I got my Masters in Mass Communications in Manipal and by far those were the best two years of my college life. What made those two years so wonderful was the set of friends I made. Even now, 11 years after we graduated, all 17 of us are pretty much in touch. There are a few of us in Bangalore right now, and we always make promises to meet each other in person rather than online, but that never happens. Every year, one of the gang comes down from Singapore and it is her arrival at this time of the year that actually gets us all up and we work on meeting. This time round, we decided to try something a little out of the way for us all - and Likethatonly seemed like a good choice to hike all the way to.
The entrance welcomes you with an array of colored metal kettles dangling from metal string... walk in and you are greeted by an old time tub-shower set up that is actually in working condition - choice of seating from semi-al fresco, to al-fresco, to bar stool style seating and a covered place by an open kitchen. Now that is a lot of real estate and a lot of places to choose from. Considering we had three kids with us, we chose the covered section.
The classic tub
The bug chandelier
You can easily entertain the kids a while with bug chandeliers. The table setting is really pretty as well and will have you picking up the chopstick holder and looking at it closely. Menu gazing time and I was really happy to see a kiddie menu that is not the standard fish and chips and chicken sandwich deal. About this time, two from our group called to tell us that they were not going to be able to make it... which instantly led us to thinking... great... we can now plan another get together. Finally we decided to get down to ordering... Picto-review here on...
The bread basket was an interesting mix - the kids grabbed the sticks, the rest of us one each of the herbed infused ones - quite hard to put down when you are reading a menu like theirs and your tummy is in overdrive from the anticipation.
Have you seen a cuter chopstick holder than this
When there is sushi on the menu, it always lands on our table. Each choice of sushi you order here comes in 8 pieces. We choose to have 4 pieces each of a Basa Katsu roll and Prawn tempura roll. The sushi was rolled nicely, tasted fresh with the sesame seeds not being overly done. Now I know sushi is finger food and has to be bite sized, but I would have loved for these bites to be a skoosh bigger than they were.
Basa Katsu roll and Prawn Tempura roll
Calamari junkie Anoushka had company this time with her two other friends and we had two rounds of fried calamari for the kids. Anoushka neatly peeled off the crunchy coating with her teeth and then chowed down on the calamari rings. I liked these especially because the coating was light and crispy keeping the kids happy and without a shade of oiliness, keeping mummies happy as well. And the aioli it was served with was yum.
Fried Calamari
We had three drinks - the Likethatonly Punch, which comes in the option of hot or cold and Sudhakar opted for hot. This was earl grey tea infused with some gin, dark rum and wedges of orange, some caster sugar and triple sec. The bar of cinnamon added to it overall made this drink a little too strong for my taste, but Sudhakar seemed to enjoy it. I had the Mary Pops In, a smoky twist to the Bloody Mary - Anoushka was most kicked about the smoke being released from the jar. The smoke I am told comes from hickory chips and tobacco in the form of clove cigarettes or Gudang Garam. This is introduced into the jar with a smoke gun. Dianne opted for the Virgin Mojito, which though nice had a little too much ice and ended up getting diluted pretty soon.
LTO Punch
Mary Pops In. You need to look a little closer to see the smoke slowly rising.
Virgin Mojito
We settled on a range of small plates which is a specialty here and started with the pork belly skewers which were absolutely the highlight of the meal. These little cubes of porcine heaven were braised with mustard miso, still retained a small crunch that gave way to juicy softness and tasted absolutely fantastic. If it wasn't for us wanting to try as much as we could, we would have made a meal of multiple plates of this. For the kids again we ordered the beef and jalapeno gyoza. Tasty in themselves, but could be a tad spicy for little ones. We also ask for a fried rice for the kids that helped balance it all out. Though not on the menu, the chef was kind enough to send this out to us.
Pork Belly Skewers
Beef and jalapeno gyoza
Salmon Carpaccio was next and this came with delicate touches of soy, yuzu, scallions, jalapenos and a ginger garlic juice. Delicate to look at, to pick up in the chopsticks and absolutely brilliant when placed in your mouth. The chef very sweetly sent out to us a beef dish that came in a delicate bed of rice crisps. The diced beef was tossed in a soy based oriental sauce. The meat was soft and honestly had me looking around for a beer to get comfortable.
Salmon Carpaccio
The chef's beef dish
Time to move on to the mains and Dianne opted for a beef wrap which came with a side of fries and a green salad. The meat looked a brilliant medium rare (maybe more rare than medium), and though it did go down well with her, I noticed that she wasn't asked her preference in how she wanted her meat done and that is something I would have wanted for me.
Beef wrap with fries and green salad
I decided to go with the seafood pasta and for once, my order turned out to be a winner. I often have this thing of loving what the other person has ordered and this was one of those rare times when I guarded my plate with the zealousness of a lioness with her new born cubs. The pasta was perfectly al dente, the mix of seafood was not overpowering, the white wine butter sauce was subtle and allowed the seafood to stand to attention. One of those dishes that allows everything to come together in harmony.
Seafood pasta
Sudhakar contemplated a lot before settling on the grilled lamb chops and he was a very satisfied man after this meal. He also seemed to be the lion-version-of-protective-about-my-meal since I did not get to taste it at all. In the end, picked clean was the perfect way to describe his plate. Though cooked brilliantly, here too Sudhakar was not asked how he would like his meat done.
Grilled Lamb Chops
We all have a sweet tooth and after a meal like this, ending on something for the bigger-and-different- from-the-usual dessert section was a must. There are some keywords that always work well with us - lime, creme brulee, white chocolate, citrus... and these caught our eye instantly. And so we had the kaffir lime creme brulee - It came with almost an negligible lime gel on the side, a cinnamon crumble and a huge infusion of kaffir lime. Its not lemony if that's what you are expecting. Its like having a kaffir lime leaf in the form of a dessert. Maybe an acquired taste for some. And yes, the crust on top cracked beautifully.
Kaffir Lime Creme Brulee
Avocado and white chocolate parfait with raspberry gel and poppy seed brittle. Again, I loved this dessert and you will too if you like avocado.
Avocado and white chocolate parfait
The chef sent out a dessert for the little ones - a chocolate cake with a vanilla layer (guessing here since the kids did not give us much time to dissect). And the absolute winner of a dessert for Dianne and I, the Tarte au Citron - tangy to the point of screwing up your nose, but an absolute winner for us since we love all things tart.
The chef's dessert for the kids
Tarte au Citron
Despite two of the gang not showing up it was worth it going all the way to Whitefield for this get together. The service is nice and the staff really know their menu and are open to allowing you to customize which we did for our sushi and for the kids meals. The decor is really something to look forward to here and am sure the looks are very different at night. The loos are very clean and have their own quirky decor as well. This meal came to around Rs 6500 which split between three sat pretty good on the wallet for a weekend get together. There is a lot more I would like to try on the menu, I just wish tele-portation was not the stuff of movies.
Address: 14/31A, Hagadur Road, Behind Forum Value Mall, Bangalore.
Phone: 65475610
Cuisine: A lot of things with an Asian touch
Wallet factor: Rs 2000 for two
Wallet factor: Rs 2000 for two
Accepts Cards: Yes
Parking: Valet
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