Bangalore dines out on international menu

Bangalore dines out on international menu
The Times of India

Bangalore: If you are a homesick Arab, desperately looking for some authentic Shawarma, the discerning palate is sure to find a place in the city. So it is for the Vietnamese or the Spanish. The swanky, see-through, metal and glass eating joints catering to the gastronomic delights of cosmopolitan Bangalore have added a new byword to its definition of globalised eating habits — speciality restaurants.

From the traditional to the exotic, the city’s eat-out culture has welcomed trademark speciality restaurants with the same panache as it did with our very own Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) or Sukh Sagar food complexes.

The transformation in the continent’s fastest growing city had to come.

With the hip and happening credit-card citizenry pepping up its level of sophistication, speciality restaurants are in for more.
According to eatery experts, until recently, speciality restaurants (characteristic of their chain of restaurants worldwide) were confined to a few Continental, Chinese and Andhra speciality restaurants like the Casa Piccola or US Pizza. Widening the gastronomic horizons are the Cantonese, Japanese, Afghan, Punjabi, Mughlai, Indonesian styles, all there to whet one’s appetite.

Restaurants are of two types, the generalist and the specialist, explains an avid food connoisseur. The first caters to specific cuisines, but customised to a particular region. Example, gobi manchurian (Indian vegetable, Chinese dish). The specialist kind is typical of the region where it originates, has original, specialised ingredient sources (except the perishables) and is kept so across their chain of restaurants.

Speciality restaurants are much needed for Bangalore, says food critic Ajith Saldanha. “After all, you cannot expect one chef to excel to offer different kinds of delectable cuisines. With rapid evolution of people’s palates, a restaurant can no longer feel comfortable in slipping a chicken prepared in the tandoori style into a Continental style by mixing a particular sauce. Today, speciality dishes are cooked with knowledge, awareness and a lot of skill.’’

Eatery expert Anjan Chatterjee, who runs nine branches of Mainland China speciality restaurants, says, “Running speciality restaurants is a different ball game. We stick to the authentic and the original. Ingredient sources have to be specialised. Our exclusively crafted menu looks the same and is simultaneously revised across all our branches.’’

Even Indian speciality eat-outs from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad are slowly reaching out to newer markets. In the next few months, Anjan promises to offer Oh Calcutta, Only fish, Just Biriyani and Mostly Kebabs for the Bangalore palate.

First, it was speciality ice cream and coffee bars. When the Italia was started at The Park, nobody thought the place would sell. It wouldn’t be too far when the exotic Spanish Tapas Bar will come to town, feel connoisseurs.