Well Garden (Mandrem, India)

Cross-posted from http://lawolf.net.

Rating:

As Kenny mentioned, Sean’s good friend Josh planned our Goa trip for us. One of the places he emphatically recommended was Well Garden, a hidden little restaurant behind the mini-mart in Mandrem. One of the common features of Josh’s recommended restaurants seems to be that we can’t find them on our first try; on our first night in Goa, we tried to dine at Well Garden, but after a bit of searching gave up and ate at Dunes. The next day, we had better luck, and we enjoyed a lunch of homemade fettuccine with pesto and a delicious salad of beans, celery, apples, and onions. We learned that the famous wood-fired pizzas were only available at dinner time, so we planned to return the following evening.

On our second visit, we just had to have the delicious bean salad again. We also ordered a pizza with eggplant and capsicum, which was thin and crispy, and featured tomato sauce, cheese, and veggies in just the right proportions.

When Sean and Freeman arrived on Friday, the first item on their agenda was pizza at Well Garden. So back we went, and we also enjoyed a farewell dinner there last night. Unfortunately, after our first two meals, the bean salad was never available again (maybe we consumed all of their beans?), so we tried a few other salads which ended up being much less exciting. The hummus was equally uninspiring. But the pizzas and pastas were reliably good, and we never minded that they were out of chicken so that Sean couldn’t corrupt us while we were in detox mode (no alcohol or meat for a week). The big surprise hit was the chickoo cake, which we enjoyed on two visits in a row, and even ordered a second slice of on our last night.

If you’re headed to Goa, I’d definitely recommend Well Garden, but stick to the pizzas, pastas, bean salad, and chickoo cake. Trust me, I’ve tried most of the menu. ;)

Eggplant and capsicum pizza
Eggplant and capsicum pizza from the wood-fired oven

Bean salad
This delicious salad had beans, apples, celery, and onions. I will certainly be trying to replicate this one at home.

Hummus
Hummus

Chickoo cake
Chickoo cake

Well Garden
Behind the mini-mart 
Mandrem, Goa, India

Jayamahal Palace Brunch (Bangalore, India)

Cross-posted from http://lawolf.net.

Rating:

After a lazy morning playing cards at home, Archana suggested that we head over to Jayamahal Palace Hotel for brunch. She had been before, and had fond memories of the beautiful garden atmosphere, coupled with an all-you-can-eat brunch with unlimited beer for Rs 500.

When we arrived, we learned that brunch was no longer served in the garden; we were initially disappointed, until we learned that the new brunch location was at the swimming pool and that the brunch price included use of the pool facilities. We conveniently even had our swimwear with us, as we had originally intended to hit the Bangalore Club pool after brunch!

Kenny and I were still recovering from two consecutive nights of excessive wine consumption, so we did not avail ourselves of the unlimited beer, but we did enjoy unlimited fresh lime sodas (salt, no sweet) from the bar. The brunch buffet consisted of a barbecue area with delicious kebabs grilling in the tandoor (I’ve been sticking to mostly veg food lately, but I did indulge in some spicy chicken tikka), and an array of curries, rice, dal and Indian breads. The tandoor was certainly the highlight of the buffet, but the other items were passable and the dal was very good after I mixed in some spicy red chutney.

Jayamahal was a great place to spend a hot lazy Sunday and, while pricy by Indian standards, is certainly worth the price of admission if you take advantage of the pool. Hopefully we’ll be back when we return to Bangalore for the wedding in June.

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Jayamahal Palace
#1 Jayamahal Road
Bangalore, India
+91 80 40580444

Coconut Grove (Bangalore, India)

Cross-posted from http://lawolf.net.

Rating:

Sadly, this is another review with no photos, because we dined at Coconut Grove during the period in which we were PowerShot-less (which we remedied later the same night).

We visited Coconut Grove on a Sunday evening in a large group; when we arrived, we had the run of the place (and it is not small). The dining area is a large open patio, with coconut trees and tile floors. The food is served on banana leaves and the beverages in copper cups. I haven’t been to Kerala yet, but I assume that they’re going for an authentic Keralan feel.

“The” thing to order at Coconut Grove (and other Keralan restaurants, I’m told) is appams – the appam is to Keralan food what naan, rotis, and chappatis are to the cuisines of other parts of India. It is simply a round rice batter pancake, but it’s thick and spongy in the middle, and is perfect for soaking up delicious coconutty curries. I was also told that they’re wonderful with a fried egg on top, but we had to save something for our next visit.

We ordered several curries for the table:

  • Chicken Stew – the most popular appam accompaniment, a coconut curry with chicken and potatoes. I was actually a bit disappointed by this one, as the flavors were bland compared to the other spicy tomato-ey curries that we ordered.
  • Veggie Stew – a vegetarian version of the above.
  • Kuraliach Kadi – crabs in a fiery red masala with a hint of tamarind. Spicy and delicious, but lots of work dissecting the crab.
  • Nadan Chemeen Curry – this was basically the same as the Kurialach Kadi, but with prawns instead of crabs. The prawns were slightly less flavorful than the crab meat, but much easier to eat, so I think this dish actually wins for overall enjoyment (we ended up ordering a second round of this one).
  • Kozhi Melagu – a Chettinad chicken dish with a masala curry and black pepper. Yum.

Coconut Grove was delicious and fun. I can’t wait to go back with the camera.

Coconut Grove
No. 86, Spencers Building, Church Street
Bangalore 560 001, India
+(91) (80) 25596149

Hotel de l’Orient (Pondicherry, India)

Cross-posted from http://lawolf.net.

Rating:

All of the India guidebooks rave about the excellent French food in Pondy. From my experience so far, I’m not quite convinced, as most of the places we’ve checked out seem to offer generic “continental” food that often appears more Italian than French and not particularly exciting. Last night we took a short walk to check out menus at three of the restaurants that both the Rough Guide and the Lonely Planet recommended: Madame Shante’s, Rendezvous, and Le Club. We found all of them rather uninspiring, but along the way we passed the Hotel de l’Orient, and were compelled by the gorgeous setting and live music to stay for dinner.

The hotel is a beautiful converted heritage house in the French Quarter. Like many of Pondicherry’s heritage houses, it features a lovely open-air central courtyard, which is where they’ve set up the restaurant. There were a couple of musicians playing guitars and singing American and British piano-bar-favorites with French accents (an effect made even stranger by the fact that they were Tamil).

I would classify the food at l’Orient as “French-Creole” rather than strictly French; many of the dishes on the menu were obviously French takes on Indian dishes, like curries and local South Asian vegetables.

We were very hungry when we arrived. We ordered a citrus salad with dates and figs in a rosewater dressing, a shrimp “cassoulette,” (apparently not a misspelling of “cassoulet”) and a lady finger curry (“lady finger” is the local term for okra). The food took a long time to arrive, and the bread that was placed on our table looked like a baguette, but tasted stale and chewy (typical for India, but a travesty in a town known for its French food and pastries). The salad was refreshing and quite a nice combination. The shrimp cassoulette was rich and creamy, in a green sauce that we wanted to lick off the plate. It was served with roasted potatoes, which soaked up the extra sauce nicely. The lady finger curry was enjoyable for the first few bites, but there was some strong flavor in the sauce that I tired of quickly.

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Courtyard restaurant

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Ladyfinger Creole curry

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Shrimp “cassoulette”

The food was good but not amazing. The service was gracious and polite but slow. The ambience was fantastic. Overall, it was a very nice romantic setting for dinner in Pondy, and likely better – and more unique – than most of the “French” restaurants that the guidebooks recommend. And because this is India, we were in and out for about $10 US.

Hotel de l’Orient, Pondicherry
17, Rue Romain Rolland, Pondicherry 605001
Phones: 0413-2343067, 2343068, 2346589