Re: [silk] bangalore treats

[Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay]

On Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 11:25 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian
 wrote:
> I wouldn't wish ccd coffee on my worst enemy these days
>
> 1. Walk into a CCD
> 2. Order a double shot of espresso
> 3. Waiter warns you "sir, it is very strong coffee"
> 4. "Yes I know, I still want it"
> 5. Brings you a watery brew, with two sachets of sugar and some creamer

There's that. And then there's the unrelenting attempt to sell their
coffee kits etc.


--
sankarshan mukhopadhyay

Re: [silk] bangalore treats

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

> Some highlights:
> - See Chowdiah when it's closed, just because it's shaped like a violin.
> - Eat Parsi food, hamburgers, and Mexican.
> - Go bowling at a chain.
> - Visit Cafe Coffee Day (in Bangalore, isn't this akin to sending
> someone to a Parisian or Roman Starbucks?)
> 

I wouldn't wish ccd coffee on my worst enemy these days

1. Walk into a CCD
2. Order a double shot of espresso
3. Waiter warns you "sir, it is very strong coffee"
4. "Yes I know, I still want it"
5. Brings you a watery brew, with two sachets of sugar and some creamer 

Re: [silk] bangalore treats

[Andy Deemer]

On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 6:44 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian
 wrote:
> Sounded like something Andy deemer would be happy to follow up on. Maybe a
> bike or auto painted with THE poultrygeist?
>
> --srs (htc one x)

Haha.  I printed out the list a while back, planning to explore it
item by item -- but work has doubled, so along with the "mapping city
market" plan, this has taken a backseat.

However, on the topic of "What to do in BLR," was *disgusted* by the
NYT's 36 Hours in Bangalore[1].

Some highlights:
- See Chowdiah when it's closed, just because it's shaped like a violin.
- Eat Parsi food, hamburgers, and Mexican.
- Go bowling at a chain.
- Visit Cafe Coffee Day (in Bangalore, isn't this akin to sending
someone to a Parisian or Roman Starbucks?)

I know 36 Hours traditionally embraces the glittering and the local,
but even as a new arrival in the city, this struck me as a lazy and
terrible guide to a great city.  What about the grand coupling of
Bangalore entrepreneurial success and devotion that occurs at RVM
Shiva Temple (and in the pages of his success manual Succsex), or the
rangolian garlands for sale at City Market's flower market?  The maze
within Balaji's Rare Antiques, the 60' cut-outs towering above
Ghandinagar, the 108-mantra-chant entrance-fee at ISKCON-BLR (and the
turf war with ISKCON-Mumbai), a lunchtime thali feast at MTR followed
by a cold glass of Sula at Jaaga, Colonial cocktails at Windsor Palace
followed by tipsy jewelry-shopping at Raintree, death-defying
book-shopping at Blossom?  The understated excess of the Taj West
End???

Frankly, bowling at BluO and Cafe Coffee Day seem... embarrassing.

[1] 
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/travel/36-hours-in-bangalore-india.html?pagewanted=all

Re: [silk] bangalore treats

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Sounded like something Andy deemer would be happy to follow up on. 
Maybe a bike or auto painted with THE poultrygeist?


--srs (htc one x)



On 29 March 2013 6:14:08 PM Jai Iyer  wrote:
On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 5:26 PM, Shrabonti Bagchi 
 wrote:

> Just curious -- what's the source of this compilation?

Timeout Bengaluru, the magazine. One of the first issues, IIRC.

-J

Re: [silk] bangalore treats

[Jai Iyer]

On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 5:26 PM, Shrabonti Bagchi  wrote:
> Just curious -- what's the source of this compilation?

Timeout Bengaluru, the magazine. One of the first issues, IIRC.

-J

Re: [silk] bangalore treats

[Shrabonti Bagchi]

Just curious -- what's the source of this compilation?



On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 3:09 PM, Naresh  wrote:
> Secret City
>
>
>
> Autorickshaw Artists – In one of Shivajinagar’s maze-like streets - known to 
> Bangaloreans as that part of town you go to for cheap meat, exotic pets, 
> Suleimani chai, or your stolen car – works Afsar Pasha. Though there are at 
> least a dozen practitioners of Pasha’s art in Shivajinagar, the man in 
> question is to autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore what Rembrandt was to 
> portraiture in 17th Century Holland. For about Rs 800, Pasha (or if you’re 
> willing to arrive at a compromise, one of his lesser contemporaries) will 
> paint the likeness of the latest Khan or a particularly flattering profile 
> view of Rajkumar on the back of an autorickshaw. In the hierarchy of 
> autorickshaw art, Pasha says Rajkumar ranks as the most popular, followed by 
> Shankar Nag, Sanjay Dutt, Shah Rukh Khan and what he calls 
> Shore-Temple-Sunset. He says he decided to follow his father, Anwar’s example 
> and picked up a paint brush 35 years ago, when he’d just completed his 
> schooling. He says his muse, and the in-demand star when he began as an 
> autorickshaw artist, was ‘Rambo.’ “I charge Rs 400 for only face, Rs 850 – 
> 1000 for full pose and Rs 100 – 150 for scenery,” he says.
>
> And as is the case with these things, Mayur Polepalli, a Bangalorean in 
> Taipei maintains a blog, arart.blogspot.com that documents autorickshaw art. 
> “What’s on the autorickshaw is what’s on the driver’s mind. I was fascinated 
> with the thought and when that turned to obsession, I figured I had to 
> document it,” Polepalli said, by email.
>
> AS Arts Planet, 1, C Street, SH Road, Shivajinagar. 93434-91919.
>
> Butterfly Park – Two years ago, the country’s first butterfly park opened at 
> the Bannerghatta Biological Park, with little frippery. Which is a pity, 
> because this well kept secret needs to be told, and the park needs a constant 
> flow of visitors. The Park is an hour’s drive from Bangalore and the 
> Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation runs four luxury buses to the 
> park everyday (route 365 from Majestic at Rs 25 a ride). Tickets cost Rs 20 
> for adults and Rs 10 for children (under 10) and once you’ve paid up, you 
> enter a large, transparent dome that houses an entire eco-system. During 
> season (June to November), 20 species of butterflies make this dome their 
> home. The day we went, guided by the little plaques that dot the park, we 
> spotted the Common Mormon, the Great Indian Crow, the Flying tiger, the Blue 
> Tiger, the Striped Tiger, the Crimson Rose, the Common Castor, the Lion 
> Butterfly and the Common Leopard: the last, a tawny specimen with little 
> black spots settling on various patches of sunlight, as though to be 
> examined. We were advised to wear brightly coloured clothes to attract the 
> butterflies and to not touch them because the oils on our fingers could 
> destroy the scales on the wings. There is entertainment for the kids as well; 
> touch-screens allow them to re-arrange jigsaw pieces into a butterfly and 
> others that allow you to learn the workings of a butterfly, magnifying their 
> various parts. There is also an exhibition that allows you to see plants that 
> are butterflies/pupae/caterpillar-friendly. We were also told it wouldn’t be 
> too much of a problem if we shouted our disapproval of a particularly ugly 
> species. Butterflies don’t have ears.
> Bannerghatta Biological Park, Bannerghatta Road. 2782-8540. Open on all days 
> except Tuesdays 9.30am – 4.30pm. www.bannerghattabiopark.org.
>
> Chinese noodle factory - Or Leong's Food Products, occupying a fairly small 
> space in a noodle thin lane in KG Halli, is where your egg noodle and crispy 
> wonton lunch was born. Unlike Willy Wonka's glitzy establishment, this place 
> doesn’t have tomes dedicated to its history, nor is it on any culinary map. 
> It is nearly impossible to find even if you have a city map with you and 
> clear directions. You either know Leong's or you don't; besides factory 
> visits are frowned upon. Far from the ritzy interiors of your favourite Thai, 
> Chinese, Japanese restaurant, workers from Bihar dump a tonne of flour into 
> the automatic kneader, break in 2000 eggs, add water and hit the go button. 
> All this before dawn breaks, the mountain of dough then gets into the press 
> and miles of noodles and sheets of wonton skins area ready for the steamer. A 
> quick steam later they are weighed, packed and driven off to the 400 Oriental 
> cuisine restaurants in the city.  By noon, everyone at the factory heads home.
>
> Started in 1980 by Liang Chingta, Leong's is the only supplier of fresh 
> noodles in the city. Everyday, the 400 ‘Oriental’ establishments in the city 
> pick up 1.5 tonnes of fresh noodles and 200 kilos of wonton wrappers that 
> this factory makes.
>
> Leong's is the sole distributor for Ajinomoto from Japan and tomato 

[silk] bangalore treats

[Naresh]

Secret City

 

Autorickshaw Artists – In one of Shivajinagar’s maze-like streets - known to 
Bangaloreans as that part of town you go to for cheap meat, exotic pets, 
Suleimani chai, or your stolen car – works Afsar Pasha. Though there are at 
least a dozen practitioners of Pasha’s art in Shivajinagar, the man in question 
is to autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore what Rembrandt was to portraiture in 
17th Century Holland. For about Rs 800, Pasha (or if you’re willing to arrive 
at a compromise, one of his lesser contemporaries) will paint the likeness of 
the latest Khan or a particularly flattering profile view of Rajkumar on the 
back of an autorickshaw. In the hierarchy of autorickshaw art, Pasha says 
Rajkumar ranks as the most popular, followed by Shankar Nag, Sanjay Dutt, Shah 
Rukh Khan and what he calls Shore-Temple-Sunset. He says he decided to follow 
his father, Anwar’s example and picked up a paint brush 35 years ago, when he’d 
just completed his schooling. He says his muse, and the in-demand star when he 
began as an autorickshaw artist, was ‘Rambo.’ “I charge Rs 400 for only face, 
Rs 850 – 1000 for full pose and Rs 100 – 150 for scenery,” he says.

And as is the case with these things, Mayur Polepalli, a Bangalorean in Taipei 
maintains a blog, arart.blogspot.com that documents autorickshaw art. “What’s 
on the autorickshaw is what’s on the driver’s mind. I was fascinated with the 
thought and when that turned to obsession, I figured I had to document it,” 
Polepalli said, by email.

AS Arts Planet, 1, C Street, SH Road, Shivajinagar. 93434-91919.

Butterfly Park – Two years ago, the country’s first butterfly park opened at 
the Bannerghatta Biological Park, with little frippery. Which is a pity, 
because this well kept secret needs to be told, and the park needs a constant 
flow of visitors. The Park is an hour’s drive from Bangalore and the Bangalore 
Metropolitan Transport Corporation runs four luxury buses to the park everyday 
(route 365 from Majestic at Rs 25 a ride). Tickets cost Rs 20 for adults and Rs 
10 for children (under 10) and once you’ve paid up, you enter a large, 
transparent dome that houses an entire eco-system. During season (June to 
November), 20 species of butterflies make this dome their home. The day we 
went, guided by the little plaques that dot the park, we spotted the Common 
Mormon, the Great Indian Crow, the Flying tiger, the Blue Tiger, the Striped 
Tiger, the Crimson Rose, the Common Castor, the Lion Butterfly and the Common 
Leopard: the last, a tawny specimen with little black spots settling on various 
patches of sunlight, as though to be examined. We were advised to wear brightly 
coloured clothes to attract the butterflies and to not touch them because the 
oils on our fingers could destroy the scales on the wings. There is 
entertainment for the kids as well; touch-screens allow them to re-arrange 
jigsaw pieces into a butterfly and others that allow you to learn the workings 
of a butterfly, magnifying their various parts. There is also an exhibition 
that allows you to see plants that are butterflies/pupae/caterpillar-friendly. 
We were also told it wouldn’t be too much of a problem if we shouted our 
disapproval of a particularly ugly species. Butterflies don’t have ears. 
Bannerghatta Biological Park, Bannerghatta Road. 2782-8540. Open on all days 
except Tuesdays 9.30am – 4.30pm. www.bannerghattabiopark.org.

Chinese noodle factory - Or Leong's Food Products, occupying a fairly small 
space in a noodle thin lane in KG Halli, is where your egg noodle and crispy 
wonton lunch was born. Unlike Willy Wonka's glitzy establishment, this place 
doesn’t have tomes dedicated to its history, nor is it on any culinary map. It 
is nearly impossible to find even if you have a city map with you and clear 
directions. You either know Leong's or you don't; besides factory visits are 
frowned upon. Far from the ritzy interiors of your favourite Thai, Chinese, 
Japanese restaurant, workers from Bihar dump a tonne of flour into the 
automatic kneader, break in 2000 eggs, add water and hit the go button. All 
this before dawn breaks, the mountain of dough then gets into the press and 
miles of noodles and sheets of wonton skins area ready for the steamer. A quick 
steam later they are weighed, packed and driven off to the 400 Oriental cuisine 
restaurants in the city.  By noon, everyone at the factory heads home.

Started in 1980 by Liang Chingta, Leong's is the only supplier of fresh noodles 
in the city. Everyday, the 400 ‘Oriental’ establishments in the city pick up 
1.5 tonnes of fresh noodles and 200 kilos of wonton wrappers that this factory 
makes.

Leong's is the sole distributor for Ajinomoto from Japan and tomato paste from 
China; their shelves also hold barilla pasta and olive oil from Italy. But as 
Chingta’s brother Peter says, "This is the jam; it is noodles which are my 
bread and butter. No chef in is right mind will use instant noodles". He sells