26 November,2010 10:57 AM IST | | Namita Gupta
With a flurry of North-Indian eateries in Koramangala, another one on the block is brow-scrunchingly unfathomable, unless it's soon spruced up and stands the competition. Read on to find where Panache fares on our MiD DAY Guide test
Now, we did tell you that the foodie belt of Bangalore, which is Koramangala, has already crossed the 400-mark-restaurant-list, but let's tell you now that North-Indian fare here seems to be the favoured cuisine. The 80-feet road itself boasts of a dozen eateries serving cuisine from up north.
Panache
Food:u00a0 average
Service:u00a0 contemporary
Ambience:u00a0 quick
Another new addition from last week is Panache, a sleek fine dining restaurant promising to whip up North Indian specialties. But are they doing it with ufffdlan and panache, as they claim, is for us to discover?
And so, we guinea pigs hopped by one surprisingly sunny afternoon. It was surprising because the sun had been kind enough to peek out after a few days of dark ominous cloud cover. Since it was a tad harsh, we chose to ditch the alfresco tables on the first floor of the restaurant and chose to sit on the ground floor.
You'll be starved for colours here. The spacious interiors are done in black and white with the walnut brown furniture thrown in. We wish the black and white theme had been extended to the furniture too.
A hanging bar literally hangs between the ground and first floor of the dining area, but leaves us wondering on the functionality of the whole hullabaloo. We flipped open the pithy menu and were already feeling jaded. It seemed like we've seen it all with nothing that seemed different or a piece de resistance that we'd jump at.
Skipping the liquor menu, we picked the Aam Anaar Ka Panna (Rs 75), which was a cool concoction of mango and pomegranate. The appetizing tangy drink worked the right zing on our palate and was so alluring that we were ready to take on a whole pitcher, but sadly there was no such option on the menu.
The Phaldhari Chaat (Rs 165), a medley of fruits, capsicum, mushroom, sweet potato and cottage cheese tossed in a tangy sauce that we ordered along, was disappointing. Next on, was the Taimoori Ras (Rs 95), a mutton shorba, which was a hot and perfectly balanced spicy clear soup making us drool in its lingering aftertaste. We teamed it with the Murg Tikka Alishaan (Rs 195), which were chicken cubes anointed in spices, with the cheese coating on the morsels making our taste buds perk up.
Spotting Makki di Roti (Rs 25) and Sarson ka Saag (Rs 145) for the mains made us reminiscent of the lush green fields. The vitamin-enriched dish was robust but not as much as the one that is the pride of the winter cuisine in Punjab, owing to the canned spinach saag that you get in the city.
We followed it with the Dum Ki Gosht Biryani (Rs 295), which had tender mutton chunks mixed with long fine grains of rice. But having our suspicions about the dum, we checked with the chef and knew we were right when he told us the dum clay pots were yet to arrive in their kitchens.
My dining companion and I ordered a Shahi Tukda (Rs 125) and decided if we liked ours we would try another dessert option. The fried bread was tough to scoop out with the spoon and even harder on the bite. The reduced milk on top was grainy and looked like it had been just nudged out of a freezer, dashing up all our hopes for a sweet ending.
At: Panache, 84, ST Bed, 4th Block, Koramangala.
Call: 4212 4141 / 4217 4141.
Meal for two: Rs 1,000.
Panache didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.
