China Bowl is the other restaurant owned by Vicky and Esther, the first one being Vicky's La Terrazza. We went to La Terrazza last month and liked the place. We were asked to visit China Bowl with the promise that it would be something different. And so on this occasion out, we headed there. China Bowl is on the 2nd floor of the building and is a comparatively small place. However, it is done up tastefully with a wooden finish. No matter what season it is you can opt for seat near the bay windows, the sheer curtains will protect you from a bright sun or anything else. The view is not much considering that you will be looking over one of Koramangala's busiest streets.

We were given two menus - a set menu and the a la carte. For Rs 199, the set menu offered a veg and a non-veg meals with two options each for soup, starters, main course, side dish, and a dessert. The choice was nice. We opted for the a la carte menu which was pretty long - literally. Best way to read it is to prop it up on the table and scan through. Vegetarians can take heart at this restaurant because half the menu is dedicated to them. We were given two appetizers of kimchi and pickled vegetables. Honestly, the kimchi was not the real deal at all and the pickled vegetables were passable.

We opted for the crispy chilli potatoes and the roasted chilli pork for starters. The portions were generous. The crispy chilli potatoes were nice and really crisp and had a good amount of chilli to it. The batter it was coated in was thin and crisp just the way I like it. The roasted chilli pork had slices of pork that were a good mix of fat and meat. The preparation was nice and very Indian Chinese.

Since we had a vegetarian with us, Preethika and I split the hot and sour veg soup, while Pavan downed a lemon and coriander chicken soup by himself. Pavan is a difficult guy to please food-wise and so when he said the soup was nice, it must have been really nice. As for our hot and sour veg soup - both of us found it neither hot nor sour and it had to be spiced up with chilli and vinegar sauce.

Main course time and we had a burnt garlic rice, accompanied by pork chilli in soya sauce. I have been dying to eat a Phad Thai and so had this in a non-veg avatar. We also ordered a lamb in a sauce whose name I forget (I seem to be doing this a lot lately). It was garnished with spring onions and was light and lemony.

The burnt garlic rice was fluffy and nice with the garlic being burnt to the right consistency. Anoushka wolfed down an entire half plate, which is quite an achievement for her. The pork chilli in soya sauce was nice but strikingly similar to the starter we ordered. I found the Phad Thai to be bland on the first bite, but Preethika spiked it up for me with a dash of chilli flakes and squeeze of lime. This made it really delicious. The lamb dish, I wish I remember the name, was really nice.

To wash all this down we had three lime sodas sweet and salt. This was thankfully the real deal and not those sad squashes that are passed of as juices. We also ordered a litchi lime tea. We actually managed to save space for dessert and ordered a Honey coconut roll as well as a Litchi lollipop. The coconut roll was a warm crisp roll stuffed with shredded coconut and dipped in honey syrup. Really nice. On first look, the litchi lollipop looked like a potato bonda in sugar syrup to me. But it turned out to be a litchi, that had a nice sweet stuffing, batter fried and dipped in syrup. Quite a nice deal.

The service here is quite efficient and you will constantly have someone asking you if you want something or should be served anything. There is a single unisex look which is clean. The bill for all this came to a very nice Rs 1300 which for 4 people who had a field day was not a bad deal.