Re-visiting Cup O’ Joe. With MORE FOOD involved

Serene. Idyllic. Quite. Peaceful.

Now adding – Great FOOD.

For those of you who read my earlier blog about how great my first experience was and what a lovey place this is would realize I dint get into the food details too much so we decided to go back to try out their fare and help complete the experience.

(for the ones who missed it – read it here - http://kunalgwalani.blogspot.in/2014/09/a-perfect-evening-my-visit-to-cup-o-joe.html )

It’ s rare for a place to get almost everything right but I think in time to come, most people will agree that Cup O’ Joe is almost there. Not just a great relaxing ambience and the right place to hang out with friends and loved ones but their food and pricing will add the icing on the cake.

This time we were 2 couples and had an opportunity to try out their drinks, starters and most importantly had our share of their heavenly mousse which has always left me spell bound. So much so that I threatened to kidnap the chef who makes the mousse.

The place is not overly priced and gives great value for money.

Because this is a first time initiative for the owners, the food is getting better with time, experience and feedback.

What I like about the food – HIGHLY CUSTOMISEABLE to your taste buds. They are very flexible to making the dish as you like it, more or less spicy and hence be sure to specify how you like your food. In today’s dining experience it is not common for a chef to cater to individual tastes buds but they do it here with ease.

Here are some pictures of the dishes we tried with our experiences.

We started off with some tasty chillers:

Oreo Chocolate Smoothie on the left and the Lemon, Orange and Pear on the right

I had the Oreo Chocolate cookie whiles the others ordered a Lemon, Orange and Pear smoothie.

As promised they customise food here for you and the missus wanted a spicy mocktail so the chef concocted one for her right here with the salt rimmed glass et al. 

Not in the menu but you can ask for it.

The customised spicy mocktail. Every sip set the taste buds on overdrive but delicious indeed.

For starters we went for their house special, the nachos with cheese sauce which is a must have here. It is supremely tasty and cheesy and 1 is not enough on a table for 4. Only because we liked it sooo much.

The other starters we had was the panner tikka and chicken wings.

The flavours were great but the chicken wings were not as spicy as one would hope so do remember to ask for it to be spiced up if that' s what you like.

Main course was a pasta which had the flavours just right.

Paneer on the top and the chicken wings at the bottom

And to top it all is the Chocolate Mousse. You will never believe that is eggless.

YES eggless. And because it is possibly the best I even enlarged the picture so we can all crave for it even more. 

I look forward to going back there again soon.

Do invite me if you go, I would love to have their desserts again and again!

A Perfect Evening - My visit to Cup O' Joe 

Serene. Idyllic. Quite. Peaceful.

Some of the words that come to mind when I think of my experience at Cup O Joe, a new restaurant in Koramangala, Bangalore.

Watched 2 groups a friends play board games, there were about 20 more on standby and a book cabinet to keep you company when alone.

Like to play the guitar and have your friends sing along with you, no problem. They have that too.

The origin of the name is interesting in itself and can be found here - http://blog.dictionary.com/cup-o%E2%80%99-joe-starbucks/

A new place opened in Sep 2014 is a great place to go to unwind after a long hard day. Whether its with some friends, or looking at spending some quite time with that someone special, there is something for every one here.

The food has a good variety of light eats, coffees and shakes ranging to mocktails and main courses of European nature.  So if you are looking for a quite coffee shop experience (unlike the noisy chains) in the evening or a romantic candle light dinner at night, there is enough fare to keep you hooked.

Click here for a full set of very realistic pictures -  http://on.fb.me/1m8jaSm

I personally dint get to eat a lot, but I did love the Nachos in cheese sauce and their chocolate mouse is out of this world. One of the best I ever had and believe me I have had a lot. The Red Thai curry we had was not as spicy as we hoped but presented really well.

The good thing about going to new places is that the food will only evolve and get better with time and the Chef here is very attentive and customer friendly.

A meal for two should cost you around 800 bucks for good eaters which is well worth the money. This includes mocktails too which was quite good.

The place is owned by 4 partners from the software world, who got a new calling in life.

It’s a must visit place and I will surely be spotted there on weekends gorging on their Chocolate Mousse.

Check them out here: https://www.facebook.com/cupojoe.cafe

P.S. – They currently don’t serve liquor but don’t let that deter you from going there.

P.P.S  - Very friendly management who are all set to provide you a very pleasant experience.

Don’t you sell to Indian’s in India even if you are not Indian?

This past weekend I finally got to visit Café Max which is at Max Mueller Bhavan in Indiranagar.

This is not a food blog where you will get to hear my experience with the food. The simple reason for this was that I never actually got to eat the food there to be able to write about it.

And why dint I have anything to eat? Because I was a vegetarian that day and hence had to lay off almost all the items in the menu.

The fact is that most of their food is non-veg which is not wrong in any sense.

What irked me about the menu was that they passed off Non Veg food as Veg food!

That’s right, they have food that has EGG in it and they explicitly call it VEG food. Now maybe in Germany egg is termed as vegetarian and hence it is acceptable to call food that has egg but no meat as Vegetarian but last I checked we in India still consider it as non-vegetarian.

When I was living in Singapore it was a common problem when you ate at a local eatery. You could order veg food and they would serve it with the egg and when you insist I want veg food they would be like this is veg, no meat. Then we would need to explain that Indians consider egg as non-veg and hence we can’t eat the food since it has egg in it.

Here are some snapshots of their menu from Zomato.

Click here to check online - https://www.zomato.com/bangalore/cafe-max-indiranagar/menu#tabtop

This is the menu items that we saw too and hence it is as new and relevant till this 

past Sunday.

I would like to draw your attention to the entry – Crepes.
By highlighting that Ham and Cheese is Non-veg your suggesting that the other 2 are veg right? But you forget that Crepes are made with Egg and hence ALL the items ought to be non-veg.

Same goes for the Mediterranean crepes in the starters section! It says Veg when it has egg. 
And this was confirmed by the waiter as well.

Don't believe me? Read the entry highlighted under breakfast!

A quick look at the Max Mueller Website’s about us section  - reveals this at the end of the about us -
We would like to support them (Indian artists, scientists and journalists) in their roles as promoters of culture and pave the way for future international and cultural cooperation.

http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/en/bag/uun.html

Great way to promote their culture I guess. Personal preferences be aside, Indian’s as a nation term Egg as non-veg and hence even if their primary audience maybe German (which is not the case as I know people who go there frequently and the clientele is largely Indian).

It is grossly un-cultural to be promoting eggs as vegetarian in India. Good for health, maybe but surely not vegetarian and surely not in India.

A quick byword about the service we experienced - Crappy. Not worthy of a tip let alone the service charge they force you to pay on the bill.

P.S. – the author of this blog is a hard core non-vegetarian and can only tolerate vegetables when accompanied by non-veg.