Happy New Year !

Good bye 2023!

Hello 2024!

Burma Burma with Mahaan

Almost 16 years ago, one of my blog friends Boo gave me this "Thinking blogger award" along with four other blogs. One of them got my attention as it was named "Dubukku" , an infamous slang word in Tamil. It turned out to be an interesting Tamil blog that took a critical and satirical view of everyday life and was presented in a uniquely humorous style of writing. It turned out to be one of the pioneering blogs in Tamil and quite a famous one too. I greatly admired the writing skill of this blogger from London and quietly followed him for many years. Few years ago he migrated to writing in the facebook as "Mahaan Arooban" and we connected again in facebook. He had an admiration for my art works and I had an admiration for his humorous writing skills. I was really exited when he messaged me few days ago that he is visiting Bangalore and wished to meet me. So today we finally met in person after almost 16 years of online friendship. The first person Iam meeting from my blogosphere!

Mahaan is a vegetarian and so I suggested to sit for lunch at the "Burma Burma" - the new Burmese cuisine restaurant & Tea room at the Phoenix Mall of Asia. Many friends had recommended the restaurant recently and I thought today was the best day to try it with my friend who is also a foodie. The menu was quite heavy and the names of the dishes gave us no clue. We took the help of the friendly waiter Ropsan to guide us and suggest their signature dishes.

with Mahaan

We started with the Samuza hincho soup. It was a flavorful tangy soup of Samosa served with spring vegetables and chickpeas. Never seen this avatar of Samosa before..but we liked it!  For starters we tried the Wa potato - a wok tossed spicy potato dish mixed with peanuts, roasted chillies, lemon leaves and brown onions. This worked well with the tangy sauce.

Next came their signature plate of Lotus stem crisps strongly flavored with paprika. For the main course we went with Ropsan's suggestion of Panthay Khowsuey -  nothing but Chinatown noodles!  It was mild and well flavored. 

For desserts, I ordered Sanwin Makin - an interesting cake with Banana filling and ice-cream while Mahaan tried the apple & Hazelnut crumble. Both were exquisite and gave a fitting finale to the lunch meet...  A lunch meet to remember!

Choice of chutneys

Samosa Soup

Lotus stem crisps

Wa potatoes

Ropsan serving us the noodles

Chinatown noodles

Sanwin Makin icecream

apple hazelnut crumble

 

Christmas Lunch

In the past we had always traveled to my wife's parent's place in Karaikudi to celebrate Christmas. My mother in law always makes a memorable Christmas feast ! But this year we had to stay back in Bangalore as Nithila is in her final school year. So it was left to my wife to prepare a memorable Christmas lunch!

Our special lunch for the day was Mutton Biriyani. For the sides, my wife had made Chicken 65s, Egg gravy, Cauliflower fry and Vadais. For dessert she had prepared paruppu payasam and Gulag jamuns. It was indeed a sumptuous lunch.

Vadais

Curd Raitha

Cauliflower fry

Mutton Biriyani

Egg gravy

Chicken 65

Gulag jamuns

Merry Christmas !

My wife and our tree

Our Nativity (Manger) set 

 

Nithila with our tree

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas !

Christmas tree!

 Massive 100 feet tall Christmas tree at our Phoenix Mall of Asia !

Dinner at Naachiyar's

Our last minute dinner destination on Sunday evening turned out to be the Naachiyar's , a Chettinad cuisine restaurant at Ulsoor. We had been there many years ago. In fact we discovered it then (around 2008) after seeing its name as the winner of the Best Chettinad restaurant in Bangalore, in the Times Food awards. Then it was on the first floor and quite a busy place with a lot of waiting time! Over the years it lost its popularity and taste and we stopped going there. We heard it was relaunched few years ago in a small space in the ground floor of the same building and with good reviews. So this time we decided to try it again. The place was quite small and not so busy as we had seen it in the past. The ambience was cozy and well done in the typical Chettinad interior architecture with carved wooden pillars, aathangudi tiles, brass bells, etc.  The bonus for me was the TV airing nostalgic Ilayaraja's songs in the background. That truly set the mood of the eatery.

Naachiyar's at Haudin road opposite to the Ulsoor lake

The small entrance

Short Chettinad door frame...you need to be careful not to bump your head 

Chettinad ambience

One of the Awards from a glorious past

 We started with the chicken soup which was quite spicy for regular standards. I had to squeeze a lemon to douse the heat! But my wife did enjoy it as she loves spicy food. Next we ordered masala Omelettes and  Vazappu (banana flower) vadai as starters. The vadais were crispy and well made. We liked the food served on clean banana leaves over plates.

Chicken Soup

Vazappu vadai

For the main course, we went for the light Idiyappam that went well with the Prawn gravy. We shared a egg Kothu parotta that was one of their must tries. 

Idiyappam served with Sambar and coconut milk

Masala Omelette - perfect!

Prawns gravy

Egg Kothu parotta

Nannari Sharbet

We finished with the traditional Nannari Sharbet to cool the spices. The food is good but not for people who are not used to spicy food!  Their menu looked exhaustive and we certainly need to visit again to try other signature dishes like their Biriyanis, seafood, etc. 

Good and prompt service, reasonable pricing and a pleasant experience overall!

Bubbles seller...

 Clicked on the way...

Street singer

clicked on the way...
 

Lunch at Karnatic

   It was my wife's birthday and we decided to have our lunch out at the Paragon @ St.Marks road. But to our dismay there was a huge waiting crowd and it seemed impossible to get a seat. So we walked down Church street and made a random choice to try out "Karnatic" , a south Indian cuisine restaurant cum bar located on the 2nd floor of a building. The place was quite compact but the interior truly reflected the cuisine served and felt warm and welcoming. The place was relatively free to my surprise.

The waiting area

The traditional entry

Interesting wall art

 The restaurant worked on a combination of selected cuisines covering all the south Indian regions - Karnataka, Coastal Mangalorean , Andhra , Tamilnadu and Kerala. 

 We started with the local sweet "Obbattu" ( also called Puran Poli) and went for Ghee roasted Prawns as starters. The prawns were tender and well spiced. Next we ordered Neer Dosas that were costal mangalorean food. This was one of the best neer dosas I have had in Bangalore. They went well with the Chettinad chicken curry.

Chettinad Chicken curry

Soft Neer Dosas

 

Prawns Ghee roast

Guntur Biriyani

 Next I wanted to order my usual favorite Mutton Biriyani. When the waiter asked us if he can get us Guntur biriyani I made the mistake of saying 'Yes' without realizing that Guntur meant its Andhra cuisine! True to its name, it was the most spicy hot biriyani I had every tried. I had to request for extra curd and Lime juice to douse the fire. We later realized they had many other lighter varieties Biriyani's to choose from...That's for next time!

Curd rice "mosaranna"

 After the small fiasco with Biriyani, we needed to set our system right with a plate of  tasty Curd rice.

  

Elaneer Payasam

 Both their desserts are a must try here. One is the Elaneer Payasam rich in tender coconut flavor and delightfully creamy! The other is the coconut mousse served on a coconut shell... equally good!

Overall a very happy experience that left us wanting more...We surely plan to visit next time, maybe on a weekday and try their plantain leaf meals and many more! 

Coconut Mousse

Birthday girl waiting for her dessert!

Dessert time!