The foodie is back after a hiatus of a couple of months. After moving back to Bangalore, I was really looking forward to an authentically authentic North Indian cuisine. My mind was full of restaurant names I use to frequent 3 years back and I wanted to go to all of them at the same time. Our first visit was to a restaurant nearby, where we knew the food was tasty, but unfortunately they had stopped serving alcohol. Somehow, it has become an unwritten rule that thou shall commit a sin if thou shall visit a restaurant that does not serve alcohol. So, obviously we could not eat there. When we came out, a friend suggested we go to a place called 'Jalsa'. Having never been there, it was a consensus to go there.
The place was a direct lift from the sets of the movie Jodha-Akbar. The place had an ethnic look to it and the waiters were dressed like descendents of a royal family. For someone who wants to have a Kingfisher beer, beware, they serve only KF Strong, which somehow does not go with my taste buds these days. Anyway, being the accommodating person I am, I went with KF Strong. I would not mention a lot about the vegetarian stuff, as I did not have much of it, but others who did order veggies were very impressed with it.
Coming to the 'real food', we were only two of us who were meat-eaters. So we ordered half a tandoori chicken. Half the chicken was divided into two pieces. Very juicy and the spices were so so right. As we started digging into it, we realized how tender the meat was and how easily it came off the bones and melted in our mouth. The mint chutney, served along with was a treat as well. Once we polished that off, we were keen to sample the mutton Dum biryani, but to our bad luck, all they had was chicken biryani. Not to be de-motivated and disheartened, we ordered a chicken biryani. This was served in a 'handi' (mud pot) with the traditional raita. On top was freshly cooked and the aromatic basmati rice. As we dug into the mud pot, we got all the masalas and three tender, juicy pieces of chicken, completely immersed in the spices. Now this biryani was so relishing that it comes very close to my own benchmarks for biryani (Empire restaurant in Bangalore or Fishland in Hyderabad). We ate a hearty meal with just one bottle of beer to go along with it.
This place does loose out slightly on the monetary side, as it did turn out to be a bit expensive (Rs. 500-700 per person). A place to go on a birthday or anniversary or other special occasions, unless someone is like me, where every meal of the day is a special ocassion. We did not have the appetite for anything sweet. This place is on the ring road, close to Marthahalli in Bangalore. A must visit for all food lovers.
Happy Eating!!!
