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.

Fire Monkey - Flaming Fatty, The Chinese New Year Celebrations At The Fatty Bao

Starting February 8, 2016, is a Year of the Fiery Monkey on the Chinese calendar. To celebrate this, The Fatty Bao, Bangalore, welcomes the Chinese New Year with a flaming special menu and some truly fiery cocktails. I was invited for a preview of ‘Fire Monkey- Flaming Fatty’ their special Chinese New Year Festival from February 8-14, 2016 exclusively for lunch and dinner.

Started the meal with Dragon Sushi which is believed to be symbols of power, dignity, fertility, wisdom and auspiciousness, dragons are used in dance to bring luck too. The vegetarian version had Avocado, cucumber, pickled carrot and spicy mayo and non vegetarian version had Spicy salmon, avocado, tobiko, crab meat, spicy sauce and tenkasu. I am not a sushi fan but this was the best sushi I ever had and asked for another helping of the same. These were my favorite from the menu.

Next on the table were Jiaozi which are dumplings. binged on some chicken and asparagus jiaozi while the vegetarians were taken care with broccoli and almond jiaozi. As I don't eat pork, others on the table enjoyed Baozi, smoked BBQ Pork, which were very cute looking piggy faces and made it straight to everyone's tummy.

Next were golden fried crispy Spring Rolls served with a homemade dipping sauce. While I ate the veg version which had wild mushroom, vermicelli, spinach and tofu, others enjoyed spicy minced lamb, black bean and mint spring roll. The rolls were crispy and crunchy, cooked to perfection.

Cantonese Sweet and Sour Chicken was next which we had with steamed rice. Crispy fried chicken with pineapple and vegetables made the dish a little sweet.

Ramen Noodles was served in a fat round pot, the uncut Ramen noodle in an aromatic duck broth with fresh coriander, soft boiled egg, crispy garlic and poached duck meat was delish as I enjoy duck meat.

Lastly, Steamed Red Snapper, a whole fish steamed with Chinese black vinegar and chilli sauce and served with stir fried vegetables. I savored every bite with steamed rice. As this signifies increase in prosperity, one can enjoy this with full family.

No meal is complete without dessert and similarly no Traditional Chinese New Year is complete without the ‘Moon Cake’, they had their version of moon cake which is served with strawberry compote and black sesame ice cream.

We couldn't leave without having Fatty Hill which is from the regular menu, yes I had my own guilty pleasures.

Few refreshing mocktails which is not part of the festival menu.

Some refreshments after I end my meal.

So head to The Fatty Bao (3rd Floor # 610, 12th Main Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore- 560 038), wish them Nian Hao between 8th Feb and 14th Feb for lunch and dinner and relish this festive menu before they take them off.

All day dining at b Cafe, Shangri-La, Bengaluru

Shangri-La doesn't need any introduction but if you are not aware then they have opened their second property in India and the lucky city is our Namma Bangaluru. One of the finest hotels present in India, I was delighted to be part of their soft launch and the launch party. This time, I went for a review at their all day dining restaurant, b Cafe.

Located in the heart of the city, Palace road, Shangri-La Hotel, Bengaluru offer diners an array of authentic cuisines in some of the most spectacular settings in town. B-café is an all day dining restaurant at the lobby level featuring individual ‘open-theatre’ cooking stations and à la carte menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a lively, fun atmosphere. People can enjoy fresh, inventive dishes prepared à la minute by a team of international chefs from Italy, Japan, China and India, so basically you dine with the chef's :)

The staff is ever smiling, making your stay at the hotel or dine at the restaurant very pleasurable. The variety of food offered at b cafe is amazing, something which I haven't seen much in Bangalore. Chef Antonio Tardi, Executive chef says you can name any dish and you will be served. Chef Tardi along with Chef Rounak was all set to present us with their selection of lip-smacking food. While we waited for the food to arrive, we were munching on Mezze platter, where hummus, labneh, mohummara, taboulleh was served with assorted pita bread

I refreshed myself with 2 mocktails during my entire dining experience.

First came ‘Yonaha’s Sushi creations’ and the presentation with spectacular - Prawn Tempura sushi, cucumber and cream cheese sushi, carrot nigiri and Asparagus maki roll were neatly placed in a small bamboo casket, served with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi. All were cooked well and it had the right moisture.

Next was ‘Winter greens chef creation’. It had a baby beet, orange segments, goat cheese and arugula salad tossed fresh with olive oil dressing and shaved parmesan. As Chef Rounak mentioned, arugula tossed well and mixed with right ingredients can be enjoyed as a meal. yes, the baby beet and orange with parmesan did not make the leaves taste bitter, in fact it enhanced the taste of the salad.

Next came 'Dim sums', chicken and pumpkin in non veg, shitake mushrooms in veg, both were served with soy chilli and dragon chilli sauce. Nothing fancy but aren't these supposed to be enjoyed when stuck to simple creation?

I skipped the Orange and Campari Sorbet as it had liquor but for those who had, they enjoyed it while it cleansed their palate.

Well cooked lamb is always my weakness so when Roasted Slow cooked lamb leg, stuffed with spinach and cheese came, I had my expectations built up, especially after having such good food already. The lamb was marinated with house spice mix of herbs served with baby vegetables and rosemary jus. The meat was tender, the spices were just right which gave me my star dish of the night. I could another helping of it, if I did not have to eat anything else. Chef Rounak, job well done.

I did try a taste of Baked homemade potato gnocchi, with cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella. It was good but I was happy my lamb :) In between, I also had a tasting of pani puri which was served at the chaats counter, how could I miss it?

The last dish which came was Zaffrani murgh dum biryani which was served with mirchi salan and raita, homemade garlic pickle, cabbage pickle, lotus stem pickle and mango pickle. First about the pickle, I liked the collection, lotus stem pickle was my favorite followed by garlic pickle. The biryani was cooked well, the rice was moist, the chicken had the spices on it, none of the spices over powered the other, the spices were evenly spread across the entire biryani and lastly the aroma was tempting enough to clean the bowl of this delish main course. I can return to b Cafe for this biryani.

How can you finish a meal without a dessert? So Dark Chocolate fondant served with Blue cheese and pear ice cream. Delicious and extremely filling dessert which looked tempting enough too. Right balance of taste and looks, must-must try it.

The variety to offer is more and by the look of it, I couldn't think I would ever cover the entire spread. For the kid in me, I did have cotton candy before I left with a smile on my face and tummy being full. This was my second visit to b Cafe, but first time I actually tried the spread which is offered. My fist visit was a brief visit and I had chosen a la carte.

The various live counters at b Cafe can be seen below.

If you are looking for a restaurant to satisfy your taste buds for cuisines like chinese, asian, indian, japanese, salads, chaats, desserts, etc then b Cafe is your destination. They are aptly priced throught the 7 days of the week but the spread increases on a Sunday so I'm waiting to head to b Cafe on a Sunday to try their other offerings. By now if you are hungry, then head to b cafe :)