PinXX - Dickenson Road, Bangalore

Pinxx is the 24 hour coffee shop in Central Park hotel. [info]mannu and I had a second dinner cum breakfast there a little while ago — an appam with bacon and cheese, and another with chicken tikka, followed by coffee.

The place is quite nice looking. Good decor, nice music - even at 3am. They have a bowl of water with a flower floating on it on every table, and well, the place is all pink... enough to remind you of its name, but not enough to hit you in the head. The washrooms are labelled XX and XY - after the human gender chromosomes, and the basins are large bowls. Quite interesting in all.

When we got there, the tables were already ready for breakfast. There was butter, jam and marmalade at every table, and tea cups with tea bags on the side.

The appams were tasty, and the coconut gravy was really good, as were the two chutneys, one coconut based (green) and the other tomato based (orange). We felt that the quantity of meat was a tad insufficient though - especially for the price. The coffee (filter) was good.

I guess the price reflects the decor, and the fact that you are in a large hotel.

They have a breakfast buffet from 6:30am to 10:30am, I believe it's for Rs.165, and at lunch time there's a multi-cuisine lunch buffet.

Blues rates it:
Food - Quite nice
Service - Good
Price - Very high
Decor - Excellent
Overall - Great place if you can afford it, breakfast should be nice

Recommendation - If you're earning well, or you have a hot date who isn't into dancing, then this is one of the places you should visit. The bar closes early though.

Getting there:

Get to Manipal Centre on Dickenson Road, just off MG Road. Central Park hotel is at the back of Manipal Centre - the entrance is right at the back. Pinxx is on the first floor on the inside.

Gangotree - Church Street, Bangalore

Update: The restaurant has either closed down or moved to a different location

5 of us visited Gangotree on Church street today.

Tahir and I had been there earlier and tried out the Rasgulla chaat, which was quite good. We took some other guys there today to try more dishes.

Now Bangalore isn't known for good chaat, so when one finds a good chaat place, one must put it to the test.

Our aim was to try out the Jalebi chaat, that they serve only on Saturdays and Sundays, however they were out of it, as were they of Chinese golgappas. We decided to try out many other dishes.

Rasgolla chaat, papdi chaat, bread chaat, chola batura (why?), chinese bhel, aloo tiki chaat and finally, our own invention, laddu chaat.

The chinese bhel was absolutely amazing. The aloo tiki chaat (raghda pattice) totally sucked. The laddu chaat wasn't too bad, though since the laddu doesn't absorb liquid like the rasgolla does, it didn't work out quite right.

They have okay pani puri. I still prefer Karachi Sweets.

Blues rates it:
Food - Chaaty
Service - Not bad, the boy is easily confused though
Price - Ok, a tad high
Decor - Nothing
Overall - Good snack place

Recommendation - Go there for the chaat, on a weekend, you might also find some interesting social activity around the place.

Getting there:

Go down Brigade Road from the MG Road side, and take the first right onto Church Street. Keep on till you get to Barton Centre. It's right after that.

Lemon Grass - Bandra, Mumbai

Lemon grass is maybe the 3^rd or 4^th restaurant to come up at that location near the HSBC junction on Turner Road. There used to be Tacobel, which turned into Taco corner, which turned into something else, which finally turned into Lemon Grass. It has a kind of look that invites you in, while at the same time hinting that it could pinch your wallet. Then you get closer and the aroma draws you in for the kill.

Their best dishes are chicken based. I've tried the seafood on occassion, and it wasn't up to the mark. We tried a crispy Thai fried chicken with Phad Thai (flat) noodles. Moderately spicy, and very tasty, however, my tummy did suffer the next day. Your mileage may vary.

I do recommend this place for the various things it does to your tongue. I've been here three times in the past, and have liked almost everything tried here.

What I didn't like were the desserts. Their cheesecake sucked completely. Go elsewhere for dessert... you might find the kulfi guy across the junction a good place.

Blues rates it:
Food - Yum, but the desserts suck
Service - Sufficient
Price - High, but servings are large
Decor & Ambience - Excellent
Overall - Pretty good place to dine

Recommendation - Go there with a couple of friends and order 2 or 3 dishes. They have great starters.

Getting there:

On the junction of Turner Road and Pali road (the one that connects Hill Road to Pali Hill). It's at the end of the line consisting of Pot Pourri, Tiffin, Sahibaan and Lemon Grass.