Review - The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Meeting friends, spending time with loved ones or just being yourself needs no reasons .......... And what best when you can find a place to unwind right in the middle of the most happening place of Bangalore, MG Road. So if you have been searching for such a place ........ look no further. When I got an invite to be a part of the 50th year Celebration of  "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf", I thought why not !!

It was time to catch up with fellow bloggers and what was more exiting was to learn about tea and coffee from the connoisseurs who have been in the business for half a century. The brand also completes five successful years in India, where again it has played the pioneer’s role in introducing the finest coffees and teas around the world to Indian coffee/ tea lovers. 

As soon as we settled down Mr Zameer Ahamed, Asst Operational Manager at CBTL handed us the tea guide.The small handout was an encyclopedia in itself.Did you know that tea is categorized broadly under four categories depending on the steeping time - green tea, black tea,oolong tea,herbal and fruit infusions.Their long standing relationships with these estates allows them to continually offer the best tea and infusions.It was interesting to know that the tea leaves were not only hand picked but hand rolled too.During the steeping process the leaves unfurl releasing the flavor into the tea. Since Bangalore summer has been a little harsh I decided to try their "Peach Ice Tea". It was full body, fruity and super refreshing. My recommendation is when you are visiting this place make sure you get your hands on. 

Much said about tea,I have to admit that their coffee is also incredible.

CBTL takes utmost care in choosing their coffee beans too.They follow a very stringent process in handpicking each and even coffee bean so as to give you the utmost quality. There are about 25 varieties of coffee and each being a masterpiece by itself.

We hovered over the place, sniffing tea leaves and coffee beans, bombarding questions in our quest to learn it all and clicking pictures. I was getting somewhat hungry ......... Photographing food can leave you hungry... that's true.Just in time came some fabulous dishes fresh from the kitchen. Seasonal Vegetable Lasagne, Spaghetti Roast Chicken with Pesto sauce, Chicken Sandwich to name a few ........ the dressing on the salad served with the sandwich was to die for. 

So just to let you guys know ......... since CBTL is celebrating it's 50th year there are a lot of new stuff that they have introduced in their menu. So what are you waiting for ......... the next time you are there, make sure you drop in and check out the great stuff this place got to offer. 

So here is my report card about the place on a scale of 10 (1 being the least and 10 being the most)

Cleanliness - 9

Staff Courtesy - 9

Pricing - 8

Food & Beverage Variety - 10 (Yah that's because I have not come across a more exhaustive menu in terms of tea and coffee)

Taste - 9 (Can't give a 10 as there is always scope of improvement :) )

Recommendation - YES ( A great place to hang out and unwind) 

Where you can spot them

1 MG Road Mall, Opposite Taj Vivanta

Inorbit Mall - Whitefield

Phoenix Market City, Whitefield Road

Kormangala, 7th Block 

DISCLAIMER: This is not a paid review. The opinion and remarks are my own.

Love.Cook.Learn @ Pink Poppadom

"A way to a man's heart is through his stomach" ........ whoever said this was not wrong. So when Poshvine announced their Love.Cook.Learn event I pulled up my socks. The venue was at Pink Poppadom and the pinkish hue of the restaurant was apt to celebrate the season of love. For Rs 1250 a person, you got a three recipe demo, a wine paired three-course lunch and a bottle of wine to take with you. The wines for this event were from "Four Seasons"

After a brief introduction session by Chef Gautam Chaudhry, the session was handed over to Jr Sous Chef Sumeet Priyadarshini. The menu was carefully chosen keeping in mind that you enjoy the process of cooking for your loved ones.Also most of the ingredients that were being used for the recipes could be found in one's kitchen or sourced easily. It was a creative menu of Ricotta Kebab on a bed of zucchini carpaccio with a fresh tomato salsa, a seafood hotpot for the main course and a rose syrup infused strawberry phirni.

Chef Sumeet kept the session quite open and interactive. He was quite generous with his food tips and knife skills. We were demonstrated everything in details right from mashing the ricotta cheese to marinating the seafood for the "seafood hotpot". While we flocked around the table taking tips, making notes and trying our hands on the various dishes, we were served Four Seasons Blush. A sip of wine definitely took things to another level.

Once the demo was over, the tables were set for lunch. The restaurant overlooked the Ulsoor lake and the light pink hue was perfect for a romantic meal on any given day. The wines were well paired with the food but in a slightly altered manner. We were first served Four Seasons Chenin Blanc with the Ricotta Kebab. The ricotta kebab was silky and the fennel seeds gave a nice crunch to it. The acidity from the salsa balanced it perfectly.

The next course was sea food hotpot. A combination of prawns, black pompfret and squid in a nice balanced coconut flavored gravy. It was paired with Four Seasons Sauvignon Blan.  Despite the reversal it paired very well with the sea food.

And no meal is complete without dessert. The strawberry and rose infused phirni was apt to steal anybody's  heart. It was innovative and still not complicated.  It was served with a chilled goblet of Four Seasons Blush.

It was a very well organized event and time well spent bonding over good food and new friends !!

Thank you Gingerclaps team for the invite and Four Seasons Wine for sponsoring the event.

NDTV Good Times Food Awards Special ..... Meet the Chef - Aditya Bal

 

A few days ago I got an invite to be a part of celebrating “The Perfect Recipe” as a part of NDTV Good Times Food Awards 2012 at the Le Meriden, Bangalore. 

And the cherry on the cake was getting a chance to interact with the famous Chef Aditya Bal of NDTV Good Times Chakh le India – Kacha Rasta fame.

A successful model and a self taught chef, Aditya loves to travel the path less traveled by and rediscover the various techniques of cooking in India. He is obsessive when it comes to cooking in all its forms. In a tete-e tete Aditya says that one needs to experiment with food and reinvent it till one arrives at the perfect recipe. Cooking is not just his new found love but his passion.

On the occasion of celebrating the perfect recipe Chef Aditya Bal stirred out three delicacies.

The first one was a Fried Alu Delhi Chaat a popular street food from Delhi. Aditya had his own twist to it by adding fresh cut apples to it. As he started stirring the various dishes the session got interactive where the chirpy chef was answering to various questions asked by the audience.

The second dish was “Doi Mach” a popular Bengali fish curry which is slow cooked using mustard oil, doi (curd) and sweet water fish fillets like Rohu. The curry had a very bold flavor due to the use of mustard oil and garam masala. Aditya did add his own twist to this traditional Bengali fish curry too.

The last dish was ‘Zafrani Pulao’ a traditional Rajasthani rice dish. The aroma of saffron infused milk, ghee, basmati rice and nuts intoxicated the entire place.

It was a great session learning directly from the Chef and improvising on the techniques we already knew.

They say "Never trust a skinny chef" But here that's not the case !