Cafe Thulp - Now in Indiranagar!

Before I had known about the fame of this place, I had accidentally walked into it in its original location in a small bylane in Koramangala 1st block back in 2011. I remember thoroughly enjoying the hamburger that I had.

Had not been able to visit it ever since. Until they opened up a branch in Indiranagar at 80ft road and 6th Main. Headed for dinner tonight.

The place seemed pretty busy but we had a choice of three tables and we chose a corner one. The decor is quirky with action comics images on the walls and so is the menu card - all dishes have interesting names and descriptions.

I decided on the hamburger with cheese and Bacon. It comes with french fires, coleslaw and a pickled chilli.
The burger was great - nice and juicy patty, crisp bacon and crunchy veggies.

Nikita ordered an Italian grilled subway - mushrooms, mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes and basil inside a brown bread. It was very good too - grilled to perfection - flavors complimenting each other with the nice side of roasted potatoes and coleslaw.

We also had a drink of the homemade lemonade which was refreshing.

Only complaint about the place was the seating. The sofas are too low for the tables to be able to eat comfortably and the tables are too wide across to have a decent discussion without having to speak loudly.

There is no added tax or charge whatsoever. You pay what is in the menu.
Our meal came up to 550/- which is pretty decent for the quantity and quality of food served.

That's one more place added to our list of favorites and we hope to visit it often to try out all the different dishes it has to offer. They have pizzas, pastas, salads and a good collection of entrees apart from their burger offerings. They also serve beer!!

World Cup Trivia !

Below is a compilation of some of the trivia about world cup 2014 and world cups in general.

This list is not for experts, but more for enthusiasts like me..

1. First goal of WC 2014 was surprisingly an own goal by Marcelo of Brazil. No brazilian had ever scored an own goal in 84 years of the cup history. Brazil went on to win the match 3-1.
2. Spain - defending champions loses to Netherlands in what was a replay of the finals of 2010 and how? Spain1-Netherlands5. Spain had conceded 5 goals in their entire 2010 WC campaign, and they conceded the same margin in a single match.
3. The last time Spain had lost with this margin was 51 years ago in 1963 when it lost 6-2.
4. Brazil has won the cup the maximum 5 times, followed by Italy 4 times and then Germany 3 times. Argentina and Uruguay have won it 2 times each. France, England and Spain have won it once each.
5. Netherlands has been to the finals thrice but never managed to win it. 

The below is a list of records that were set only from a single game - the semi-final match between Germany and Brazil!

RECORDS BROKEN DURING THIS HISTORIC MATCH

·         Miroslav Klose broke the record for the most goals scored at the finals with 16, overtaking Brazil's Ronaldo.  

·         it was the first time 5 goals were scored in a 29-minute period of play.

·         it was the fastest four goals scored in World Cup history as Germany scored 4 in the space of six minutes (from 23 to 29).

·         it was Brazil's worst ever home defeat.

·         it was Brazil's worst ever defeat, tied with the 1920 loss to Uruguay with 6–0.

·         Germany became the goal scorer leader at the World Cup finals with 223, passing Brazil's 221 total.

·         it was the most goals scored against the host nation of the World Cup, with Austria beating Switzerland 7–5 in 1954; the next highest was Brazil who won 5–2 against hosts Sweden in 1958

·         Brazil had never before allowed 7 goals playing at home

·         the defeat broke Brazil's 62-match home unbeaten streak in competitive matches that went back since 1975 loss to Peru 1–3.

·         worst World Cup semi-final defeat.

·         it was first time since 1938 that Brazil have lost a World Cup semi-final, as they had progressed in their previous six.

·         it was the first time that Brazil had conceded more than five World Cup goals since 1938.

·         Brazil have conceded more than seven goals in a game only during a 8–4 friendly defeat to Yugoslavia on 3 June 1934.

·         Brazil is only the second host team to let in seven goals in a World Cup match.

·         it was Germany's highest half-time lead in a World Cup game, with their previous best being 4–0 against Saudi Arabia at the 2002 (their greatest win with 8–0).

·         only three teams have previously trailed by five goals at half-time: Zaire (1974), Haiti (1974) and Brazil (1938).

·         no other team has ever scored seven goals in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

·         Thomas Müller scored Germany's 2,000th goal in the history of their national team.

·         Müller became the third player in history to score five or more goals in two different World Cups (after Cubillas and Klose).

·         Toni Kroos' first-half double was the fastest brace in World Cup history, as he scored twice in just 69 seconds.

MTR - Mavalli Tiffin Room!

Well let me face it - this place is an all vegetarian South Indian affair, but I love it!
Why - They have loads of Ghee in all dishes and their ingredients are of the high quality and service is good.

They have a short menu but they know their dishes well and stick to the tried and tested ones.

The original place is near Lalbagh and I have never been to that place because of the long wait times. But when they opened a place at Indiranagar, we have started visiting that place quite a few times.

My favorite is the Masala Dosa which they serve with a tiny bowl of Ghee, so you can slather it over your crisp dosa which is already covered with ghee from the roasting. Well no one is complaining!

Last visit we had the full meals which is an interesting experience and at 220/- is decently priced for all the food that you get.





















You start off with some grape juice and then the Thali arrives which basically has unlimited mini-masala-dosas and puris along with the different types of veggies and chutneys.
Then comes the Dahi vada, followed by Bisi-bele bath.
Next is rice-sambar followed by rice-rasam and curd rice.

Oh there are also two types of sweets - payasam and a milk peda.

To top it all off finally, is a sweet-gulkand paan!


It is a nice place to have a wholesome, pleasing and authentic south indian dinner.

Cafe Pascucci

Wifey wanted to have a light dinner of some salad and sandwich. Among the places we found on Zomato, Cafe Pascucci looked inviting from the menu and we had anyways always meant to visit it.

It is a small place on 6th Main Indiranagar. The interiors are nicely done and they have free wi-fi which the waiter helps in connecting.

We ordered a Mediterranean grilled vegetable sandwich which was a nice and light sandwich. Served with a little coleslaw and an interesting sauce in which to dip your sandwich.






















Next was an antipasti of arctichoke bulb, olives, cherry tomato, mozarella cheese with pesto served with a couple of slices of garlic bread. There was also a small lettuce salad with a vinegar dressing.

Enjoyed the dinner and the bill amounted to a decent 400/-.

Plan to visit it next time to check out the other offerings this place has - especially the wood-fired pizzas and the iced coffees.

Suryawanshi - with a 'W'!

Sunday - 6th July- we headed out for lunch to this new place we had heard a lot about - "Suryawanshi"! It deals in Maharashtrian - kolhapuri and Malwani cuisine. It is next to the EPIP zone bus stop in whitefield. The place is decently decorated and definitely not like the 'Savaji' kahanvalis in north Karnataka.

The regular group again was there - Pavan and family and wifey. The place deals in Thalis and also a-la-carte dishes. We opted for some small starters - Sabudana vada and Misal-Pav, before choosing thalis.

The Misal pav was good and spicy ->
The Sabu-dana vadas were also pretty good - crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

 
We ordered a mutton fry thali for me and Veg thalis for the rest.


My thali was good - the chappatis were soft and the two mutton dishes - mutton curry and kolhapuri mutton fry were good too. But by god! were they spicy .. I still am suffering from that burning sensation. Apart from the dry red chillies - I could not get any other flavor and it was kind of disappointing.

The Veg thali also was good but nothing much to praise about - except of course the so
l-kadi! Yeah - the pink liquid is not strawberry milkshake - its a sour and lightly spicy drink.

Overall the meal for 4 cost us 1100/-. Note that there is a 14.5% VAT.

Its a good place if you can bear the spice and are a die-hard Marathi food fan.
As for us, it was OK-OK and we may not go back in a hurry.

Shebestan - An all arabian affair!

After reading some reviews about the not-so-widely publicized 5-course set lunch at Shebestan, we decided to try it out today. Being a Sunday, decided to check out if there are any tables available before we booked the coupons from Groupon. Luckily, there was and we landed up there at 1pm for what was to be a nice 2-hour lazy lunch - every bit of it enjoyable.

The decor is very good - classy without being too clunky or too loud. It would look even better in the evening with all the lamps on. We were seated in a glass top area which was like sitting out yet in the comfort of A/C.



 The food is a 5 course set menu - soup, starters, kebabs, Main course and dessert.
Once we settled in and ordered for a drink, the food started coming in.

First was a onion - chickpea soup. It was nice and light and very flavorful. I like the style of the serving bowl!







Next up was this whole combination of dishes for starters -

Hummus - cooked chick pea and sesame paste in olive oil
















Tabbouleh - parsley, mint and tomato salad
Potatoes cooked with oregano and onion






Falafels

Sliced Fish in bell peppers, onion and mint base







A beautiful walnut, cashew & pomegranate mash

and of course

Warm freshly baked Pita bread !!

We had a great time rolling these in and trying various small wraps. Each had a very wonderful flavour that complemented each other without any one being too overpowering!

Next were Chicken and lam kebabs. Lightly spiced and cooked to a perfection, these were wonderful ..
The lamb kebabs were juicy and smoky .. Just the way you would want it to be ..







We were kinda getting full at this point. But main course was yet to come ..






For main course we had a chicken rice and saffron rice. Again the flavoring was spot on .. I loved the Saffron rice ..

For sides we had a chicken curry and veg curry.. The chicken gravy had the distinct flavor of dried lemons used in so many of Arabian and Persian dishes.. Nikita liked it a lot since it was a bit on the sour side ..

Now we were really bursting .. But no nice meal is complete without desserts ..

For desserts we had the following - could not remember the names though
- Dry fruits stuffed dumpling in a syrup
- A baked dish with dry fruits, coconut and milk







Just sat around for some more time to lighten up a bit  after all this heavy duty eating ..




















Overall, absolute value for money .. The service was very pleasant and we were well taken care of ..
Would strongly recommend .. Do try this offer till it lasts. 21st June I guess is when this offer ends, but otherwise also this would be a nice place to return to for a beautiful a-la-carte dinner !

World Cup 2014 - Match 1 - Brazil vs Croatia !!

The much awaited WC 2014 kicked off today in Brazil!
First match between host Brazil and Croatia.

Slept for a couple of hours and got up to my alarm and was ready for the match after a splash of cold water..
The match was well worth it .. Intense and exciting with its twists and turns..

Surprise.. Surprise .. in the first 10 mins Brazil was down 0-1, thanks to an own goal from Marcello.. Nothing much he could have done but it was the only own goal ever by Brazil in a world cup final..

Brazil had all the possession - 70-30 by the end of the game and they pressed hard with Neymar finally delivering to the delight of the Brazilian fans to equalize at the 30 min mark.

Croatia did well to keep defending with the occasional counter attack. But deep into the second half when it looked like the match was heading for a well deserved draw, Brazil won a penalty. Did not look convincing in the replays and it changed the game. Neymar scored once again from the spot and the match was gone from Croatia.

A few minutes later Oscar who had been playing well throughout the match and deserved to score spotted a nice opportunity and netted the 3rd.

The match was now truly over and a few mins later the referee blew the whistle and the final scoreline read - BRAZIL3-CROATIA1.

But the match was more like a 1-1 for me for most of the time till the not-so-fair penalty changed the game.
All the home fans were ecstatic and I could retire to the second half of my sleep .. :-)