Its been quite a while since my last post and work has been all around and some stuff going on too. So, in an attempt to redress that hiatus, let me try getting up a few long due posts - starting off with this classic eating joint of Bangalore which most locals (familiar with the night life) frequent. Hotel Empire is a chain of restaurants spaced all over Bangalore providing some delectable vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare at affordable prices. Well, before I get ahead of myself let us go through the entire evening's session at this restaurant. A group of us had gone to watch an IPL cricket match at the stadium on a Saturday evening. By the time the match got over, it was close to 11 pm and we were starving. There was only one place that came to our mind and that was Empire hotel. We headed to the nearest one on Church street and plonked ourselves on the first floor. First impressions, it was a bustling bee-hive of activity even at such late hours. Fresh aromatic fragrances of spiced meat wafted across the place welcoming one and all. The ambience is typical to any fast food chain of restaurants but it is clean and decent. A waiter walked over to our table the minute we sat down and plonked a bunch of menus and ran off to take the orders of another table. Did I say this place is bustling..?? :-)
There were four of us in our group and only one vegetarian in that ecosystem. We quickly ordered - Malabar (Kerala) parathas, Boneless Butter Chicken gravy, Mutton Kheema dosa, Appam with vegetable stew and a plate of their special ghee rice. There is a fresh fruit juice stall right outside attached to this restaurant which makes it worthwhile ordering seasonal fruit juices - we ordered watermelon and mango. Now to the fun part - tasting :-)
As always in any restaurant, I am lucky enough to get my dishes out first and so it happened here too. My Malabar parathas along with the butter chicken gravy popped out first and i dug into it with gusto.
The parathas are golden brown and absolutely crisp, making that pleasing crunchy sound as you bite into them. This is brilliant considering these are layered parathas and the smell of ghee emanating from them is truly intoxicating. The butter chicken was top of the class too - spicy like a traditionally prepared Kerala dish but with tender pieces of chicken well cooked in a thick gravy seasoned with curry leaves for that bags of flavor taste. Next came the Mutton Kheema dosa - and a sight it was to behold.
Finely minced Kheema paste of choice mutton meat - the meat was well cooked and very spicy to boot. The texture of kheema dishes are extremely critical - too fine its a bad paste in your mouth and not properly minced there are big lumps. This was perfect kheema where you could roll your tongue over the textured mutton pieces and also bite into it with gusto. The flavors were spot on and the most important part - the dosa was crisp and well made. This dish vanished off our plate without even troubling 5 minutes of our watches.
Finally up were the Appams and the Ghee rice. The appams came with coconut chutney, a masala spiced sambar type of gravy and the most important complementary side dish - the stew. Crisp, light and fluffy were the appams and most importantly (a simple usual mistake that often happens is that the appam center tends to get lumpy with excess batter accumulating) perfectly built up at the center. The vegetable stew had the right essence of spices and sweetness in it - cloves, cinnamon for the biting spice and coconut milk for the sweetness and the vegetables were well boiled and soft to taste. The ghee rice is a specialty dish out here and must be ordered. It can be had either with the chicken gravy or the stew and it just goes brilliant with both.
Downing all of these with the fruit juices kinda hit the sweet spot and of course appeased our hunger. The best part is the cost - very affordable and inexpensive. The above meal set us back by around 600 Rs. only. A couple of other special noteworthy dishes to try here are the chicken kebabs, tandoori grilled chicken and the shawarma rolls.
Ambience: Decent, bustling and crowded
Quality: Excellent Kerala style food (especially non-vegetarian fare)
Cost: Economical, easy on the wallet
Location: All over Bangalore (Church Street, Castle Street (both around MG Road), Koramangala, Central street, Frazer town, Indiranagar and other locations. Check http://www.hotelempire.in/ for more details.
There were four of us in our group and only one vegetarian in that ecosystem. We quickly ordered - Malabar (Kerala) parathas, Boneless Butter Chicken gravy, Mutton Kheema dosa, Appam with vegetable stew and a plate of their special ghee rice. There is a fresh fruit juice stall right outside attached to this restaurant which makes it worthwhile ordering seasonal fruit juices - we ordered watermelon and mango. Now to the fun part - tasting :-)
As always in any restaurant, I am lucky enough to get my dishes out first and so it happened here too. My Malabar parathas along with the butter chicken gravy popped out first and i dug into it with gusto.
Downing all of these with the fruit juices kinda hit the sweet spot and of course appeased our hunger. The best part is the cost - very affordable and inexpensive. The above meal set us back by around 600 Rs. only. A couple of other special noteworthy dishes to try here are the chicken kebabs, tandoori grilled chicken and the shawarma rolls.
Ambience: Decent, bustling and crowded
Quality: Excellent Kerala style food (especially non-vegetarian fare)
Cost: Economical, easy on the wallet
Location: All over Bangalore (Church Street, Castle Street (both around MG Road), Koramangala, Central street, Frazer town, Indiranagar and other locations. Check http://www.hotelempire.in/ for more details.
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