Thulp

Koromangala seems to be bursting at the seams when it comes to new restaurants. In the past week I have eaten at two new places featured in the latest Food Lovers magazine that happen to be at 6^th Block, 5^th Cross – an area that I now realise is home to a number of the cities bustling, brand new eateries.

At first I was more than a little weary venturing out of the CBD as well as my comfort zone. However, rave reviews kept me going and before I knew it I found myself buckled into my car seat, on the phone getting directions, navigating my way hopelessly, searching for street signs despite the dim lighting, all the while fighting my ravenous stomach that by this point had begun grumbling, begging to be fed.

While that ride over might just be slightly dramatised, in reality it took about 25 minutes from M.G. Road, without too much of a hassle. We found parking without any problems. In fact the perfect spot was waiting for me just opposite Thulp itself.

But India being India, or rather should I say Bangalore being Bangalore thanks to the recent political indifference and lack of governance in terms of road works and sanitation meant that the moment I stepped out the car my nostrils were overcome by that nasty, characteristic pong we all know as well ... shit!

Oh well, it would be ludicrous to say that the stench put me off dinner that evening. As soon as we crossed the road, stepping into the restaurant, that is really more of a laid back cafe in actuality, the aroma of French fries, grilled onions and bacon replaced the unpleasant smell almost immediately and my appetite was as robust as it had been moments prior to stepping out the car.

Wasting no time I scanned the menu, ordered a plate of Buffalo wings and the biggest burger on the menu – the Moo’s Your Daddy, which also happens to be their signature burger. To me the choice was simple – while an array of pasta and pizza dishes were listed out as well as sandwiches, the sesame seed buns crammed with a beef patty and pilled with lettuce, dill pickles, cheese and bacon screamed EAT ME.

Worth mentioning are their clever names using puns and references to popular media to jazz up what would otherwise be a standard menu. Three stars for being whacky and original!

As for the food – when it finally arrived it was well, simply average. It took a total of 25 minutes for the Buffalo wings to come out and they while they were satisfying – my appreciation was perhaps due to the momentarily ravenous nature of my being – leaving me without much to complain about. The burgers in all took about 35 minutes to come out – far too long in my opinion. When you are grilling mince meat patties and assembling them on toasted bread with prepped veggies and cheese, how much time is really required? Exactly – and the lack of efficiency where making our burgers was concerned made me super mad!

The taste – well, the middle of the patties were juicy, while the sides and periphery were rather dry and tough, and while one could not see the bacon, the flavour was unmistakable with every bite. The French fries were awful – this needs improvement, but the coleslaw a pleasant surprise.

In all two mighty big bloody burgers, two fountain cokes, a plate of Buffalo wings and a take-away Rocky Balboa sandwich (Philly Cheese Steak on Panini bread – that was pretty good) made for a decent bill of Rs. 700/-

So my verdict... for Koromangala dwellers – rock on down now, don’t think twice if you’re in the mood for some serious beef slapped between bread with all the good stuff in life smothered on. If you are an urban CBD resident like myslef - simply put when you have the option of going to Ice and Spice and sinking your teeth into a mother of a lamb burger with a wait of 5-8 minutes the journey to Koromangla just doesn't make sense. And if you are a vegetarian – well just don’t bother.

Age Ole' Anglo-Indian Christmas Traditions Continue ...

For as long as I can remember Christmas has always been a flurry of furious activity. The first of the month is always marked by taking down numerous dusty boxes from the attic filled with decorations.

Although the particles of dust always sneak into my nose and cause me to sneeze uncontrollably, decorating every nook and cranny of the house gives me the utmost pleasure since it sets the holiday tone and mood for the month.

Once the house is decked in festive splendour my mum usually gets in a tizzy rushing around town in search of cake and cookie baking ingredients. India being India, a simple task such as buying brown sugar can prove to be quite a drama. Thus procuring the exact requirements for baking all the Christmas goodies can be a herculean task. This year I accompanied my mum from All Saints to Food World and then to Nilgiris until we had every last item we needed checked off our list. In my opinion Nilgiri had the best quality and was well stocked, at least in comparison with the rest.

My mother being Anglo-Indian, Christmas celebrations have always followed the customary traditions and practices. Keeping abreast with our Anglo-Indian heritage, there are three standard Christmas sweets that are an absolute must, Christmas Plum Cake, Kul-Kuls and Rosa Cookies. Below are pictures of the rosa cookie moulds, the deep frier wok and the completed cookies.

When I was younger coconut sweet was also part of the festive table spread but as the years have gone by its importance seems to have waned, although this year we resurrected the favoured delight.

top above: coconut sweet, and then here: kul kuls

Every year ole faithful Shanti, the same age as my mum (est. 55, hope my mum is not reading this post!) is summoned to help with the making of these Christmas treats, since only Shanti, trained by my grandmother when she was a child knows the exact measurements and method of making the Christmas favourites.

This year I have stepped in taking interest in the preparations, attempting to document some of my grandmothers recipes in the hope of being able to continue our traditions wherever I maybe or whatever may happen (god forbid) to Shanti.

My mother usually makes 5 kg’s of cake, this year we have scaled back (maybe its because of the recession?!) and only made3 kg’s instead. This entails 1 kg flour, 1 kg eggs, 1 kg crushed cashew nuts, and a 2 kg mixture of glace cherries, currants, raisins, plums, tutti-frutti, orange peel soaked in rum and brandy along with copious amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla essence and almond essence.

In the past my mum has turned to commercial produced ‘burned sugar’ – something I cannot fathom in the least – and what I suspect is responsible for the ugly bitter aftertaste produced from cakes in past years. This year I set to work to create the perfect caramel referring to David Lebowitz handy manual.

I used the dry method and soon realised that this method goes hard very quickly when taken off the stove and does not dissolve into the cake batter, instead forming large sugar crystals when in contact with the cool batter. So instead we went to work making wet caramel using water to temper the caramel and allow it to be more malleable for longer. This way the caramel was incorporated into the cakes without any worries, giving a slighter paler than the usually burnished dark colour but yielding the rich, caramel flavour that is usually missing thanks to the artificially flavoured tubs of burned sugar.