As the clock ticks by

This vegetarian hangout is ideal for lounging around with your pals after college and taking every minute by the hour

The Hot Oven lies behind the most prominent landmark of Vijayanagar, the Maruthi Mandir.
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Started by a husband-wife duo, this pleasant cafe has warm interiors with green playing a major part in the colour scheme.

A fireplace greets you, as you enter leaving not much to the imagination as to why it is called The Hot Oven. But before you think you are in for a run in a sweltering oven-like place, relax.

The air conditioner works just fine. Tiled floors, red chairs and tables and Chinese paintings on the wall form the decor of this cafe.



The Hot Oven serves pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, puffs, mocktails, desserts, ice cream along with coffee and tea and aerated drinks. We started off with two mocktails: the Watermelon Sparkle (Rs 65) and the Green Apple Delight (Rs 60).

Both these mocktails with freshly squeezed juices were refreshing for us, as we had just stepped in from the hot sun outside.

We tried the Potato Wedges (Rs 60) and Garlic Bread with Vegetables (Rs 70) next. The Potato Wedges were crunchy to bite into and very tender from inside.
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The garlic bread came with loads of melted cheese topped with softened capsicums, onions and tomatoes and was garnished with chilli flakes.

The bread was baked to a slight crispiness. The Hot Oven has decided to give the meat eaters a miss with their entirely vegetarian menu.

Next up on our order list were the Veg Burger (Rs 45) and a Jumbo Corn Cream Sandwich (Rs 60).

We found the patty in the burger a tad greasy; in fact the oil had soaked through the burger bun and the dripping feeling wasn't a pleasing experience.

The corn cream sandwich was nicely grilled and came stuffed with creamy mayo and corn and layered with spicy pudina chutney. This one packed in quite a punch.

After a bout of heavy snacking, it was time to call in the desserts. Since we had had a very tiring spin in the hot sun outside, we decided to give the array of chocolate brownies, muffins, strawberry and blueberry pastries a miss and instead settled for a scoop of chilled litchi vanilla ice cream (Rs 60) and Butter Scotch with nuts and caramel (Rs 80).

The litchi ice cream was good old vanilla ice cream garnished with freshly crushed litchis and was quite the heaven to consume.

The butter Scotch ice cream was crunchy and gooey and came topped with caramel sauce and loads of nuts.

Though The Hot Oven is not so hot as far as an innovative cafe style menu is concerned, it is the regular snack fare that is served here with utmost honesty. There is a certain wholesomeness to the food and it does not dig a deep hole into your pockets either.
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It is an ideal place for teenyboppers to hang out, where one glass of iced frappe can be nursed for hours amidst college gossip and banter and no one standing on your head ready with the bill.

At: 1700, 17th Cross, 22nd Main, Vijayanagar
Call : 2315 9411
Meal for two Rs 500
The Hot Oven didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.