All posts tagged: Pan Asian

Street Style Asian – Nasi and Mee (4th Block Koramangala)

I love small, quirky places with character and good food. Nasi and Mee easily fits into this category. Serving Pan Asian cuisine with an emphasis on authentic flavours this new eatery has become a fast favourite in Koramnagala. Considering it is 200 meters from my house, I have been running across in my pajamas on days that I need a galangal and kaffir lime hit. The name is derived from the Malaysian word for Rice and Noodles – Nasi and Mee 🙂 It could have been a sidewalk café, but considering the traffic jams that 100ft road sees, it’s wise that they have a floor to ceiling glass façade. The seating is casual with wooden boards atop an adjustable wrought iron base. The chairs are fashioned in the same manner and are very comfortable. Wooden crates serve as lampshades small steel buckets hold cutlery and basic wooden cabinets showcase fizzy drinks and kinckacks reminiscent of small eateries in KL. To the fag end of the restaurant is a faux bar (they do not have a …

Getting Fatter – New Menu @ The Fatty Bao (Indiranagar)

The cool thing about The Fatty Bao, is that they keep it interesting. A year into opening on 12th Main and they already have a fan cult following. I unashamedly am one of the suckers who’s drawn there time and again for their unbelievably scrumptious Char Siu Bao. The Ramen lover in me also subconsciously nudges me to their Asian candy land, every time I’m in Indiranagar. (Which is no mean feat considering the plethora of dining options on that charmed road!) A new menu obviously grabs my attention and the girls and I land up on a sunny Saturday afternoon to get a little fatter.

Fun Asian Eating – Mamagoto (Indiranagar)

Fun Asian Dining and quirky interiors might be all the rage these days, but in all honesty, Mamagoto was the true pioneer in India. Mamagoto literally means to ‘play with food’ in Japanese and that’s exactly what they set out to do. Experimental, Casual, and Affordable, this place tickles me in all the right spots. It all starts with walking through the big yellow door. Let’s go have a peek shall we?

Sunday Brunch @ HIGH Ultra Lounge

Sunday brunches are sure shot ways of letting all your diet plans go down the drain, or in this case go down a flute of champagne. Over indulgence aside, the sheer variety of cuisines laid out like a smorgasbord of sin is enough to send my head reeling. And with zero will power when it comes to the amount of food I consume – I’m walking on dangerous territory. So getting to HIGH Ultra Lounge for their Sunday Brunch was guided by two important aspects – a. They focus on just Asian fare which is definitely lighter than our ghee laden kormas and b. The absolutely fabulous cocktails their main man Guru dishes out. What’s a Sunday brunch without some tipple eh?

Vietnamese Summer Rolls: Light and Fresh

It’s 38°C! I’m almost tempted to break and egg on the pavement and see if it gets cooked! My house feels like a mini sauna and I have officially stopped wearing pants at home. (I wear cotton dresses – go wash your dirty brains :P). So it goes without saying that summer is here! Which is both a boon and a curse depending on which part of the world you live in. I, for instance live in a city that has salubrious climate for 80% of the year so any extremes in temperature is treated with great disdain. (Yes, Bangaloreans are spoilt that way!). Every year we just whine and crib till the first showers of April hit the sands and then we whine and crib that it’s monsoon already. This year is no different except that I learnt how to make some Vietnamese Summer Rolls. It’s fresh, light and all kinds of colorful. Just what summer should be?    This recipe is more about getting your mise en place and rolling technique right. Once …

Asian Grill Festival @ Shiro (UB City, Bangalore)

UB City has become one of my favorite places to hang out. The open air cafés and restaurants, the dancing fountain, the easy relaxed pace in the evening under the stars – I always feel like I’m out of Bangalore. Sunday brunches at Shiro – the pan Asian restaurant, is an indulgence that I often dip into. The Zen like ambience with the giant statues and the serene Buddha never fail to get me into a happy and peaceful mood. So when Shiro invited me to their Asian Grill Festival, I was more than happy to pay them a visit. Bangalore winters have started, so we chose a table inside right next to the Buddha. I was feeling good already!   (L-R: Pina Colada and Virgin Orange and Lime Mojito) We ordered a virgin Orange and Lime Mojito and a Pina Colada to start the evening. My companion and I were deeply engrossed in discussing the superstitions involved in having a Buddha statue at home. She had heard that placing a Buddha statue at home …

The Bork

Bork @ Monkey Bar, Wood Street, Bangalore I walked in to a familiar setting. Friends, food and getting wasted on drinks in the afternoon. It was the same this time. Like a warm blanket, familiarity can be comforting. There was a blackboard menu. Some new items of interest had made their way up there. A Beef and Jalapeno Potsticker, even a Salmon Khan! Should I shake things up a bit? The guy in the red t-shirt said yes. But of course he would… he worked there. So I tried it. Nice, but it wasn’t my warm blanket. I stirred my Mandarin Caprioska and told him I was shaken. I need to settle into my grove again. I ordered the Bork.  The pork was double cooked till he turned black. From that point on, he was called Bork. I gently removed the spring onion frills that he had chosen to be dressed with. Sesame seeds stuck to him like thick friends. No matter, the more the merrier. I cut into the Bork, gently lifted a piece into …

Singapore Black Pepper Prawns

Singapore’s most famous dish is undoubtedly the Chili Crab and the Black Pepper Prawns. When you walk down Clark Quay or Boat Quay you will find innumerable restaurants and street café’s serving up these super fiery dishes. The Chili crab is generally made with huge Sri Lankan crabs. If you put both your palms together, the crab will probably be larger than that! I’ve spent quite a bit of money on many many nights in Singapore digging into these critters! Another one of my favorites is the Black Pepper Prawns – buttery, peppery, hot awesomeness! They generally use Tiger Prawns for this with the tails (and sometimes the head on.) You yank the head off and start slurping down the sauce and the prawn meat, then finish by digging out whatever else in left in the tail. At the end of the night you have steam coming out of your ears and are sticking your tongue out and downing litres of beer but you can’t stop smiling, because it was so awesome! So here’s my …