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.

Curry & Kebabs menu launch at Saffron, Park Plaza

Saffron, North West Frontier cuisine, fine dine restaurant at Park Plaza Bengaluru launches the new Curry & Kebabs menu today and I was invited to enjoy their delectable selection of curry and kebab. Executive chef Ishtiyak took us through the menu along with Director of Culinary, Park Plaza, Narender Singh who spoke in length about the different menu available and the ancient recipe picked for the same. The cuisine is inspired from the delicacies of an ancient route which ran between Old Delhi and Lahore. Roasted in tandoor or on sighri, shallow-fried in a tava, deep-fried in a kadhai, even steamed on pots, the menu looks like a memorable gastronomical experience.

They have 3 different types of menu - Maharaja, Sultan and Nawab's priced at Rs. 2200+, Rs.1700+ and Rs. 1400+ respectively. I chose to enjoy the non veg Sultan menu. Started the meal with Kharoday - Paya ras which had lamb trotters simmered in aromatic broth. I am not a paya fan, in fact I avoid it the most but the aroma of the soup made sure that I slurpped.

Then came the kebab's. 5 kebab's were on offer. Jhinga kali mirch ka sarson, which had tiger prawns marinated with yogurt, crushed peppercorn and homemade Indian spices cooked in clay oven. Shami kebab, pan-fried shoulder meat of kid lamb, simmered with lentils and whole spices, stuffed with pomegranate and hung curd. 3 different types of chicken kebab's were there - Sufiyana murgh tikka, char grilled succulent chicken pieces marinated with fresh fennel leaves, cooked in clay pot. Murgh angar bedgi, boneless chicken legs marinated with fresh ground masala and broiled in tandoor. Murgh moongfali ka tikka, Chicken pieces marinated with cream, cheese, peanut and ground spices which is cooked in clay pot and topped with cracked mustard seed and curry leaves.

The kebab's were cooked extremely well. Murgh moongfali ka tikka was my favorite from chicken apart from jhinga kali mirch ka sarson. The kebab's were served with Missi roti, but I would have preferred rumali roti or nothing with kebab's. Nevertheless, I hardly ate 1 roti as I was busy relishing the kebab's.

Next course was Tariyan Te Sukhe Vyanjan. 4 curries, 1 dal and 1 Biryani was served along with Kulcha/roti or naan. I had my tummy partially full with kebab's so it was time to fill my appetite with the curries. Bhatti chowk da nalli ghost, lamb shanks cooked in onion and yogurt gravy flavored with saffron and mint. lamb shanks have always been my favorite and this was delish which was stright from the streets of Lahore. Anarkali bazaar de bater which are quails cooked in punjabi style. I did not enjoy this much. Safed Makhan ka chooza makhani, chicken cooked in homemade white butter with satin smooth tomato gravy, this was delectable with naan and kulcha.

Sarson da saag has always been my winter favorite, signature dish from the state of Punjab, mustard leaves and spices topped with generous amount of white butter. Maah ki dal or Dal Makhani as some name it, it is a delicacy of whole urad dal, tomato puree and garlic simmered overnight on tandoor, enriched with cream and served with dollop of butter. Dal Makhani has been my favorite and having the dal alone is what I always prefer. Lastly, Saffron Murgh Biryani was served which had long grain basmati rice cooked in dum with marinated chicken and flavored with saffron.

The variety for curries was good with lamb, chicken, Quail, Veg, Dal and Biryani. Biryani has a strong flavor of saffron which is evident in every morsel. I mixed with lam curry and chicken curry with biryani for an added taste.

I also enjoyed 2 mocktails which is not part of the menu during my meal.

After a filling main course, it was time for the dessert platter which had Kulfi Falooda, Kesar rasmalai and Gajar ka halwa with ice-cream. The gajar ka halwa was very tasty, similar to what my Mom makes but ice-cream was missing with it, but I did not mind as the halwa was good. Rasmalai has been my favorite dessert, these were small rasmalai dumplings but it lacked enough saffron. Kulfi falooda, pistachio-almond flavor was a highlight. To end the night, I tried the paan shot which was made from water and sweet paan.

Overall, the dinner was fabulous and rich. As the hotel is placed on the outer ring road, which has many offices and apartments around, one can savor the menu over family lunches or dinner or even team outings. The Maharaja menu has little more variety on the menu while the Nawab menu has a little less. The seating is neatly arranged using the entire space and giving privacy to every table. The yellow lighting in the restaurant is nice but not good at all for picture so bear the poor quality pics on the blog. This was my first visit to Saffron and I had a good meal which will bring me here again for the kebab's and curries

Atmosfire, the party makers in Bangalore

Atmosfire is a unique concept is brought in by Barbeque Nation, the pioneer of live grills. They are the party makers. They take care of all the party needs, from setting up the grills to cleaning up the place, everything will be handled by them. All you need to do is to dial in to arrange a BBQ party at your preferred location or at their location in Indiranagar or Electronic city. The minimum number of people for the party is 10.

They charge Rs. 350 and Rs. 450 plus taxes per person for Veg with an Edge and Meat Treats respectively. These are the basic rates and you can upgrade it by adding more dishes to the menu. You can add cocktails to the party but you will have to bring the alcohol and the bartender would mix up some cocktails and the basic price is Rs. 100 plus taxes for 2 drinks.

I was invited to a BBQ party hosted by Atmosfire so here I will pen down my experience for you. For mocktails, I had a Cranberry Fusion and lime soda during my meal which was refreshing and also cleansed my palette.
























I munched on some Bruschetta and Garlic bread which are my favorite as I waited for the starters to begin. These both were good and I could be biased because I like them a lot.

In veg, I tried the Veg Shashlik which was enjoyed with the dip, nothing unusual but enjoyed best with conversations and friends. Dahi ke kebab were good and one of my favorites from the menu. Veg Satay was also good.

Lahori Veg Soya chunks was different to my taste and really good. One should try this. Texas Barbeque Cottage Cheese with coriander dip tasted good, though I am not much of cottage cheese fan.

 

My favorite of all was BBQ Assorted Fruits (pineapple /Pears /Guava/Apple). On a summer afternoon, some BBQ fruits are just heaven on earth. We repeated this with grilled pineapple many times.

In non veg, my favorite was Moroccan Char mole Prawns, I love sea food and Moroccan prawns was truly yummy and I enjoyed this the most. My next favorite was Coastal BBQ fish. With dip or without, fish was delish.

Caribbean jerk Chicken was next and with garlic mayo dip, it tasted the best even when the spices were not evenly covered. Peri Peri Chicken Drumstick was my favorite chicken starter but I do not have a pic of it, meat was well cooked and now my mouth is watering and need some of these.

Shark’s Steaks with pineapple mojo was next, I did not know that it was shark, but the hint of pineapple was good and tangy taste was nice. Tandoori Quail was a little sweet in taste and by now, I was not in a state to eat further so cannot write much on this.

Arabian Kafta Mutton did not impress me at all as the meat was hard and not cooked well. The dip served were Zulu Coriander, Garlic Mayo, mustard sauce and BBQ Sauce.

Kache Gosht Ki Biryani, Kothmir mirch murg, Shakahari boti, Paneer lavang latika, Dal Tadka with Plain Rice and roti, naan and paratha was for main course. I skipped main course completely as I was completely full with the starters.

For desserts, fresh fruit gateau and rasgulla was served. I enjoyed the fresh fruit gateau more as I love it and helped my self with another serving of it.

I had a great afternoon with friend's, having some delicious food and fun conversations. The team of Atmosfire were very good and efficient to set up the party for us and also to clean up the place quickly.

Their contact details are below if you need to host a BBQ party:
Atmosfire: No 501 Binnamanagala extension 1st stage, CMH Road Indiranagar Bangalore 560038
Phone: 080-45511013
You can connect to them on Twitter, Facebook or their Website