International Tech Park, Bangalore

For today's lunch, our team planned to go out somewhere nearby to eat, and we zeroed up on ITPB's Food court. Most Tamilians would have sighted this in the Film Ghajini where Surya and his PA walks along with a laptop and attends a call from Asin :) This ITPB is built by Ascendas. The plush green grass and the glass buildings looked pretty sophisticated.The Food court, other amenities, and the people coming out for lunch made me think as though we were inside a Mall or something. I wonder how one would get the mood to work from there :)

This saturday i was in Friday

With a neatly pressed Cotton Khaki and a german flag coloured stripped T-Shirt on i set out with no particular destination in mind. At Indira nagar a college friend joined me and by that time rain started playing havoc and we decided to settle down at TGI Friday's (Thank Goodness it's Friday), an American restaurant chain. We were welcomed by 2 waiters with a big smile and badges all over and we were shown the seats. Everytime we visit a bar attached restaurant, the Bar menu would be promptly handed over to me and the food menu to the others by the waiter, i dont know why and this time it was no exception :)

We ordered 1/2 of mushroom soup each and i went for veg chimichanga while my pal selected chicken tchoupatoulis and dismissed the, order one beverage get another free(Happy Hour) funda explained by the waiter(Note : Coke costs 95). A look around certified that we were inside a sophisticated watering hole with couples holding each other's hand.The chit-chat primarily centered around how could these guys afford not only for themselves but for the damsels by their side. By then our mexican food had arrived and it ressembled somewhat like indian food with rice and chappati kind of stuff and it was not the type of experience we had at little italy eating italian food(details in next post).

Now comes the interesting part, the bill came and we found ourselves astonished, looking at a whooping bill of 1102 just for the 3 items we had. The net bill was 900 and the Vat of 12.5 % and Service tax of 10% amounted to 1102.First time i am paying 22.5% tax :) We shared the bill and left the hang-out place with a free gift coupon of 500 which could be redeemed next time(who cares?? who gonna come again? atleast if they had waived the tax part alone this time i would have been happier) .The expenditure spree didnt end here, as my friend took out his bike the Security charged 20 for the parking lot fee :)

Visit http://www.tgifindia.com for more info

Naanum Nalla Paiyan than

This weekend i turned out to be good boy and started visiting temples (Plural because i went to 2 temples :) Saturday evening i went to the Maha Shiva Mandir in Kemp fort(Airport Road). The walk from 100 ft road through domulur to the temple was pleasing in the evening.The forest cover inside NAL, HAL, ISRO which could be seen from the road on one side and IT parks like Diamond District on another side strikes a contrast.

The entrance to the temple is very small and one would find it hard to believe that a huge statue of Shiva is inside that. For any tourist or a resident of Bangalore it is a must watch.There is a small cave kind of setup through which one could find all the Famous Shiva lingas and also stories about them.

Next day morning i went to the Iskon temple in Yeswanthapur. Instead of taking the straight route i went through hebbal with the BMTC daily pass tucked away in my pocket.The serene and clean surrounding speaks high of the temple.The grandeur of the structure makes one spellbound.Inside the Iskon there are sweets stall, Hotel, book store & Art emporium kind of. It is heartening to know that Iskon temple feeds 42000 children everyday. Iskon temple is one of the places which requires regular attendance.

South Indies - truly South Indian

This time i happened to chip in to this restaurant (south Indies - 100 feet road, Indiranagar, Bangalore) with Vineet and sarit to experience new things. If the receptionists in sarees are surprizing you in bangalore wait till the waiter pops in with a cool HP iPaQ to take orders from you. Then one of them hands over wet scented towels to clean your face and hands. What thoughfulness!!

The Menu card would stike you with awe because its nothing like anywhere else. The exotic thing with this is everything has been designed with some creativity from dishes to menu card to interior decor. Here you could have foods from all the 4 south indian states (Thats why its south indies!!!). we started of with the murungai charu(Drumstick leaves) soup with fried onions ( really nice combination!!!). Then we went on to kal dosai with karuverpilai poondu kuzambhu. This combination is smashing. Then we ordered neer dosa which is yet another delicacy. We finished off with besi bela bath. Infact the waiter told us that there is some 8 - 9 course treat for 500. since we did not have that much appetite we ordered individually. Surely i would go for that one day.

Comin to the wallet part, the bill was around 650 which is really worth. The hospitality of the waiters would amaze you. I would surely recommend people to this restaurant. This provides not just food but rich experience. GO Xperience it!!! For more details visit http://www.thesouthindies.com

Starting a new Thread

This is nothing to do with POSIX thread or kernel threads. As the days go by i find myself in a similar situation as i was some 4 years back. that is when i joined my college in madurai & i used to go far and wide to try out new hotels out there and sometimes i used to recommend people about which recipe is good at which place. similarly after been here in bangalore for some one and half months i have been to quite a lot of hotels and more joints are yet to come.Therefore i thought of recording my new discoveries right here.

Three Quarter Chinese
This fully chinese style restaurant is in the AMOEBA complex off brigade road.Though the entrance to it is not grand, once you are inside it strikes you with awe. The service is at its best. I was offered a non-smoking zone with two menu books(liquor & food) of which the first one i clearly evaded.I ordered for a LAT-CHE noodles veg and it puntured my purse by 170 (145 + VAT + all TAX) Though expensive its worth the experience and i would recommend it for atleast once.

Ambience : good
Service : Excellent
Taste : good
Bottomline : not exactly one of the places to throw a grand party.