Mamagoto has made its way to Bangalore, and like most new places has made all the right noises to grab attention. It has been running to packed houses and was on the list of places that we must visit. An invitation to a bloggers table took care of ticking the place off the list soon. The afternoon was made more fun by the company we had at the table. 

So Mamagoto is about Fun Asian Eating and the experience begins as soon as your enter the place. A variety of seating arrangements from curved sofas, to tables and chairs, to benches against the wall with cushions and more. The walls are covered with canvas prints of the quirky Asian themed art work. Don't miss the Last Supper print and the cushions strewn around. Best part is, you can actually buy what you like when you are waiting for your food to arrive.

A glimpse of just one of the art-filled walls at Mamagoto

So before I launch into what we ate that day, let me be upfront - this was a massive bloggers table and when I say massive, I mean like the magic porridge pot that did not stop making porridge till the magic word was said. Only in this case, none of us knew the magic words. So we sampled a lot of great food and I am showcasing my favorite picks of the lot. 

Appetizers began with the Hot Basil Chicken Cups, shredded chicken tossed with bird's eye chilli and black pepper are placed in simple lettuce cups. Its the crunchiness of the lettuce the balances the hit of spices from pepper and the chilli. Its also the kind of the dish that you completely not realize you are having till your hand reaches out to an empty plate and you just have to have more of it...

A few drinks made their way to the table that day from the sizable drinks menu. Many of them ended up being repeat orders. The Bangkok G & T - frozen Gordon's Gin and tonic with a kick of kaffir lime leaves, Dark Berries Cooler, Cinnamon Whiskey Story. All the drinks we sampled that day had good blends of alcohol in them, along with a host of other ingredients. 

All through the menu, vegetarians have a good choice, with entire sections being dedicated to them. The Hua Hin Highway Roll is what caught my fancy - crispy rolls filled with lemongrass, asparagus and cheese, served with "mama" dip which has a strong hint of ginger. Interesting part is that the dish was on the table for a while, since we were doing what most bloggers tend to do - photograph food to death - despite that it remained crisp. 

The Java Grilled Fish with a Sambal salsa was next on my yummy list. Sole fish, rather generously slathered with red chillies and garlic paste and grilled in a banana leaf. It is served with a some sticky rice, mayo zucchini and with more of the sambal salsa on the side for the more adventurous. This one will keep your drink perfect company, especially if you like spicy to nibble on with your tipple. 

And a dedication to the porcine gods, with something of a surf and turf experiment - Bacon wrapped prawn - of course this has been done before, but its always in the innovation. This one claims to be a robatayaki version  marinated in sesame, japanese spices and smoked. The dip too works fabulously to make it nice and moist in the mouth. 

Tom yum prawn soup for the one nursing a cold on the table. A nice deep bowl of steaming goodness. Spicy, tangy and loaded with prawn and mushroom this is one soup that will make you happy happy.

This was another vegetarian starter - The Soya butter garlic mushroom - an assortment of mushroom (yes, even the white flowery cabbage looking part of skewer is a mushroom). These skewers are served on a butter garlic udon noodles. Slightly bland for my taste, but the assortment of mushrooms is great and the dish very pretty to look at.

Moving on to main courses - if you have stuffed yourself silly on the starters, as can easily happen, the Teriyaki Meal in a Bowl is what can help wrap things up for you. Choose from tofu, chicken, lamb or beef options. This will come in a large serving bowl, with sticky fried rice, slices of your choice of meat or vegetables, winter ginger, spring onions and garlic. Let it be known that this dish is on the sweeter side, but let that not keep you away from tucking into it. 

The Laksa Tribute may be had in Veg, chicken or prawn - the classic coconut milk rendition of this dish has been further tweaked with lemongrass, galangal and red chillis. I loved the vegetarian version much more than the prawn one, which was equally good. But the wholesome silkiness of every bite of the vegetarian laksa trumped all. Especially since, I could sit with just a bowl of this laksa and be a happy kitten.

From the Wok and Curries section we had the China Town Double Cooked pork ribs which were succulent to say the least. The gravy, despite being thick did not douse away the taste of the pork.

Fiery Thai Shrimp Fried Rice - again with the concept of a meal in a bowl - the shrimp fried rice had this uniformly wonderful taste of shrimp imbibed into every grain of rice. With the slivers of crunchy chilli chicken on the side and the fried egg on top, this is one supremely satisfying meal. 

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this review - what you see here is only a part of the meal we had. A mention must go to the Prawn in Lime and Chilli Sauce, which is a light, lemon colored sauce with juicy prawns in it. It is the sauce that does all the talking. One spoonful instantly has you scrunching up your nose from the lemon and a few seconds later, you will feel the hit of spice bringing you down. What follows next is that insane urge to "do it all over again" just to feel those instant highs in the mouth. 

At the end of this meal we were served four desserts which strangely did not have any of the innovation in terms of presentation or taste that all the other dishes had. We had the Caramel sponge cake with toffee sauce and the Bananoffee Pie both of which tasted very home made and nice. 

Caramel sponge cake with toffee sauce

 Bananoffee Pie