Indulge in a cultural encounter over a dinner table

A new performance space in town, CounterCulture is a long drive from the city but promises you an experience that will satisfy both your musical and culinary senses

A new performance space in town, CounterCulture is a long drive from the city but promises you an experience that will satisfy both your musical and culinary senses

The city is burgeoning with bands and a typical weekend in town can leave you with as many as five performances to choose from. There's little that stops the music lover in the city to make it a gig-filled weekend. Numerous venues have spurted across the city and its outskirts and kept a larger musical tradition going.

Counterculture
Food: good
Service: average
Ambience: ineteresting

The newest in the block, CounterCulture is a restored old garage turned performance space located in Whitefield. Not particularly the easiest to locate and nowhere close to what one might call the centre of the city CounterCulture is for those planned evenings. We dropped by on one of those, in time to catch the first gig there. City-based trip-hop/ electronic band Tempto Tantrik and alternative rock band The Bicycle Days were all set to jam it up and officially open the space to anybody with an ear for music.

Stuffed Chicken

CounterCulture is a performance space, a bar and a restaurant rolled into one. Being spacious, with high ceilings and an attached open air section, drives away the feeling that CounterCulture is like an underground music scene-like space, we had expected it to be.

While one side of the space is dedicated to the stage, the other has quirky artwork filled walls and also doubles up as a bar counter on gig days. We chose a bar seat, that worked best owing to the slow billing process and the view from there. The music was loud though non-intrusive and the acoustics enhanced due to the high ceiling and open space, a pleasant experience altogether.

Unlike the expected finger food we were pleasantly surprised to see an elaborate menu in place for those stopping by for a meal. Choose from Continental, Chinese, a few Thai options and a live barbecue on special evenings. We opted for ordering our dinner at the bar and realised it was a good idea as the tables were only a few. Warm Chicken Soup (Rs 175) and Cheese Sticks (Rs 210) came first.

The soup was mildly spiced with a lingering flavour of coriander and pepper and shredded chicken. The cheese sticks with oodles of mozzarella cheese were definitely the show stealer especially when paired with the interesting avocado dip. The dip was slightly sour and generously creamy and worked well with the deep fried crispy sticks.

For the mains, we opted for Stuffed Chicken (Rs 250) and Beef Medallion (Rs 280). The chicken was well-done, topped with mushroom sauce and stuffed with finely chopped and seasoned mushrooms. This was served with a bite sized portion of risotto flavoured with mushroom sauce. The Beef Medallion was a bit tough on the bite and didn't enchant us enough.

There aren't any dessert options here, but there only that much you can ask for at a music space with a gig and a full meal, complete with forks and knives in place. Well worth the long drive we conclude.

At: CounterCulture, 2D2, 4th Cross, Dyavasandra Industrial Estate, Whitefield
Call: 41400793
Meal for two: Rs 1,500