Arabic cuisine
Bangalore restaurant reviews
The Weekend Raid - Zaks
Wednesday, July 14, 2010Me! In wordsProject: The Weekend Raid - Mission 3
Mission: Explore and conquer VFM eateries


Point of Conquest - Zaks
Raiders on mission - Suhas, Yusuf, Santosh, Sharada, Rajith, Sunny, Mike and Sudhakar
Overview of Ground Zero: Zaks has carved a name for itself around Frazer Town as a place that serves up good Arabic food for wallet-friendly prices. Of course, the raid party this time had its share of meat lovers. But to truly test the mettle of this restaurant we also had Sunny, a vegetarian and Mike who is partial to only fish and no other meat.
The Unexpected Twist: For some of the raiders, the menu was not unknown, however, as we were seated, we were informed that we were the first customers of the day. Nothing special about that. We were the first customers on the last functioning day of Zaks. They were to close down the next day for renovation. And so, despite a very limited menu, we were glad the raiders were on this mission.
The Conquest: With all the raiders in position, we ordered a round of hummus and fresh kuboos (also goes by the name of pita bread). It took a long while coming. Hunger pangs were quelled with some great conversation on travel destinations, food choices and of course career paths. Mike and Rajith discovered they belonged to the same company, Sunny regaled us with stories of her 15-year old pet and Santosh, Yusuf and Sudhakar got into some pretty technical conversations on phones and gadgets.

Hummus with kuboos
Then came the hummus - three plates of it with thin slivers of tomato and sprinkling of chilli powder. Nice... did not see much of the olive oil though, but nice nevertheless. The kuboos was hot and fluffy. A couple more were ordered to make a clean sweep of encounter one (the starter)
Now for encounter two (the main courses). Sunny and Mike opted for a Vegetable Biryani each. This was mildly flavored rice which had been layered with a soft and tasty mix of spiced and diced brinjals. This was served with a medium spicy sherwa and a salad of tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. Sunny summarized this part of the encounter by saying, "Although I don't think vegetarians would choose this restaurant on their own, there are plenty of nice veg choices on the menu to enjoy while accompanying ones non veg friends (even though much of it was not available at this particular time).

The Vegetable Biryani with sherwa and salad
Now for the main assault. The meat-eaters decided to order three portions of Mushakkal. This was served on a platter. The center was the spiced rice. This was topped off which a mouth-watering lamb gravy with tiny bits of lamb. All around, the rice was packed in with grilled chicken. Considering that we were 7 raiders on this part of the attack, the quantities were ample and each of us ate really well. Suhas felt that the food beat the common notion of being spicy. He felt it was well balanced and not at all greasy. This made it all the more wonderful.

The Mushakkal - before the 7-member attack on it (above)
(Below) A Closer look at the target

The best way to round off a raid like this is with some black tea. We did want some sweets, but we had to keep our pinings for baklava on a backburner as Zaks had stopped their sweets around a week before the raid. And so black tea it was. The tea came in glasses with a small sprig of mint on top. Refreshing and a much needed digestive. Fair to say that this was a successful raid. The bill came to Rs 120 per head and we can safely say Mission Relished.

Black Tea

The raiders on this mission (L To R) - Suhas, Yusuf, Santosh, Ruth,
Sunny, Sharada, Rajith and Mike
Sunny, Sharada, Rajith and Mike
Address: 68/1, Concorde Plaza, Coles Road, Bangalore - 560065
Phone: 25301307
Cuisine: Arabic
Cards Accepted: No
Parking: Nothing exclusive, can get difficult on weekend. For now closed for renovation.
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