Orso Raggiante

I had heard a lot about Smally's Resto Cafe and given the 4.0 rating on Zomato (when I looked it up), I thought it was most definitely worth a visit. The location is certainly convenient though calling Church Street a street is only by the grace of semantics!

Smally's is a cosy place. They have decent chairs and nice sofas you can sink in while waiting for the food. It seems they have the place upstairs too, though it seems to be technically called Easy Tiger. In any case, the place has a relaxing ambience and a decent selection of music from what I could hear. More importantly, the audio was at the right volume level so we didn't need to shout to be heard as some places reduce you to doing.

For appetisers, we had the Lord of Wings and the Sausage Pups. The wings were pretty nice, slightly sweet but good nonetheless, with a side of mayonnaise that, I suspect, was trying to be tartar sauce and failing. The Sausage pups weren't bad either but I think the chef should consider using pork over beef sausages, or better yet, Spanish style chorizos properly grilled or stir-fried before being dabbed in that sauce. What we were served was good but the dish has so much more potential that it is not even funny.

The main course was composed of the Trucker and Chickaboo burgers, a Philly cheesesteak, and a Chicken, Ham & Cheese sandwich. The burgers were not bad, considering their price-to-quality ratio: I have had significantly better burgers in Bangalore but they cost almost double of these ones. Smally's has decent burgers but nothing that would have you tossing and turning at night until you return the very next day for more!

The sandwiches, however, were a different story. The bread that was used was good and they remembered to toast it, which many forget to do. However, the Philly cheesesteak tasted nothing like what it should. They were missing the capsicum, garlic, onion, and Worcestershire sauce, making whatever they served us a wholly different beast. This is not to say that it was bad, just that it was as close to being a Philly cheesesteak as koalas are to being bears - not at all, they are marsupials.

Service was an odd mix of fast and slow - it took time for the waiters to notice us and bring us our menus or take our orders but once the orders were placed, we received our food rather quickly. Of course, if they learned that appetisers and the main course are not meant to appear within a minute of each other, it would be swell. The place was not particularly crowded either that the staff would be running around in a frenzy.

Overall, Smally's is a decent place that I would certainly return to if in the area but I would not go out of my way to eat there. For the price, it is definitely a good place to nosh.

Serafina is a decent little Italian restaurant even if somewhat oddly named. The Italian version of the name derives from Latin which derives from the Hebrew word seraphim (seraph - singular), meaning 'fiery one'. It refers to a class of angels in Judaism and Christianity and there are two or three somewhat famous Italian women of the cloth with that name. Odd, then, that such an austere reference be made for a place that tries to encourage mild Epicureanism!

The restaurant has outdoor as well as indoor dining options - make sure you stay indoors or at least wear trousers, shoes, and a full-sleeved shirt to discourage the mosquitos.

For appetisers, we had the zuppa, bruschetta, and the buffalo mozzarella, pomodori, e basilico. They are simple dishes but also easily betray incompetence on the part of the kitchen staff. All three items were quite good and we were encouraged to move to the main course.

The complementary bread basket left much to be desired, however. Rather than three or four varieties of bread, a few thick slices of baguette would have been fine. Furthermore, the basket is too small for a table of three. The olive oil could have been of higher quality, though the balsamic vinegar was just the right amount of sweet and tart.

For the main course, we had the spaghetti alle zucchini, the rigatoni capricciosa, and the risotto di pollo. The dishes were surprisingly good - too many foreign cuisine restaurants Indianise the menu and ruin it rather than retain the original flavours. Serafina, thankfully, is not one of them.

That said, the portions were too small. Worse, it was that size where ordering another dish would be too much but just one left you unsatisfied. If the dishes could be about 25-30% bigger, it would be great.

The staff was friendly, courteous, and efficient. What I liked most was that they were easily available but did not intrude on your conversation every couple of minutes to ask you if you needed anything.

All in all, Serafina is a good place I'd recommend to my friends; I'd have happily rated them higher too had it not been for the small portions and mosquitos.

Pier 39 is located on the 5th floor of the SFO Hotel building, at the same place as the Cable Car restaurant which is on the ground and first floor, so do not be confused searching for it.

I was keen on trying out some Mexican food in Bangalore despite previous disappointments. Pier 39 seemed well rated on Zomato and was also recommended to me by a friend. The restaurant has a lunch buffet, and since this was my first time there, I thought that might be the better option than to order off the menu. It would allow me to sample more dishes and get a feel for the cooking.

Like most restaurants nowadays, they serve the soup and appetisers and you have to go to the buffet table only for the salad, main course, and dessert. There is an even balance of vegetarian and non-vegetarian items, and dishes were predominantly North Indian with an Italian and Chinese dish thrown in. It was disappointing not to see anything Mexican in the buffet, but oh well...can't get everything!

I was not impressed with the soup - it was spicy and watery. However, the other appetisers were quite delicious and left us in anticipation for the main course. There were three vegetarian and three non-vegetarian appetisers, and the chicken cooked in Awadhi style was particularly good.

For the main course, the options were rather limited but also good. There was paneer, a couple of vegetarian dishes, rice, biryani, a couple of chicken dishes, a pasta counter, and a chat corner. The salads were quite nice too, particularly the papaya salad and the one mislabelled as coleslaw but is clearly a pesto concoction of some kind. Kulcha, roti, and naan were all available on order so that guests got their Indian breads hot from the kitchen rather than cold and stiff from the buffet table.

I was really quite pleased with the food. Though not exceptional or brilliant, it was nonetheless very good. I am disappointed that I could not get my Mexican for this meal but several dishes are available and I look forward to trying them out soon.

Ordering off the menu might be a bit more expensive than going for the buffet but I cannot really comment as I have not seen the portions or sampled the quality. In most restaurants, they keep their best stuff off the buffet table and if that is so at Pier 39 too, diners will be in for a treat!

I wonder if the buffet menu is static but I guess I will find out soon enough - I think I will certainly be returning to the place with more of my friends and family.

There are few places I have seen with such potential that are squandering it all away. Scottish Pub would be an excellent little outlet if it just took the effort to be so. Located on St. Mark's Road, it sits on some prime real estate. It is also strategically located near a couple of colleges, guaranteeing fresh faces on student budgets every year.

The restaurant has a very cosy feel to it - it is dim inside and judging by the low music, I suspect a lovely place to settle down with a good book or some homework and a couple of pitchers of one's choice of poison. Unfortunately, instead of comfortable chairs one can sink in to, the place is equipped with bar stools all through - four per table.

The place only serves what would qualify as appetisers at any other restaurant. That in itself is no problem but Scottish could do with a few more choices and higher quality of preparation. We ordered the French fries, Garlic Chicken, Gobi Manchurian, and Ginger Chicken - not exactly bad but not worth ordering a second time, as you can see from how we went through the menu.

The real killer is the drinks - you have a choice of wine that tastes like someone mixed some sugar into battery acid or Kingfisher beer. That's it, bas. Even if the idea is to create a watering hole for students, three or four more beers and sangria on the menu would not kill the management!

Despite these major discomforts - seats, food, drinks - Scottish Pub has something about it that draws one in, at least once. A few small improvements and it could easily be on the city's map of must-visit eateries.

In a country of mediocre foreign cuisine restaurants for the upper middle class budget, Chianti does not fail to disappoint in its rendition of Italian food. The food is not quite bad but if you were hoping for authentic Italian, I suggest you read a good cookbook and allow your imagination to take over.

The restaurant looks nice, most of it being on the dimmer side but there is a brighter corner if one just cannot do without sunlight even for a moment. The staff is courteous and quick to respond to any requests.

We ordered the Mozzarella Fritta as an appetiser and were also served complementary bread with some garlic butter and some rusk with garlic, cherry tomatoes, and basil. While the first complementary item makes sense, the second one had us stumped. Did the restaurant really expect its patrons to rub the garlic onto the rusk with their bare hands? And then the basil (which was pleasingly fresh, I admit)? The latter may have a pleasant smell but I know few people who'd want to walk around with fingers smelling like garlic! It would seem that the restaurant tried to get cute with the whole "make your own bruschetta" but the idea backfired, at least with us.

To quench our thirst, we ordered a pitcher of sangria. Big mistake! For one, it is a little more expensive than other places I've been to and it doesn't even taste as good. The apple was diced into tiny cubes (!!) and there were no other fruits in the mix! Goodbye oranges, lime, grapes... Secondly, someone appears to have done an amateurish mistake by thinking that better wine makes better sangria. It doesn't. While the rest of the world pretends sangria is a sophisticated drink, we in Spain know that it is little more than what Americans might call fruit punch. You need a basic wine that is not too dry as the foundation, to which you add brandy, soda, agave syrup, and fruits. The wine used for the sangria at Chianti was perhaps of a slightly higher quality and it actually made the drink worse.

For the main course, we ordered the Penne Al Pesto and the Fettucine Siciliana. For the portions and quality, the meal was certainly overpriced. The Penne Al Pesto was not too bad though it could have used some more garlic but the sauce in the Fettucine Siciliana was so thin that it resembled a Florentine dish more than something a proud islander would cook up.

Still, our craving for Italian food had not completely worn off and so we persevered with dessert. We ordered tiramisu and the Cioccolato Alla Nocciola Mousse. The latter wasn't too bad but the tiramisu was heavy on the whipped cream and light on the zabaglione and mascarpone. This is a far more difficult dessert to make than most people realise and would truly be the highlight of the meal if done right. Sadly, that would not be this day.

It might help if I mention that I have undergone some training in Italian and Spanish cuisine preparations and have exacting standards for those two than I would have for others. In my opinion, if you are looking for an average Italian place (even that is not so easy in India), Chianti is not that bad a place...but keep away from the sangria! If you are a connoisseur of Italian food, be ready to be disappointed.

Truth be told, I'd definitely come back a couple of times more if I have an Italian craving and try out some of the other dishes.

As the name of the restaurant suggests, this place is heavy on egg in their dishes! So vegans, you have been warned!

The Egg Factory has a very welcoming decor, suggesting inexpensive, warm, and friendly. Just that sort of place you would run to in your college days to hide from the rain and grab a quick coffee!

The menu is also great. Several categories of egg dishes are available, from breakfast varieties through burgers and pastas to even egg curry based meals. In terms of range, these people have certainly done their job well.

The one thing that is missing and makes a HUGE difference to the taste of the food is good ingredients. Now I am not saying that the folks at Egg Factory are using substandard material - they are probably using what is routinely available in town. However, the true essence of egg dishes is brought out by the use of subtle flavours such as smoked Spanish paprika or chorizo. They take the egg to an entirely different level. If G-d had made huevos rancheros instead of Adam in the Bereshit, he would have added smoked paprika, chorizo, and some sour cream (probably along with onion, tomato, and green chili) in place of breath!

To be fair, I am not sure how easily some of these ingredients are available in Bangalore, especially in an old-fashioned area like JP Nagar. Nonetheless, Egg Factory is an excellent place just one step from being simply awesome. It is a small step with big consequences.

By the way, we had the Sausaged Shakshuka, French Toast, and Baida Roti and they were quite decent.

Bistro Claytopia is a nice place to hang out on a lazy Saturday afternoon, debating the meaning of life, the universe, and everything with your friends. The service is efficient yet unobtrusive, leaving you to your chatting.

The restaurant itself has an indoor and outdoor section, sort of like sitting in and around the central courtyard of a Spanish hacienda. I am not sure what arrangements have been made for when it rains - would be silly not to have contingency plans in a city like Bangalore - but the open air is refreshing and gives a lovely feeling of roominess.

We ordered the Bistro Lamb Burger and the Kheema omelet. Both were fairly good but a meat patty will never compare to an actual cut of meat. The burger stuffings were clearly well planned and done proportionally, ensuring that it does not disintegrate or fall out of the bun. For a place that can get one of the more difficult parts of burger making correct, I am surprised the chef chose to go for meat patties than actual meat. One reason, I suppose, is the price, which is very reasonable.

This bistro would truly rock if it had a few brunch drinks but I hear that a liquor license in India requires one to have close ties with an apostle and the ability to purchase half of Madhya Pradesh! Anyway, the coffee choices were good but it would have been great if they could have had a medium tumbler of good old fashioned South Indian filter coffee as well for when you have eaten too much on a cool, shady afternoon!

Not a bad place overall but I would try other things on the menu before the lamb burger.

Rated 4.6 on Zomato with effusive reviews, I half expected to be cooked for by Massimo Bottura and served by Federica Fellini - Truffles was good but not that good!

Three of us popped in on a lazy Sunday afternoon and luckily got the last free table. The restaurant supposedly opens at noon and if you don't like waiting, I suggest getting there by 12:10 pm. The crowd started building outside within minutes.

It's a pity Truffles has gone with a new decor. The old style had some personality, some pizzazz, while the new look is rather sterile.

Anyway, we seem to have gone on a bad day because the first five things on the menu in the appetisers and salads section that I asked for were not available. Finally, we settled down with a hard-earned Chicken with Black Pepper. It was simply delicious and left us wondering how good the main courses would be.

For the main course, we ordered the Italian Pasta Alfredo, the Chicken Diane, and the All American Cheese Burger. The Alfredo was very good but I was surprised by the chicken and the burger. Both were decent but not mouthwatering masterpieces we expected after the appetiser. The burger was actually a little cold as if the chef had cooked it and put it out but the waiter had not got around to serving it for a few minutes.

The worst part about the places was the service - when I ordered lunch, I seem to remember Napoleon Bonaparte on the throne of France but by the time I got my food, some François Hollande was president!

Truffles is not a bad place but it does not live up to its Zomato rating. Despite the slow service, I think I will try Truffles again - that appetiser makes me feel that it has a lot of potential that wasn't on display when I visited. And I'll update this if I'm proven correct.

After lunch at Red Fork across the street, we ambled down to Häagen-Dazs. The ice cream was excellent, even if the service was on the slower side, but it was ridiculously overpriced. Furthermore, the company does not seem to have its entire range in India yet. We didn't go for the signature items but chose individual scoops instead. The Vanilla and Florentine and Caramel Cone were our victims and admittedly, they were very good...as Häagen-Dazs always is. However, if they are going to price the Indian market at the same rate as their foreign market without taking into account the purchasing power parity, they had better hope that the 5% eat lots of ice cream!