Bangalore's Romantic Restaurants
Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 7:30AM The other day, I was looking for a nice place for a date. Some place with a cozy, quiet, peaceful, romantic, candle-lit sort of atmosphere. I posted my query on my company's bulletinboard, and had an overwhelming response. Here is a list of the restaurant names I received (all in Bangalore):
1. Spiga - Vittal Mallya Road, near Ffolio
2. Fresco's - Cunningham Road
3. Gufa - near 3rd Block Circle, Jayanagar
4. Blue Ginger – Taj West End
5. Fiorano - 100ft Road, Koramangala
6. Cosmo Village - Magrath Road, near Garuda Mall
7. Mynt - Taj West End
8. Citrus/ Jamavar - Leela Palace
9. Take 5 - 100ft Road, Indiranagar
10. 100FT - 100ft Road, Indiranagar
11. Tangerine - 100ft Road, Indiranagar
12. Holiday Village - Kanakapura Road
13. Ebony - 13th floor of Barton Centre, MG Road
14. Magnolia - 3rd Block, Koramangala
15. Inchara - 6th Phase, JP Nagar
16. Guru’s Garden - near IIMB campus, Bannerghatta Road
17. Adigas - 8th Block, Jayanagar
18. Bangalore Bistro - Brigade Road, near Eva Mall
19. Lemon Grass - Sarjapur Road, Koramangala 1st Block
20. The Harbour - Outer Ring Road
21. Aura - Cunningham Road
22. The Beach - 100ft Road, Indiranagar
23. Elements - Nandidurg Road
24. Orchids and Roses - Cunningham Road
25. i-Bar - in The Park Hotel on MG Road
26. Zero-G - Residency Road
27. Hint - Bangalore Central, Residency Road
28. Copper Chimney - Bangalore Central, Residency Road
29. Royal Afghan - at the Windsor Sheraton Hotel
New additions to the list:
30. Olive Beach - on Wood Street (off Richmond Road)
31. Samarkhand - at Gem Plaza on Infantry Road
32. Paradise Island - at the Taj West End
34. Sahib Sindh Sultan - at the Forum Mall
I finally decided on going to Ebony, on the 13th floor of the Barton Centre, on MG Road. Here's a report on my visit, and a review.
I first called them and booked a seat outside, on their terrace. Me and my date arrived there at around 7.45pm. The rains had stopped by then, and there was a pleasant cool breeze (and romance) in the air. We were offered the menus, a lit candle was placed on our table, and our waiter held a plastic bottle of Aquafina water in his hands like it was an expensive bottle of champagne, and asked if that was fine for us. All sorts of creatures that once walked, crawled or swam had been featured in the menu, and we being vegetarians, steered clear of all those pages.
For starters, I chose the Broccoli and Cheese soup, and my date chose the Minestrone Primavera soup. My broccoli soup was quite good, whereas the Minestrone was on the watery side. Both soups were hot, and we carefully sipped our respective soups, looking into each other's eyes, with the candlelight dancing on our faces. After the soups, came the entrées that we'd selected. I had chosen a Lasagne Primavera, while my girl had preferred a Provençale Pasta Quills. My lasagne was on the bland side. I felt that it should have spent more time in the oven - I prefer my lasagne crispy, but this was more on the soggy side. The pasta, on the other hand, was much better, and tasted good. The serving size was generous, and was quite filling. After this we decided wash it all down with a mocktail. This was mysteriously named Kukri, essentially a mixture of various fruit juices like orange, passion fruit, lemon and other unidentifiable liquids.
After we were done with this, the courteous waiters decided to let us talk, rather than thrust the bill down on us. So we sat there, doing some more of looking into each other's eyes, and talking softly. Just when the waiters began to wonder if we'll ever get up, we called for the bill, paid and left the place at around 9.30pm.
And then we got to my home, called it a day, and had a good night's sleep together. Oh btw, the date was my wife. It was her birthday :)
Reader Comments (27)
One notable absence on your list is Olive Beach. If continental food is your thing, this place can't be beat for either atmosphere or quality.
A bit on the pricy side though.
adigas??for a romantic date??!!
Gufa for a date!!! it is noisy as hell...
how about samarkhand?
Thanks, I have updated the list to include Olive Beach and Samarkhand.
I can imagine Adigas being romantic - especially when you stand close to your love and eat your food... :)
Btw, I did visit Spiga recently. We hated the place. Loud noisy music. Cigarette smoke in the air - bad ventilation. And ah, yes: the sight of young women nonchalantly smoking away their lungs - a rare scene in India - it was quite a culture shock for me, actually :)
Guru Garden?!?!....yeah...if you want to get your date to dump your instantly....
Ah, the anti-date antidote. Perfect for those 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' kind of situations :)
Btw, here's a site that reviews a few restaurants for 'Valentine's Day' outings: http://www.jammag.com/valueformoney/valhangout/love.htm
Also include Sahib Sindh Sultan at Forum. Lovely theme, and not much noise. Ask them to book in the train.
Ebony terrace is also a great place, only that veg options are limited. all their starters are thai, which means that even the veg items are cooked in fish sauce.
Dnt know y u've missed out 100 ft boutique in indranagar. Quite and lovely place with great food...
Thanks for the suggestion - SSS has now been included.
Shipra, the 100Ft Restaurant features at #10 on my list - assuming '100Ft Boutique' Restaurant isn't a different place!
Pramod, I clicked on this link hoping to find an unusual list of restaurants. Actually, I probably mis-read the title as "Romantic Bangalore restaurants" - mea culpa. Your list looks like a tear away from the Times food guide or such other stuff.
Well anyway, coming back to restaurants...the fast fading, olde-world charm still clings to a few restaurants in Bangalore. Maybe you should do a blog on those sometime.
Yeah, you're right - these are mostly contemporary commercial establishments... I'm not really an avid restaurant-goer, so name me some restaurants that you think have retained their charms.
A few I can think of:
MTR on Lalbagh Road
India Coffee House, Brindavan Hotel on MG Road
Vidyarthi Bhavan in Gandhi Bazaar
Gundappa Sweets (aka Sri Ram Vilas Sweets) near the Dharmaraya Temple on OTC Road in Nagarthpet
Brahmins' Coffee Bar in V V Puram
The Only Place on Museum Road
I recently visited a place called Umerkot in Koramangala. A must try place.
http://mail2nagen.blogspot.com/2008/02/gufa-resturant.html
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You ARE my savior.. thank you.. will let you know how mine went :D
- Perv
hi i'm back. i had a lovely evening at Ebony on friday last. it was a serious overdose of romance with the red wine which only got us higher that we already were..
beautiful weather prevailed and all went well.. thanks a lot.. it must be the nth time my date and i met alone.. but it sure felt like a first date. :)
cheers!!! - Perv
Hey Perv, great! Glad you had a good time :)
Hey!! This info helped me a lot. Just found out that there is a new restaurant named 'Khansama' thats opened up at UB city. Any body been there??
its my bday on sunday n whr do i take my boy fren?
You're taking your boy friend out on your birthday, or is it the other way around? Going by everything I know about you, here's a place that's perfect for you: MTR on Lalbagh Road. Here's my suggested plan for the day: Have a light breakfast early in the morning, and go to Lalbagh and take in the fresh and invigorating air. Walk around hand in hand, sit under some shady trees away from the walk paths, and just talk about life. Then at around 11am or so, saunter around to MTR, and make a reservation for a table. Wait around a bit, and have a nice filling lunch together. You can then decide on how you want to spend the rest of the day - interested in a movie? Check out Fast & Furious at PVR, if you haven't seen this before. Have a great time, and Happy Birthday in advance!
Hi any good romantic restaurant in and around banashankari 3rd stage.thanx.
Hi, This is an exciting site I found where one can search all types of restaurants, specially in Bangalore:
http://www.eveningflavors.com" rel="nofollow">www.eveningflavors.com. They also help plan a party free of cost.
"young women nonchalantly smoking away their lungs" rather chauvinistic don't you think? being a woman i take offense i think you should grow up and expand your mind a bit.
M'am, you have complete freedom to smoke away your lungs, and be the "fool at the other end"; that pleasure is not a male prerogative :)
Hey Pramod ...
How about the SN restaurant;SLV Ragigudda ; Ramya Restaurant ; RMH Yediur ,
you need to try these also some time...