Saturday, 16 April 2016

Natural Taste of Unique Flavours : Nutty Squirrel Ice Creams, VR Mall

SUMMER... It's getting more harsher everyday in Namma Bengaluru. Sweaty afternoons, dehydration and hot atmosphere certainly influencing the appetite. This summer made many people to change their food preferences like having just salads, coolers, mocktails and I have seen many foodies who has become temporary vegetarians. Whatever the preferences of food might be, ice cream takes the top position as a summer food. Nothing can cool your summer appetite like an ice cream!

Obviously, summer provides a good market to ice cream industry. It's a top season where you can witness new flavour launches, ice creams based culinary experiments and of course new ice cream brands!

This summer Nutty Squirrel is all set to root itself strongly in the Bengaluru!
It's a kiosk kind of  shop located on the ground floor of newly opened VR mall, Whitefield. This outlet definitely catches everyone's eyes due to its "squirrel in the city" theme painting and it's unique logo. There is nothing much to be discussed about ambiance as it offers grab n move service.

NUTTY SQUIRREL: So, what's special about Nutty Squirrel!!? The unique thing which separates Nutty Squirrel from other brands is its raw flavour! Yes, when you taste their ice cream for the first time you might not feel any flavour or sweetness, but once you have 2-3 spoons you start realizing true flavour. Peculiarly sweetness is very less in all flavours compared to any other international brands ice cream... But, you will realize it soon that how this new taste could be fun.

ICE CREAM & FLAVOURS: There may be various brands which serves various kinds of Ice Creams, but brands like Nutty Squirrel are making a huge difference by offering fresh ice cream. Some of their ice cream flavours are so unique that you can't stop yourself by buying more than 2 scoops! Some of the flavours are:
Pudina : A clear winner among all flavours! The mint flavour with a mild sweetness was definitely worth an appreciation. It tasted so natural and made me to forget my afternoon effort to reach this place.


Chikko & Cheddar : I must say it was an amazing flavour! It felt like I'm having real chikko, they have managed to pull the natural sweetness of chikko fruit in to this ice cream!
Filter Coffee : I'm sure this will turn out as every south Indian favourite. Who doesn't love the privilege of  having filter coffee in the form of Ice Cream during hot summer! I've tasted many coffee flavoured ice creams before, but Nutty Squirrel stands apart and above all.


Salted PistaChio: If you are expecting regular Pista flavour, get ready to have a surprise! It comes with a salty twist. The taste is wacky and sinful! Its kind of nice, but being a hardcore Pista flavourist I didn't like this flavour as much as I liked others.
Peanut Butter: My god! it was too buttery and sweet, you just can't finish one whole scoop of this ice cream by yourself.
Caramel, Maple Walnut, Strawberry, Blueberry & Dark Chocolate were some other flavours which I tried. Every flavour appeared like they are competing with each other to be the best!  

TRY IT AS YOU LIKE IT: Yes! You can enjoy ice cream as a sandwich placed in between freshly baked "Mocha Cookies", "Snicker Doodles" which comes in various sizes and designs like star, heart & circles.
Or you can seek for a traditional scoop serve on a dark chocolate cone which is also freshly baked in the store.
Or ice cream fills in brandy snap taco wrap also tastes as delicious as others! It's bit hard to eat ice cream with taco as it seems hard and also ice cream spills from another end while trying to bite one end. But, once the taco layer becomes soft blending with ice cream, it tastes heavenly.
Or you can try just a scoop in a bowl if you are not such fancy lover.





MILKSHAKES: Honestly we just assumed that the milkshakes will not be so much different than Ice Creams which we tried before, but we were completely wrong. Their milkshakes were so thick that it needs a special thick straw to gulp it! It appeared like mocktail of ice creams, they created wonder by mixing right proportion of different ice cream. You can also customize it with your favourite flavours. After having small portions of 2-3 milkshakes I was full!





EVERYTHING ELSE: Service is very humble, you can depend on their suggestions. They have maintained hygiene very well. If they place a dust bin near the counter, it can help more in maintaining cleanliness around the kiosk. Pricing seems bit high, but natural flavours justify that.
They are also coming up with new flavours like green chilly. I'm desperate to try that very soon!

FINAL VERDICT: First time ever in my life time I had only Ice Creams & milkshakes for my lunch! When such fantastic flavours are lined up, why not! Just drop there and try yourself.

BAKASURA RATING
4.0 / 5

FIND IT ON ZOMATO
Nutty Squirrel Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Event Organized by:








GALLERY











Friday, 8 April 2016

Heaven of Biriyani Lovers : Paradise Biriyani, JP Nagar

Paradise is a legendary name well known for the Biriyani lovers. It's one among few brands which is maintaining the authentic recipe over 5 decades. I still remember one of my friends who use to travel to Hyderabad just to have Biriyani in Paradise. And when I heard that Paradise is landed in Bengaluru I was really surprised and wanted to try their Biriyani... I don't know whether it was in my destiny or luck, FBAB organized their 23rd Bloggers meetup in Paradise, JP Nagar outlet.

From the day 1 the paradise started it's JP Nagar outlet, I have observed overwhelming response from people. The length of que at their parcel counter was just unbelievable. Even it's quite difficult to get reservation during weekends. This shows the immense love of namma Bengaluru people towards food.

LOCATION: It's hard to miss out this place, located prominently at corner of Signal near RV Dental College in JP Nagar. The huge red building with its traditional signboard. 

AMBIANCE: it has a massive fine-dine space. All 3 floors has fully air conditioned vast dining space. The interior has been created very well with photographs, paintings of important milestones in paradise history. Some of the decals are really interesting and it gives a royal touch to that beautiful environment. Arrangements of table is quite technical, distance between each table provides good privacy and it is capable to host any size group easily. Moderate lighting and 90's Bollywood music will surely set your mood.

SERVICE: Though this restaurant is started very recently, service is surprisingly professional. Apart from the factor that sometimes stewards start cracking some immature jokes with the guests, everything was just perfect. Managing 20 different taste bud request was a challenge by itself and they succeeded in it without a single glitch. They served the food on time with a genuine smile. They surely make you feel like you are in Paradise.



FOOD

Our dining experience begun with a perfect hot & sour veg soup. The tangy and spicy taste was balanced very well, vegetables used added a nice raw flavour to it.

They do have a large collection of starters in their menu, it was bit difficult to remember all their starters name.


Veg Platter: It looked very attractive, so we welcomed with lots of enthusiasm and flashes of course! But when we tasted it, our expectation felt down. Paneer was bit hard and the masala used was bland. Didn't liked it much.







Salt Pepper Potatoes: How can anything go wrong with potato. This dish was good and the balance between salt & pepper was perfect. 







Veg Manchurian: I got mixed feeling for this dish. The masala used in it was good but I was able to taste rawness of some vegetable in some chunks. 






Chilli Paneer & Paneer 65: I couldn't able to figure out distinctive difference between these two starters except the spice level. However, both were awesome.





Kadai Veg: In main course we ordered Kadai Veg, butter naan and Roti. Kadai veg was totally awesome. The spice level was just the way I like, vegetables used in it was fresh and the mutter was put "moderately" which could be observed in very few restaurants in Bengaluru.
On the other hand Butter Naan & Roti were good. They have used right amount of butter on naan.




Veg Biriyani: Then comes the star of the evening... The much awaited Biriyani. In one word, it was extraordinary. The rice used in it appeared like they cooked it in the steam of elixir. The masala used in it was clearly stating the decades old tradition of Hydrabadi Biriyani making. I felt, my wait to have paradise Biriyani was really worth. 



DESSERTS

Honestly I didn't expect that the place like paradise Biriyani will offer such huge array of desserts. Each one was exotic and attractive. If there is any place where you can fill your tummy only with desserts, then it must be paradise!




Rose Flavored Falooda: it was just average as both flavor and sweetness were too light.








Double ka Meetha: It appeared like a challenging dish for sweet tooth people. It was made up of bread pudding with the traces of saffron, sweetness was slightly above the normal level.








Qubani ka Meetha: Though it is quite popular in Hyderabad region, For the first time in my life time I tried this dish. It's made with dried apricots which has strong sweetness. Its really hard to finish this whole dessert by yourself.







Gulab Jamoon: All I can say, it was just normal or regular. It was Soft and had moderate sweetness.








Gajar ka Halwa / Meetha: Another dessert which I have often in home and in other restaurants. The taste of this dish was good but the texture of halwa was just mesmerizing. I just loved it.






A SMALL MEETING WITH MASTER CHEF
It was a privilege to know the action behind the doors of kitchen in the words of Master Chef of Paradise Biriyani. We learnt that how Hyderabadi Biriyani is totally different from other Biriyanis, how they manage to keep the ingredients as per traditional recipe, how they train other chefs in all branches. The small talk gave us lot of information about the history and tradition of Biriyani making.

EVERYTHING ELSE: It has huge parking space in cellar and also offers valet parking for four wheelers. Hygiene has been maintained very well. Pricing is pretty decent.

FINAL VERDICT: A perfect family hangout place.

BAKASURA RATING:

FIND IT ON ZOMATO:
Paradise Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Event Organised by:








GALLERY