Lunch - in-room dinning at ITC Gardenia

 Bangalore - Just arrived to Bangalore and decided to just order room service.  ITC Gardenia has a touch screen near the bedside has everything at the touch of the button.   I ordered lamb shanks and it was one of the best lamb shanks I have eaten ever, so tender and soft.

Lamb shanks

Garlic nann

and 2 pieces of garlic nann and it was very good lunch.  

Dinner at Zen Restaurant @ The Leela Palace

Bangalore - After the seminar, we took the taxi to Zen Restaurant @ The Leela Palace.  As the name implies, it's Japanese but in fact it's fusion Japanese, Thai mixed with Chinese menus.    The menu displayed 3 sections of various food - Japanese, Thai and Chinese.

Lesley and myself

Both of us having our dinner under the chilly and starry night, dimly lit candles.

Prawns cooked Cantonese way

Plad Thai Khun

Japanese sushi and sashimi platter

Only the preserved ginger tasted awful.  I told the waiter about it and brought me another bowl which tasted just as awful.   The location was good as the distance is only 15 minutes from Hyatt Bangalore and the food is pretty decent.  

Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs restaurant

Bangalore - Lunch was at Hyatt Bangalore and the strange sense of coincidence is that we ate the same mutton and chicken dish as last year.    We are really a nature of habits.

For dinner, we booked the Hotel taxi to Dun Pukht Jolly Nabobs @  ITC Windsor Hotel.  It was quite a distance about 45 mins ride there.   It was more economical for the driver to wait for us and bring us back to Hyatt.

Dum Pukht restaurant won a number of dinning awards and so I went to taste their fine dinning food. The ambiance was Noble Indian Maharajah style and the waiters were very attentive.  Even a look at them will bring them forward to my table to serve.

spicy Papadum 

Kakori Kabab

Read about this rave dish and also was recommended by the waiter as Chef choice.  The meat was very tender and tasted like liver pate.   I did not like it at all.  I mistook it for Kebab.

Mutton 

Wow! their mutton was full of flavour and really melt in your mouth.   It was so smooth and soft - perfect dish.

Chicken Briyani

The Briyani rice was full of fragrance and the chicken was tender and good.   I like the Indian Briyani being baked unlike in Singapore too much oil and gee.

desert caramel with pistachio

Value for money:  $ as it's very expensive
Ambiance was good and serve in fine dinning.  The waiter are attentive.  

Karavalli restaurant

Bangalore -  Breakfast was complimentary and a very good spread of Indian cuisine.  The waiter at Hyatt restaurant was very good and tended to my every needs, kudos to them for this Indian hospitality.

Dinner was at Karavalli restaurant - a popular Indian fine dining restaurant located at The Gateway Hotel - a short distance from Hyatt Bangalore.   The decor and ambiance of this restaurant brings you back to ancient Indian times.

signboard along the corridor

This restaurant specialise in seafood, so we chose 2 seafood dishes and a mutton dish.

Sungatache Kodi

This is tiger prawns cooked in spicy Indian curry.   There were only 3 medium size tiger prawns fresh and nicely cooked, not so spicy.

Mutton curry

The mutton was very tender and delicious; and the curry was not too hot.

Chevod Blachao

This is a lobster dish prepared in pickle masala with very hot and spicy chillies from Goa; and Goa vinegar.   It was so chilli hot that I sweat was dripping down my face.    The chilli and masala masked any freshness of the lobster meat.  

Value for money:  Too expensive
Ambiance: Excellent
Worth a 2nd visit: I doubt it

Oko restaurant

Bangalore -  Oko that is the name of this restaurant and it received rave reviews and wanted to see this for myself.   I got the front desk to book a reservation for Lesley and myself @ 7pm; also got the hotel car booked as well.   We got down to the Lobby @ 6.30pm but reached The Lalit Askhok hotel only at around 7:15pm due to the heavy traffic.

The restaurant was on the 6th floor of the Lalit Askhok hotel and we were the first guest being greeted by rows of waiter and waitresses.

Apart of the heat, dust and noise - Indian dining experience is a notch above restaurants in Singapore.   We were greeted politely and shown to our seats.  Furthermore, throughout the meal the waiter tended to us asking how was the meal; whether we are ready for the next meal, and a sous chef was always around to chat with us.

This restaurant is big with an indoor concept and a very nice outdoor dining area.  Initially we sat outside but the warm weather coupled with 'unfriendly' bugs made us change our mind.

Outdoor dining

huge outdoor sofas for a relaxing evening

The indoor was good - air condition - the menu is Asian Fusion - Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Singapore food.    They have a spread of sushi menu but I stay clear of raw food in India.

Soup

Clear soup of Lemon coriander and seafood - it was good with fresh pieces of prawns and scallops.

Grilled lamb

The grilled lamb was grilled and so tender.   The meat was marinated well and the taste was really delicious and succulent.

served Phad Thai

The waiter served our Phad Thai Khun "Thai noodle with prawns".   Very different from the usual Phad Thai with more taste of tomato sauce looking from the colour of the noodles.   It is still a bit spicy but maybe blended to the Indian taste buds.

vegetables

I ordered asparagus and shitake mushrooms initially but the sous chef came and told us that the asparagus was too small and not good - and suggested us a 'customised' dish with green beans, bak choy, taufu instead.   It turned out well a bit salty due to the generous oyster sauce.

Tab Tim Grob

A favourite Thai desert also called 'Red Ruby' - water chestnut wrapped in red sugar, coconut and chilled it with ice shavings.   This desert was too rich and generous in coconut milk.   Half the amount of the coconut milk would have suffice as a good desert.

The Oko restaurant toilet is also a talk of the town....

A very nice decorative toilet which I think the best in India - cool, chic and modern.

Value for money:  Expensive for Thai food
Ambiance: Excellent
Worth a 2nd visit:  Maybe if there are no other food choice

Just arrived Bangalore

Bangalore - Upon arriving Bangalore, the heat and dust outside the airport was unbearable.  It took a considerable 1.5hrs to reach Hyatt Bangalore due to the heavy traffic jam.  Car and buses were trying to cut into each other lanes just to get ahead and in the process honing non-stop.  My taxi driver was trying to strike a conversation with me but I was not in a mood; furthermore straining hard to understand his broken English.

I was so glad to see Hyatt Bangalore - the room air con was cool to the right temperature and decor clean and neat.   Waited for Lesley till lunch.

Lunch

We ordered Ala carte and the food was good.   Butter chicken, mix vegetables and lamb (top dish) with Basmati rice and roti.