and not to hard, it was just perfect. The beef that was put on those of the potato would definitely give you a foodgasm. The beef was nice and tangy and perfectly cooked. The sauce that was given along with this was some sort of peanut sauce which also tasted good but I chose to eat that with the nachos and eat the beefy loaded potato plain because they were so damn good.

After I got done with my TinTin and watermelon mojito, I decided to try their dark knight. At this point I was a happy high and I thoroughly enjoyed the bitter taste that the dark knight had to offer. 

Our last and final order of the day was the apple pie. We enjoyed the apple pie but what we enjoyed more was the Vanilla Ice Cream that came along with the apple pie so we decided to order just the Vanilla Ice Cream. They got us 2 small scoops.

We were finally done eating and drinking at Toit and it was time for the bill. I kid you not, this place is very easy on the pocket. The food is very reasonably priced and so is the alcohol. 

I finally got what all the hype was about and I am definitely going to be a regular customer of Toit, not just for the beers but for the food as well!

                      Check out Toit's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

Fresh Menu

A 'Fresh Menu' everyday!

Fresh Menu started off delivering to very few places in Bangalore, eventually branching out to Kammanahalli. I was really excited to see a different menu everyday and I wanted to try out something new everyday. Having said that, I have tried the burgers, the salads, the fish and the chicken. Haven't tried anything veg from their menu yet. There are some things that I really love and some things that I hate about Fresh Menu.

For starters, Fresh Menu's packaging is really good. They take extra effort in making sure that your food does not spill while being transported and reaches you safely. The delivery is also quick. I once got my order in less than 20 mins and the food was hot.

The food that I've loved from Fresh Menu are the burgers, the salads, the chicken skewers and some of their Chinese dishes. The veggies used in the salads are always fresh. The chicken burger is this huge burger with a huge tasty chicken patty inside. I some how managed to finish the whole burger alone (not such an easy task). The potato wedges that are given along with the burger are just amazing. 

I particularly like the Chinese that Fresh Menu has to offer. It wasn't the best Chinese that I've tasted but it was good. I would definitely recommend the Chinese from here.

For me, my bad experience with Fresh Menu was the fish. The fish was anything but fresh. No doubt it tasted good but you could tell while chewing the fish that it wasn't fresh at all. Fresh Menu could also look at adding new dishes to their menu cause it seems like they keep repeating the same dishes every 3-4 days.

Check out Fresh Menu's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

The Hole In The Wall Cafe

Going the hole 9 yards!

It was my first time in Bangalore and everyone was raving about the hole in the wall cafe and how I had to go there and try out their English breakfast. I reached Bangalore on a Friday night and chose Sunday morning to go to hole in the wall. I went there with my family and our pet dog (The hole in the wall is a pet friendly restaurant).

We reached hole in the wall cafe at about 8.20 am and man oh man was there a crowd. We were asked to wait for 20 mins but ended up waiting for 30 mins. We finally got a table on the 1st floor which was big enough for a group of 10 people cause of which, 10 mins later we were asked to move down to a smaller table. By this time, I was completely pissed off and super hungry.

At 9.10 am we finally placed our order. I ordered for the chicken hole 9 yards. The service was a little slow because the place was packed. It took about 20-25 mins for our order to arrive, but it was totally worth the wait.

The chicken hole 9 yards was a huge bowl stuffed with chicken salami, ham, sausages, hash brown, some veggies and all of it topped with fried eggs. I wasn't sure where to start! I finally dug in and it was just amazing. I didn't stop stuffing my mouth until I finished the entire bowl.

Once we were done with our meals we decided to order something sweet. We ordered for pan cakes and waffles. After having an awesome chicken meal I wasn't sure anything would get any better than that, but it did. The waffles and the pan cakes were just amazing. The maple syrup was brilliant.

Once we got done eating, the bill came and I was shocked to see the amount. It was probably 3 times cheaper than what I expected it to be. All in all we had a great experience at the hole in the wall cafe and we are waiting to go back there again to try something else from their menu.

Check out The Hole In The Wall Cafe's menu on Zomato by clicking on the imagebelow

Yoko's Sizzlers

The sizzle, the smoke & the aroma is the first thing you come across as soon as you enter Yoko's.

Yoko's Sizzlers have been my favorite sizzlers from the time I started eating there which was probably about 5 or 6 years ago. I have been to the Oshiwara Outlet, The Bandra Outlet, The Santacruz Outlet and the Hiranandani Outlet (which has sadly closed down).

When you first enter Yoko's, you can hear the hissing sound of the sizzlers with smoke all around the room and the aroma of different sauces.

My favorite among all the sizzlers that I've tried at Yoko's, is the Chicken Satellite! I have visited Yoko's many a times just because I was craving the Chicken Satellite.

The great thing about Yoko's is that unlike most places, Yoko's stuff their sizzler pan right till the top (Ref: Image Above). A lot of people would feel that Yoko's is over priced compared to other places, but in fact the quantity of food in the pan is a lot.

For all the times that I have been to Yoko's, whichever outlet it might be, Yoko's does not disappoint with quality! The Vegetables have always been fresh and the meat has always been juicy.

To sum it up, in case you haven't tried Yoko's yet, go ahead and try them. I'm sure they won't disappoint.

Check out Yoko Sizzler's menu on Zomato by click on the image below