Cafe Toons

Patrick Food, Life in India, Pune, Restaurants

Found in the midst of MG Road opposite The Leather Lounge and in the basement of the Wonderland complex, Toons is a popular Pune joint for college students playing a wide variety of rock music. At least during the weekend (when we went) a cover charge of INR300 gives you credit you must spend before leaving. Fortunately their prices are reasonable with beer costing around INR80 and an average selection of foods including burgers and Chinese at very reasonable prices. Of course, I should tell you this is more of a bar with food rather than a restaurant with music.

Cafe Toons

Toons is decorated with a number of kitschy items ranging from large scale cartoon drawings that look like they came directly from a Mad magazine to a large Manchester United club flag though pretty relevant with football playing on a number of small TVs around the room. A DJ sits in a booth taking requests and plays a mix of old and very modern rock. The line of people waiting at its entrance indicates its a popular hangout. The crowd is noticeably large groups of guys, though the women to men ratio was much higher than a number of other bars I’d been to.

Be prepared for noise if you do go to Toons. The volume levels are pretty high requiring some pretty loud voices to talk to the people close to you. It’s also a place where group Karaoke is very popular with the DJ turning the volume down during the chorus of some songs and the entire bar sings, or more accurately shouts, the chorus. I remember a couple of songs from Green Day and Linkin Park where this occured.

Details: Cafe Toons (The Lager Café Down Under)
Found at: 26 Wonderland, 7, MG Road, Pune, India
Contactable on: Tel: 26136879/66011942
Highlights: A selection of rock songs from a wide variety of eras (there will be something you’ll probably not enjoy). It has a buzzing atmosphere from its popularity and is worth the experience.
Room for improvement: The place is pretty dark and the music tends to be quite loud, making it sometimes difficult to have a conversation with people across the table.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

The German Bakery

Patrick Food, Life in India, Pune, Restaurants

If you ever find yourself in Pune, the German Bakery is one of those institutions you must visit. Its wide selection of cakes, breads, and breakfast goodies including omelettes, muesli, and fruit salads attracts a wide variety of people including tourists, locals, and the people from the Osho Ashram who deserve an entire post of their own. The bakery even offers many different products for home. We’ve been particularly partial to the delicious crunchy muesli. The Kaju Butter (Cashew Nut Butter) peaked my intrigue as well but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.

Service in this eatery is particularly efficient – you order your food/drink/cake/products at one counter and they simply write prices down onto a bill that you use to pay at another counter. You find a place to sit and the people manage to find you with whatever you’ve ordered. We’ve eaten there at least three times now from brunch and they’ve managed to get all the food orders perfectly correct regardless of the groups that we’ve been in.

The German Bakery

Its popularity in Pune has additional benefits since all rickshaw drivers we’ve asked know where the German Bakery lies. The downside to its popularity with foreigners also means that you sometimes need to haggle with the drivers to get a more reasonable rate.

Details: The German Bakery
Found at: North Main Road, Koregaon Park, Pune 411001
Highlights: Fantastic selection of real hearty breads and cakes. Each of the omelette combinations come with the hearty breads that make a great break from your standard Indian loaves. Its relaxed atmosphere and communal table sharing also offers diners a unique experience. They also offer some very nice freshly squeezed juices.
Room for improvement: Its popularity means you can be a sucker for catching a rickshaw both to and from its location. It also means a lot of beggars wait around outside for its patrons to arrive or leave.
Cost: Around INR100 for an omelette, coffee and a pastry. Pastries/cakes start at around INR25 each.
The Kua Rating: 8 out of 10

Eating in Bangalore Part 4

Patrick Food, Life in India, Restaurants

More restaurants in Bangalore:

  • Peco’s – A bar that also serves food, this multi storied building found on Brigade Street offers a unique dining experience with lots of memorabilia and rock music played from cassette tapes. It’s a great atmosphere with pitchers of beer around INR200. They also offer a number of dishes including Indian versions of Tex Mex cuisine. The chilli chicken here is pretty good.
  • Queens -A local restaurant serving lots of types of curries. Its interior design makes it look like modern Moroccan restaruant and is pretty busy with locals all the time. This one is found half way up on Queen Street. Nice and cheap with a big meal costing around INR250 (£3.50) per person.
  • Beemas – An Andhran styled restaurant found further up Queen Street towards the Tavern pub. You eat on banana leaf-lined silver platters and offers a ton of Indian cuisines. They even have an air conditioned room (with prices that match) that we ended up escaping to because the rest of the place smelled a little bit too much like a damp cloth. Pretty cheap all up costing about INR350 (£4.50) per person.
  • Nandhini Palace – Another Andhran restaurant but this time a chain. There’s one that’s pretty much opposite our office. I’d seen the motor bikes zooming around Bangalore obviously delivering food. Another great selection of food with lots of very spicy food. Averaged around INR300 (£4) per person.

I Heart Darshinis

Patrick Bangalore, Food, Life in India, Restaurants

I don’t think you’ve lived in Bangalore until you’ve eat at a Darshini. It’s the Indian equivalent of a fast food joint at ridiculously cheap prices with generally much better food than you’d get at any McD’s or KFC. Popular ones are busy at most times of the day, and we’re lucky to have three very good ones in walking distance to our office.

Cheese Dosa

Eating is simple. Order and pay at one counter and you’ll receive a food receipt and a drink receipt. Pass the food one to someone behind the food counter, and the other to the cannisters that sit at another. You’ll soon receive your food as it’s freshly prepared. Don’t expect plush ambiance at darshinis and one of its unique drawcards is that it’s standing room only. Live by the zero-second rule (don’t bother picking up food if it’s dropped) and focus only on the food on the metallic plates you’re served on. Relish the coconut chutney and sambah with whatever you may have ordered: be it a dosa (crepe like bread), some idlies (steamed bread) or some vada (fried bread). As long as you stick to popular dishes, chances for food poisoning is minimal with most of it being freshly made in front of your eyes.

Tea or coffee starts at only INR5 (6p) and most meals ranging between INR20-40 (25p-52p). Most of them even offer you the option of getting your food wrapped which is based on a few banana leaves, wrapped in newspaper and then drawn together with string.

Eating in Bangalore Part 3

Patrick Bangalore, Food, Life in India, Restaurants

Some more places for food in Bangalore:

  • Geoffrey’s – Like Ginseng, this restaurant is also located in the Royal Orchard Hotel off airport road (1,Golf Avenue). Geoffrey’s is actually a pub with a big screen showing matches from European football. Food on offer ranges from continental to a smaller selection of Pan Asian foods (we think some offered from Ginseng upstairs). Food quality is generally pretty good with nicely sized portions at reasonable rates. We had a few pitchers of beer, some dinner and it ended up around INR800.
  • Ashoka DeluxeKoshy’s – A popular restaurant found up one end of MG road on St Mark’s Road. As you enter the restaurant, you walk under a big Fish and Chips sign, obviously showing heavy continental and English influence. One side of the restaurant offers white table clothed-dining rooms while the other offers a less formal dining experience. Large pillars and impressive fans whirl, cooling its dining guests. They offer plenty of Indian food as well (pretty much all we ate there) as well as a few beers. I’m not sure how much it ended up being for the four of us there.
  • Ashoka Deluxe – The restaurant found in the hotel of the same name, this one focuses on Andhran cuisine (the spiciest of the Indian regions). Their prices are very reasonable at well under INR100 each, and a decent selection of breads starting from INR15. Best yet is the local Kingfisher beer, with a large bottle setting you back INR77. Total price for a meal INR177.
  • TGI Fridays – A very popular joint, especially with the ex-pat crowd that serves overpriced beer and westernised food. A redeeming feature is the happy hour specials that run until about 8pm but still cost double compared to a more local place. A trait that seems to run common here is that quite a few people ended up with food poising from here.

Eating in Bangalore Part 2

Patrick Bangalore, Food, Life in India, Restaurants

A few more places that we’ve eaten at:

  • Ginseng – Located in the Royal Orchard Hotel off airport road, this pan-asian restaurant focuses mainly on Thai and Chinese food though also offers a couple of Singaporean offerings. It’s generally on the more expensive side (for India), with starters, a main and some beers costing about INR1200 per person. Food quality is very good though and despite the curries not being as hot as they could be, definitely had a good kick to them. The restaurant itself didn’t get as busy as it could have while we were there. In fact, only one person occupied a single table (out of the thirty or so) when we arrived though filled up in the next couple of hours. I’d definitely come back here and try the Singapore Chilli Crab at only INR700.
  • Mainland ChinaSethji Home Made Foods – A great local place that offers some great varieties of paratha. Very cheap at only INR40 for a couple of fresh paratha’s with some sauces to dip them into. As hinted at the name, it feels like one of those local restaurants someone is running out of their own home. Definitely recommended for some nice fresh food. Found at: 2148 8th Main 2nd Cross Opposite KEB Hal 2nd Stage Indiranagar, Bangalore East.
  • Mainland China – Chinese cuisine with an extensive food menu (almost like a book!) with a list of interesting cocktails as well. We ate at the two floored one, that was actually not too bad. Lots of different dishes to choose from here, with lots of meat, vegetarian, rice and noodle dishes. Price per head for a large meal including a couple of drinks ended up around INR650. We ate at the one located here: Golden Lights, No.4032, 100ft Road, HAL-II Stage, Indranagar, Bangalore.
  • Brio the cafe Bistro – Found at a Crossword bookstore, this cafe has a couple of outdoor tables where you can drink some of the very milky coffee and tea with some cakes or biscuits. Very much set up in a Starbucks style with lots of cold drinks and many things with a light coffee basis, but probably missing out. Sitting outside is quite nice. I think this is the one we went to: 12th Main Road, 5th Cross Road.