I am sure everybody in Bangalore has been to the Corner House ice cream parlours and also had the very famous mouth-watering DBC (Death By Chocolate). But few know about this hidden dessert parlour called Painted Platters in Koramangala, Bangalore.

Here, each plate used to serve the desserts is spray painted with chocolate paint and comes decorated with witty messages like “You can never make a crab walk straight” (on our plates), “My reality check has bounced,” “If there’s a will, I want to be in it,” etc.. Hence the name, Painted Platters.

Painted Platters was founded by Joe Manavalan of Oberoi Hotels. Joe’s passion for food and desserts (especially the presentation of it) is palpable from the article on Hindu:

Style, the visual appeal of food, is important because it is the first impression. To be a good stylist, you’ve to know your food well. It is like architecture, where the architect has to know the materials well. “The right side of a plate (like the right hand page of a book/newspaper) is the high visibility one. So, put the main or most colourful item there. I also use odd numbers regarding food articles on a plate or chairs for a table, number of colours in the food, interior décor of restaurants and whereever there is mix and match.”

[Image above: the very unique menu printed on cds]

The must try desserts here are Mississipi Mudpie (a favorite of mine), Champagne & Berry Mousse, Cherry & White Wine Mousse, Dark & White Chocolate Sushi, Apple Pie and Mango Mousse.. Its also priced quite reasonably at around Rs. 100, which make them a must try, if you are around Koramangala.

[Image above: champagne and berry mousse]

I found the ambiance to be just right too, with very good light music playing in the background. But all this only adds to the very yummy desserts (see the photos, but obviously you need to taste them and find the melting in your mouth to really appreciate them)

[Image above: new york baked cheese cake]

Address: 1st B Main Road, 7th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore (near Adyar Ananda Bhavan and opposite The legend)

FYI, there is another Painted Platters at Jayanagar too. I’ve heard that the first one at Indiranagar is closed now.

For more info: good detailed articles on Hindu and Hindu Business Line.

Location: Ground Floor, Raheja Arcade (close to forum mall, next to sunday to monday), Koramangala

Contact : 41104104

The theme of gramin is rural north india which includes the traditional brass vessels and paintings on mud plastered walls. Keeping with the theme, few of the chairs were low, though a bit uncomfortable, its a minor sacrifice to enjoy the rural ambience.

Its one of the better places for north-indian “vegetarian” food. They claim to add zero artificial preservatives to any of their food. As usual, we ordered north Indian thali (priced at Rs. 60) which is quite reasonable for the food quality and ambience. The lassi at the end made this meal totally complete.

Dishes to try are Hara-Bara Kabab, Bhindi Rajastani, Aloo Parathas, Jal Jeera and other north-indian usuals. Also, food can be ordered to be made for Jains specifically. Can any jains, explain what that means ?

I remember a year back or so, they hardly had any space. Now they have managed to expand and add another floor on top. Still a bit crammed though, but this is koramangala, so Swalpa Adjust Maadi !! At lunchtime, you will find a hoard of techies at this place, so be expect to wait for around 10-15 mins. There is always someone outside to take your reservation and order though.

All in all, the ambience of a rural north indian village house is great, the food is delicious and service was reasonably fast.

I am a regular customer at JJ, Koramangala [close to jyoti nivas college (JNC)] during lunch time and sometimes in the evening too. As a result, I am a partial Fruitarian now. Anyways, I was suprised today to find another one in Jayanagar 9th block. On enquiring further, I found out that its a chain with around 15 JJs all around bangalore, pretty impressive !!

For a guy concious about the diet “these days”, JJ being so close to office is just great. Of course, existence of the JNC crowd at JJs during lunch time is just a coincidental boon, i guess (FYI for non-bangaloreans, JNC is one of the major women’s colleges in bangalore with great crowd).

My favourite at JJ is definitely the “Fruit bowl“, which is my main-course for lunch. Its a bowl full of fruit pieces of pineapple, mango, water-melon, papaya, sapotta (chiku) and bananas. Fills the stomach and very healthy.

Occasionally I have the “Fruit Grill (sandwich)”, obv. its a grilled sandwich but with fruits inside. Tasted wierd when I had it the first time actually. Also the regular “Veg Plain” Sandwichs and fruit juices. This is one place where you are assured of the taste of the fruit juices which is quite thick and without added water like in other places.

Another thing I am amazed about this place is the “main guy” at JJ, Koramangala. He is very keen-eyed and skilled at accepting so many multiple orders from the major crowd, passing the order to the kitchen and again routing the food/juice back to the exact customer. It may not sound like a big deal, but with such a big fast-order crowd, I would have surely screwed up the billing. But thats just me.

Do leave a comment if you know of JJ near you.

So here goes, this is the scene there at around 1 PM:

Tables are all setup beforehand for the first round of lunch with empty banana leafs and a glass of water. People (many of them techies) occupy their places and clean their banana leafs with water in typical south indian style.

After most tables are occupied, the “SUPPLY CHAIN” begins.

First comes side-dish guy and serves 3 to 4 side-dishes. Then the big pappad and the spicy fried chilli is served (any idea wat is called ?). The next guy serves (plain) rice. Then follows the hot pure ghee for the rice. Then follows the curry guy. First round of rice with sambar, next round of rice with mor kollamb (a yellow curd based curry) or rasam, final round of rice with curd. It ends with your belly full and one last sweet.

In between the meal, like a typical south indian marriage feast, there is one guy who is generally overlooking all the tables and tracking which items are needed and directs the rice guy/curry guy/side dish guy/pappad guy/water guy towards you. Sometimes, he comes to you and asks “How do you like the lunch today ?“. Remember its unlimited, so have a light breakfast in the morning to completely enjoy the feast.

If you observe the crowd on a typical weekday. You can hear a lot of discussions on projects, technologies, office politics, job openings, business discussions etc.. Its bangalore’s equivalent of silicon valley’s pubs were VCs and techies hangout.

Address: 1st Floor, 143, KHB Colony, 5th Block, Koramangala (close to Anand Sweets & GK Vale)

Map:

• Go to URL: http://www.koramangala.com/gokora/default.asp
• Select Restaurants from the drop-down menu.
• You will find Sri Krishna Kafe’ in the list.
• Click “Locate” to get its location in koramangala’s map.

Price:

Lunch Unlimited Meal = Rs.58
Weekend Unlimited “Special” Meal = Rs.68

NOTE: This post is renewed from my earlier post at our other blog Swalpa Adjust Maadi