BBQ Workshop at Weber Experience Center, Bangalore

Grilling and Barbeque sessions are always a fun activity. Weber organized an Independence day workshop at the Weber Experience Center. Having always fancied cooking outdoors on a grill, I jumped at the opportunity to attend this workshop.

The day complimented very well with the session by presenting us the perfect weather to be cooking outdoors.  With a round of introductions we jumped in preparation and cooking mode. Over the course of the next 4 - 5 hours, each of us participants shared responsibilities and got working right from preparations like kneading the dough for the pizza, slicing and dicing of vegetables, marinating the meat, assembling the desserts, grilling, baking and more.

With Neetha leading and guiding us through her recipes, we ended up cooking and eating the following:

Multigrain Pizza –Thin crust & Cheese Burst Pizza

Paneer Tikka on Skewers

Gooey Choco Lava Cake

Malabar Stuffed Chicken - A whole chicken stuffed with seasoned veggies

Herbed Grilled Chicken Tikka Sizzler with BBQ sauce

Apple-Walnut Pie

Yes!!! All of this was prepared on the Weber Grill.

At the workshop, I got to meet some lovely people with a common connecting factor - Food. In addition to meeting people, grilling and eating a lot of food, we also learnt:

1. Grill basics such as lighting charcoal, maintaining grill temperature and grill safety

2. Marinating techniques

3. Grilling meats & vegetables

4. Use of grill accessories

5. Baking on the grill

In all, the workshop was very informal, gave me a hands on experience, was very educative and a lot of fun. At the end of the workshop, I was left with a happy and overloaded tummy, an experience and a lot of learning to take away.

Interested? Does Weber organize these workshops on a regular basis? Do you wish to enroll?

Yes, there are 3 types of BBQ workshops that are organized at the Weber Experience Center:

1. Introductory Weber BBQ Familiarization Workshop (Free)

2. Intermediate Weber BBQ Workshop (~ Rs. 1500 per person) * this is the one I attended*

3. Advanced Weber BBQ Workshop (~ Rs. 3000 per person)

For more details or to enroll for the Weber BBQ workshops, you can contact them either on phone, email or follow them on their FB page to stay updated.

Phone Number: 9900027067 / 080-42406666

Email: customercare@weberindia.com

Follow Weber India on FB, click here.

Address: 11/2, Haudin Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore 560042

The Grill House, Bangalore

It’s been long since I wanted to visit the much heard about ‘The Grill House’ and finally on one weekend of April, 3 of us decided to visit the restaurant for a Tex-Mex dinner.  The restaurant has a very rustic feel with a lot of wood used in its décor. Thought being located on a very busy road, being inside the restaurant seems like an escape from the city’s traffic filled noisy roads.

Menu:

Specializing in Tex-Mex food, the menu was vast with a very good range of starters, salads, steaks, sizzlers, Mexican delicacies, burgers, sandwiches and desserts to choose from. The menu has separate sections of listing and caters well to both the vegetarians and the non-vegetarians. The Grill House also boasts of a well-stocked bar which we did not explore on this night.

What we ate:

Our food comprised of one vegetarian – Cottage Cheese Shashlik, non-vegetarian included a chicken steak and a king fish steak; both of which were requested to be served as a sizzler.

All sizzlers come plated with butter-boiled veggies, Mexican flavored rice and mashed potato. Both fish and chicken sizzler arrived on our table at the same time. At first, the lack of/minimal sauce on both the sizzlers took us by surprise leaving a puzzled look on our faces. The restaurant staff was quick to answer the puzzle. The very next moment, the pepper sauce for the chicken steak and an herbed lemon butter sauce for the king fish steak was brought in sauce boat (meant for serving sauces). Apparently, this is how it is served at The Grill House.

The chicken steak sizzler was quite nice. The sauce had a nice flavor, the rice was mildly flavored with Mexican herbs, mashed potatoes and boiled veggies were fresh and moist.

The King Fish steak sizzler was 2 big pieces of sear fish and rest of the works. This dish was quite disappointing for (1) the herbed lemon butter sauce was quite tangy to taste with an over powering flavor of lemon, (2) the fish which per the information from the staff was supposed to be boneless had its fair share of bones and (3) the fish didn't seem fresh and was also quite dry possibly due to over cooking.

The cottage cheese shashlik too failed to excite our taste buds. O.M.G! An overdose of vinegar in the barbecue sauce smothered over the cottage cheese cubes.

Verdict:

Apart from the initial glitches in service; I must admit that the service was quite nice. The staff was quite responsive, attentive and prompt in service. They were knowledgeable about the food being served and willing to help with suggestions.

While the portions of food are humongous the taste was fine but far from the WOW Factor!! Some interiors required attention to address the wear and tear; especially the sofas we sat on.

With no sign board visible, we parked the car ourselves. Only after dinner did it come to our knowledge that valet service existed with the sign board placed on the side of the building. Poor placement I must say.

For what we ate; accompanied by a non-alcoholic beverage we ended up paying around Rs. 1200.

Quick Tips:

Go if around Ulsoor.

Address: 8/6 Kensington Point, Ulsoor Road, Opp. Gurudwara, Bangalore

Phone Number: +91 80 40977011

Barbeque Nation, Bangalore

Barbeque Nation; a couple of months ago opened its 3^rd outlet in Bangalore in Ascendas Park Square Mall, Whitefield. This restaurant will undoubtedly be the most preferred and frequented restaurant among folks I know at my work place.  My most recent visit was for lunch with 10 other friends from office. This lunch finally happened after a month long push due the festive season; which along with fun, frolic and joy also brings in restrictions of consuming meat.

Menu:

What we noticed initially on our table was a hoisted flag of Barbeque Nation and a placard listing the spread on the buffet. This restaurant serves only buffet. During lunch one gets to choose from 2 buffet options; One is a 5 starter buffet which includes 3 Vegetarian and 2 Non Vegetarian starters and another is a 10 starter buffet which includes  5 vegetarian and 5 non vegetarian starters. Irrespective of the buffet chosen, the spread of main course and desserts remains the same for all diners. For dinners, patrons only get the 10 starter buffet.  

What we ate:

A hoisted flag means the 'starters can keep coming'. It was time we pay10 starters buffet is the one we opt for usually and this time too it was no different. This includes chicken (2), mutton, fish and prawns for the non – vegetarians and paneer, aloo, grilled veggies and more for the vegetarians. 

All of these starters are served on the table; with most of them placed on the personal barbecue set up on ones table. I like this part where, I can roast the starter further to suit my preferences. There are a variety of sauces placed alongside the barbecue allowing diners to cook the starters with the sauce of choice and personal preferences.

A star at our table was the tawa pepper mutton which was brought to our table as a special starter in addition to the ones listed on the menu. The meat was tender with the fat content left on the meat adding to the taste. The service has always been efficient with the starters been served consistently until the flag goes down. Yesss… you read it right.. Until the flag goes down because a flag down indicates 'we are done with starters'. 

The main course does have a whole lot of options from Indian (usually North and south, may be more), Chinese, Italian, and more… Usually, I am happy with the whole lot of starters served, but who can resist a biryani? At least I can't… So I head to the main course buffet for some biryani (mutton or chicken) and probably some crab curry (served only during dinner) with some Indian bread served hot on the table.

Desserts… There have been numerous times when I skip main course and head straight to the dessert counter. A good spread to choose from – fresh cut fruits, ice creams, toppings like nuts and sauces, pastries, Indian desserts like gulab jamoon, phirni and more again…. The desserts are excellent to taste. A winner to me personally is the phirni served in small or mini clay pots.

Verdict:

I have been to this place numerous times and must begin with saying that, "experience at Barbecue Nation has been overwhelming each of these times, both during lunch and dinner." Food spread is fantastic, service has always been outstanding. The staffs are very pleasant to interact with. The most recent visit is one we will always remember for we in true sense felt pampered. The service is very quick and efficient. The barbecues are refilled with starters of your choice constantly until the flag goes down.

The ambiance is very good, making it suitable for a family/ friends/business dinners. This place can sometimes get too noisy for business dinners. There are live performances in Indiranagar branch where on some days of the week live band performs while in Whitefield branch the staff gave us a performance on the latest sensation…. Gangnam Style. Reminded me of Hard Rock Café where the staff perform on Y.M.C.A.

Being situated in a mall, the restaurant does not offer valet parking service in this outlet. While the other 2 outlets – One at Indiranagar and another in Koramangla provide this service to its patrons.

Pricing of the buffet varies during lunch and dinner. The 10 starter buffet at lunch is charged at about Rs. 525 for the vegetarians and Rs. 580 for non-vegetarian while the same at night is charged at about Rs. 750 – Rs. 800.

Quick Tips:

I recommend making a table reservation before visiting this place. Reservations open 4 days in advance and is best made at least 2 days prior to the planned visit.

For unplanned visits, do not be disappointed for usually 70% of the seating capacity is max limit to the reservation are taken in advance meaning 30% of the seating capacity is left for walk-ins on a first come first serve basis.

Address: Ascendas Park Square Mall, ITPB, Whitefield, Bangalore

Phone Number: 9900080401

Teppan, Bangalore

‘Teppan’ happens to be the most recent offering from Oriental Cuisines Pvt. Ltd to Bangalore’s food scene. It is a Japanese restaurant specializing in serving food off the Teppanyaki grill. With just a couple of other Japanese restaurants in Bangalore, Teppan has been on my list of restaurants to visit since its launch in Bangalore which is not quite long ago. Who knew; my visit to this restaurant would be by invitation from Burrp who had organized a chef’s table dinner at ‘Teppan’. Having reached a little in advance (as intended), I was able to capture the beautiful table setting around the Teppanyaki grill which instantly succeeded in setting the mood for the rest of the evening. 

Menu:

It was not long before the rest of the diners arrived and Teppan set the ball rolling with an introduction to the menu cards. Specifically made for this dinner were 2 leaflets rolled up, tied with ribbons and placed before us. Yellow ribbon was the vegetarian menu listing the 5 courses that would be served and red ribbon listed the 5 course meal designed for the non-vegetarians. We were 9 diners seated around the Teppanyaki counter and un/fortunately not one of us opted for a vegetarian meal. On second thoughts, it is hard to imagine vegetarian; rather only vegetarian food in Japanese cuisine. 

What we ate:

Our 5 course meal began with a welcome drink which was an orange and pineapple based mocktail. It was nice and quite refreshing. As we sipped through our drink and indulged in a conversation with each other; our first course arrived and Tori salad it was. This salad was made with finely shredded chicken, iceberg lettuce, Miso – Mayo dressing and a topping off crushed tempura batter. The salad got its creaminess and mild flavoring from the Miso-Mayo dressing and the freshness and crunchiness coming from both the lettuce and the tempura batter. Must say, we started off on a good note and only looked forward for more that was to come.

The next to arrive were starters, Yaki Tori – Grilled Chicken on skewers and soon followed by sushi. Yaki Tori coming off the grill was served hot, well cooked and flavorful with sweetness hitting the palate first followed by the mild flavoring from soy sauce and other seasonings. This dish had a wonderful glaze and was very easy on the palate.

The other starter was sushi - Tuna Buttera Maki – layers of sushi, sea weed and Tuna fish. This came along with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger on the side. Before digging into the sushi; wasabi was further broken down into really small pieces and mixed with the soy sauce. Caution! Wasabi gives a very strong flavor. Use desired amounts that suit your palate. Now that I was all set; without wasting any time, I devoured the bite sized pieces by dipping it in the wasabi-soy sauce mixture. To a lot of people; eating sushi might seem like an adventure – an adventure of supposedly eating raw sea food. It is exactly how I felt when I tried Sushi for the first time and took a couple of attempts to be really adapted to the taste. 

In time for the main course, we were joined by Chef June who stood behind the teppanyaki grill and sharpened his knife as he introduced himself. “Hello everyone, you know the month that comes before July? Exactly, June – that’s my name.” Our main course included assorted grilled veggies in oriental sauce, sea bass fish, chicken teriyaki and chicken and egg fried rice. This was also the order in which Chef June prepared the dishes live and served it piping hot right off the teppanyaki grill.

As we were served grilled veggies in oriental sauce, Miso soup arrived. Yes, apparently the soup was served along with the main course. It for sure was not meant to be this way. Miso soup; had a strong flavor of soy beans and it personally did not appeal to me, I have never been able to build a taste soya beans in particular. Apparently, it did not appeal to anyone on our table.  Assorted grilled veggies in oriental sauce were just fine but didn’t excite my taste bud. 

I’d heard Japanese cooking methods are very different from most other cuisines in terms of marinating the meats. At this dinner, I got to see it for myself; thanks to Teppanyaki – Japanese style of live cooking. While in most other cuisines, the meat is marinated both before and/or while cooking. Here, the meat was almost cooked and then married with the sauces and seasoning before being allowed to cook a little further. 

That’s exactly how the sea bass and Chicken Teriyaki were prepared. Sea bass was pan fried in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, lemon-butter-garlic sauce and seasoning while chicken Teriyaki involved the use of Soy sauce, mirin and sugar as some of the ingredients. Sea bass was too pungent in flavor due to an overdose of soy sauce. This not only made the dish pungent but also killed the flavor of the sea bass and made the dish taste too salty. If I had to describe this dish in the words of Chef June, it would be - ‘A Japanese Mistake’.

Chicken Teriyaki had a very mild sweet flavor. The dish had the right balance of flavors with a nice glaze of the sauce on the chicken. After serving this, Chef June got busy entertaining us with his cooking maneuvers in the process of getting the Chicken and egg fried rice ready for us. This was prepared with sticky rice and was downed to the last morsel in the company of chicken Teriyaki.

Green tea was served towards the end of our main course and soon followed by desserts. Desserts included fruit tart, vanilla ice cream and brownie. None of these were Japanese desserts. A Japanese touch could have been introduced by just serving a green tea or wasabi flavored ice cream instead of the vanilla flavor. In all, this final course was a disappointment for the lack of authenticity.

Verdict:

Chef’s cooking maneuvers were a treat to the eyes. Right from the fire flare to start with to the pumping heart beat made from chicken fried rice to finish. In between filled with juggling acts with eggs, cracking it in the air with a knife, drawing a heart on the Teppanyaki, painting it yellow with the egg yolks to connecting with the diners by writing the name of one of the diners with the egg.  The service was otherwise fine. Feedback on the food was warranted and well received by both the chef and the restaurant management. 

Japanese cuisine as a whole is very mild in its flavoring and this comes from the use of soy sauce, cooking sake or mirin. The food does not really involve the use of spices and can taste bland at most instances. Given this, I must say my dining experience was a mixed bag for; miso soup was personally something I did not like due to my non-preference for soya beans while the sea bass fish was a misbalance in flavoring due to excessive use of soy sauce. The desserts were just quite ordinary and lacked authenticity. Apart from this, the salad, yaki tori, chicken teriyaki and chicken and egg fried rice were quite nice but for me; it was sushi that stole the show. 

In all, in spite of its own hits and misses, I had a good time devouring the Japanese fare and I definitely recommend this Japanese restaurant. 

Quick Tips:

Do not get too experimental with Japanese food the very first time. I recommend you try out some standard fare like yaki tori, tempura prawns, chicken teriyaki, fried rice,  or noodles (udon) to name a few. 

Japanese cuisine as a whole is very mild in its flavoring and this comes from the use of soy sauce, cooking sake or mirin. Most of the times, one tends to gradually develop a taste for Japanese food. 

Sushi refers to a form of vinegar rice. Sushi is not all about raw fish. In fact, raw fish is an ingredient only in certain types of sushi.

Teppan serves both a la carte and set menus. A la carte can be enjoyed at regular tables while, set menus are usually served around the teppanyaki grill.

Go for: Authentic Japanese food, a teppanyaki experience, sushi and sashimi.

Address: 3rd Floor, 1/3, Ulsoor Road, Bangalore

Phone Number: 080 - 32569029