898 does not have a repeat value. It's not a place we might visit again. But if you're looking for a pocket friendly chill zone with good music and earnest service, head there
898 does not have a repeat value. It's not a place we might visit again. But if you're looking for a pocket friendly chill zone with good music and earnest service, head there
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If you had three day-time jobs, would you find time to personally attend to your customers for one of them? Niyaz Ahmed does. We did want to quiz him on how many hours of shut eye he manages a day, but thought it might be too intrusive. Ahmed's three month-old terrace restaurant borrows its moniker from the address of the premises. Niyaz takes orders himself (that's how we learnt he owns the place), in between conversing with his Italian chef in fluent Italian. He is a gregarious man, telling us about his globetrotting days and offering us a complementary Virgin 898, a mocktail that's the restaurant's speciality. 
The place does make for a beautiful tableau, with its relaxed chairs and the hammock swing chair in a corner from where you get a bird's eye view of the topography of the bustling 80 Feet Road in Koramangala.
898 specialises in steaks and grills. But they don't use a charcoal grill. For starters, we had the Crumb Fried Mushrooms(R135) that came with a red fire sauce, the Mexican Pepper's(R 145), crumb fried buffalo cheese served with chilly mayo, the Mozzarella Cheese Sticks(R 140) and the Chicken Satay (R 200).There's almost no escaping cheese in the appetisers section, making it oneu00a0 that calorie watchers should ditch.
But they do a mean job with the Crumb Fried Mushroom. The mozzarella used in the cheese sticks was very dense, and didn't let go of our jaws, something we pointed out to them. It was the same with the buffalo cheese in the Mexican Pepper's. Besides, the chilly mayo was passive and lacked punch. We washed it down with a Fresh Lime Soda (R 35). But for those looking for alcohol with your steak, skip this place as they don't have a liquor permit.u00a0
The chicken satay was, however, palate pleasing with a coconut peanut sauce instead of the regular peanut variety that usually accompanies a satay. The Chicken Tom Yum Soup (R 125) was just perfect - refreshing and steaming hot.
For the mains, it had to be the steaks. We tasted the Chicken Garlic Pepper Steak (R 245) on the sizzler and the seer fish steak from the 'steaks and grills' section. Although the chicken was succulent and the sauce not overdone, it didn't quite have that effect on us that steaks are known for. The Seer Fish Steak (R 320) was much more flavourful -- with the sauce not attempting to overpower the fish.u00a0u00a0 But the steaks have to be much better to compete with fabulous steak joints in the city like Steak House.
They do a range of burgers, sandwiches and even pasta too. The pasta addicts in us longed for one and we went for the Penne All'Olio Alfredo (R 150). That's right. Now, an All'Olio pasta is markedly different from one with Alfredo sauce, as most know. The former is made with olive oil and garlic dressing. And Alfredo is a creamy sauce with parmesan cheese grating which makes Penne All'Oilo either a misnomer or a new age dish no one has heard of. So, we decided to play it safe and got our pasta custom made. Sun dried tomatoes, lots of mushroom, basil, baby corn, green and black olives and chicken were our requirements.
What came instead was pasta with thickly sliced red bell pepper that gawked at us through the penne, mushrooms, only the green olives and chicken. The rest of the ingredients, we were told, were unavailable. Nothing we asked for was so exotic and rare that it couldn't have been procured. Besides, the pasta was not dripping with olive oil as is the case in a well made All'Olio. The oil was so sparingly used that it seemed like a dieter's pasta. The Italian chef did argue that in his country, that was how All'Olio pasta was made. But no Indian restaurant, even those with Italian chefs, and there are plenty of those in town, makes it this parched.
We skipped dessert, because 898 outsources these and nothing was available on the day we visited them. If you're lucky, however, you might get to taste blueberry, passion fruit and strawberry cheesecakes, mango and chocolate mousses. 898 will open another branch in the city shortly. But before that they have to make their food as good as the price point.u00a0u00a0u00a0
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Where 898 Steaks & Grills 898 N Square Palazzo 80 Feet Road, 6th Block, Koramangala
Call 41435973/ 9632754416
Meal for two Rs 1,700
898 didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for its meals. The F Bar and Kitchen review, that was published on August 3 in The Guide, was also done anonymously.
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