Night Market at The Fatty Bao

2016 is coming to end and with this festival season, The Fatty Bao brings to you Night Market, the year-end, big, bang festival inspired by the diverse street food grills and night market delicacies from across East Asia. While I have been planning to visit different countries of Asia for my travel, it just did not materialise so this food festival gave me an option to enjoy the region's food in Bengaluru.

The place is lit up with fairy lights and acoustic music played throughout while one enjoy hot sizzling grills to magical drinks. Chef Prashant and his team will leave you spell-bound with some amazing flavours from the streets of Asia. A meal with delicious Asian street food and the coolest cocktails, you will experience the diverse styles, flavours and food traditions of the region. 

While I sipped on mocktails from their regular menu sushi's had arrived. Veggies can enjoy Vegetarian Temari Sushi, a thread ball shaped sushi with seasonal vegetables while tuna lovers like me can enjoy Tuna Oshizushi, pressed Sushi with soy caviar. I had started enjoying Sushi from The Fatty bao so this place will always remain close to my heart and tummy.

From the grills, quick bites were served, started with Grilled Quail Eggs with sambal oelek which I enjoyed from the skewer, next was Fire Cracker Chicken Wings stuffed with basil jasmine rice which had a burst of flavors in my mouth. Fried Stinky Tofu with scallion & chilli sauce did not stand out much for me as I am not fond of tofu. Lastly, Chicken Gochi, fried chicken topped with chilli garlic sauce and cheese was a decent quick bite.

They also had Mu Ping- Thai grilled marinated pork tenderloin served with papaya salad and Hashimaki which is a Japanese omelette on chopstick with shredded cabbage and bacon which I did not try as it had pork.

From the Fatty Platters, I tried the seafood platter - Kushikatsu Seafood Platter which had a selection of bite-sized pieces of fish, prawn, squid and oysters, deep-fried and served with a sweet-chilli sauce. This did not suit my taste buds as I do not like deep-fried dishes. There is a Kushikatsu Veg Platter for veggies too which has Lotus stem, eggplant, mushrooms and potatoes.

My favorite from the menu was Mindanao Beef Skewer, char grilled filipino-style marinated beef cubes had the perfect blend of flavors which complimented the meat giving a satisfactory meal. Those who do not beef can try Malay spicy coconut lamb served in a skewer with coriander and peanut sauce. 

No meal is complete without desserts, so for Banana lovers like me, Tokyo Banana is a treat, an airy sponge cake filled with Banana Custard and served with caramelized banana ice cream. Another dessert which is on offer is the Filipino Lokot Lokot, Crispy rice net filled with  jaggery custard served with a lemon ice cream.

Special thanks to the Team of The Fatty Bao to celebrate my win for Best Lifestyle Blog 2016 at Indian Food Bloggers Awards 2016 :)

Some green tea to end the meal

You can enjoy the street food from the East till 1st January 2017, so this festival season if you are not holidaying anywhere and staying in the city like me, head to The Fatty Bao for a night market experience with a meal having flavors of Asia.

New Pizza's at California Pizza Kitchen

I visit California Pizza Kitchen again, you can read about my last visit here. This time, CPK, as it is fondly called has introduced 6 new pizza's which are 9 inch pizza which one can enjoy at Rs.249 plus taxes from Monday to Friday. Head to CPK before this limited offer.

Let me write down some of the pizza's which I tried along with their starters and my favorite desserts. I had some of my usual quenchers during my visit.

























I have to mention this, Lettuce wraps with shrimps, is a must try for me. It had wok seared shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, carrots and green onions tossed in soy ginger sauce along with shrimps. It is served with spicy ginger sauce and iceberg lettuce cups. A little sweater to taste but taste best with the lettuce.

Spicy chicken supreme was next and was recommended by the chef too. It had panko coated boneless chicken strips fried and tossed in their special tangy wing sauce, served with crispy tortilla salad and herd ranch sauce. It was a hit on my table which the order being repeated. Surely the best selling dish at CPK.

Chipotle grilled chicken was the last starter served. It had a smoky chipotle peppers marinated chicken strips, grilled and served with house salad and herb ranch dressing. It was juicy and liked by all. I preferred the other two starters over this.

Then came the pizza's. I mostly tried the non veg pizza's along with my favorite Kasundi pizza which I had earlier during my earlier visit.

Tijuana chicken pizza was first to be served on the table, it had an albuquerque sauce on a regular crust with mozzarella, grilled onions grilled chicken & sliced jalapenos in the style of tijuana. Garnished with cilantro. Regular crust aren't my favorite but it is filling, jalapenos gave a tangy taste to the otherwise bland pizza.

Apollo pizza was next which had garlic marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted peppers, sliced mushrooms, grilled onions and marinated chicken. Good combination on thin crust pizza caught my attention and tasted good too. I preferred this over the previous one.

Spicy cilantro pizza was served. It had chicken with onion tomatoes and capsicum marinated in fresh coriander pesto and baked atop a thin crispy crust with mozzarella and cheddar cheese. The taste of the pizza's served got better with every pizza coming on the table and this was my favorite of the night. The coriander pesto did the trick. I hope this retains in the menu as I would enjoy this pizza upon my every visit.

I indulged in a little bit of Kasundi paneer pizza which is/was/will always be my favorite. It has makhani sauce, kasundi flavoured paneer, roasted peppers, tomatoes and onions. This pizza is little tweaked to the original pizza served earlier but this variety is also excellent and my favorite veg pizza at CPK. I'm glad that they retained this from the International Pizza and Beer festival menu.

Time for desserts and yes, this time I tried something more than the usual tiramisu.

Red velvet cake, is layer of moist cake with creamy vanilla cream cheese frosting and white chocolate curls. I have had better versions of this cake so this did not stand out for me but was tasty for sure.

Tiramisu, is the layer of rich Italian mascarpone cheese and espresso soaked lady fingers with a touch of kahlua topped with house-made sabayon and sprinkled with freshly grated dark chocolate. I just love this and enjoy it at almost all restaurants so here too I did like it.

White chocolate strawberry cheesecake, is one of the signature desserts, it is a mile high New York style cheesecake with an Oreo crust and swirls of sweet strawberry and white chocolate served with fresh whipped cream. Try this when you crave for something apart from chocolate or coffee. It does not have much of strawberry so do not hesitate.

Sticky toffee pudding, is topped with a rich and buttery caramel sauce, this toffee flavoured British style "pudding" garnished with pecan nuts just made a way to my taste buds instantly. I think my taste buds were waiting for a different taste which was provided from this pudding. I have visited CPK again just to try this dessert.

Chocolate banana cake, is a two flavours that were destined to be together. Rich and moist chocolate cake layered with banana cream and topped with a decadent chocolate ganache. A squiggle of banana creme sauce completes the dish. If you have a taste for banana then try this but do remember that this is a filling dessert. I enjoy banana and chocolate combo but this dessert fills my appetite when I have less pizza's.

From this visit, my favorite's are - Lettuce wraps with shrimps, Spicy chicken supreme, Spicy cilantro pizza, Kasundi paneer pizza and Sticky toffee pudding and Chocolate banana cake. What are your favorites?

Republic of Noodles at Lemon Tree Hotel

I was invited to a Pan Asian restaurant in Lemon Tree by the name Republic of Noodles. Over a year, I have developed a good taste for asian food. It a cosy restaurant with dim light and low roof with bright color seating with standard seating across the restaurant.

For drinks, I started ,my evening with Sunshine in the evening which was refreshing and thirst quenching followed by Apple Frappe but twisted to a refreshing drink. I preferred the former over the latter.

Fried wontons came on the table first. Portion could have been a little more is what I felt. Fruits with wontons was had by me for the first time.

The Crispy Water Chestnuts with Bamboo shoots was served next. Not really fond of water chesnut starter, hence did not enjoy it much. The starter was filled with herbs which is why I could try it.

Banana Leaf wrapped Grilled Fish was next which excited me the most. Basa was cooked well and the taste of banana leaf was also present. It was simply delish and had an extra serving of it.

The Steamed Tofu with lime chilly dressing came next, not fond of tofu actually, but this came as a surprise to me. I actually liked tofu with lime chilly dressing giving it a pungent taste in every bite. Full marks to this.

Thai garlic pepper prawns which were fried and seasoned with herbs was good. I usually have sauteed prawns. But this was crispy and with the seasoned herbs it gave a flavor in every bite.

Grilled mushroom was served and by now you would know that I have not been a big fan of mushroom and especially in starters so I gave this a miss after tasting one.

Veg Vietnamese roll came along and this surely is something I would like to eat a little more. I like veggies in such roll with minimal ingredients to enhance every flavor.

Soups came in next, Tom Yum Goong soup was my choice. It was made to my taste, a clear soup with boiled prawns. One should try this during their visit.

The Veg Indonesian Soto Vegetable soup looked heavy and creamy with loads of vegetables in it. I just had a spoon of it and cannot write much.

Time for main course, I started with Phad Thai noodles. I don't like peanuts but it complimented the noodles very well and at least 1 peanut came in every morsel.

Another commendable dish was Green curry of prawns with Steamed Jasmine rice. Earlier I thought, green curry went really well with noodles but green curry with prawns tasted better with rice.

Some of the other served dishes which were served were Cambodian Chicken curry, Malaysian Family style chicken, Thai Fried Rice with chilli and basil, Tofu with exotic mushrooms, and Sri Lankan Curry fish. etc but I will try these the next time, esp chicken curry.

To end the meal, I was really waiting for this, Water chestnut rubies and longan in coconut milk was served which I thoroughly enjoy at every place so did I enjoy at Republic of Noodles too.

























Coconut jelly with mango cream sauce was served. Coconut pudding tasted good and refreshing and the mango cream complimented it.

Natural flavored ice cream platter was the last on table with various flavors on offer. Tamarind, Kaffir lime, Choco Chilli, Wasabi, Lemongrass and Green Tea were on the platter. I tried Tamarind and kaffir lime for the first time and was mighty impressed with the taste. Wasabi, which I avoid most of the time, was not very strong hence I could eat it. Green tea and lemongrass are always refreshing along with choco chilli which gives a spicy after effect while having chocolate.

I enjoyed my meal at Republic of Noodles and will visit again to either try new dishes or try my favorites again. Hope this helps you to decide your dish during your visit to RON :)