Underdoggs Sports Bar, JP Nagar : Where sports celebrated as a lifestyle!

"Sports has the power to change the world. It has the power to Inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sports can awaken hope."

-Nelson Mandela

Few months ago I was discussing casually with my friends about best hangout places around Jayanagar & JP Nagar. Someone came up with the name "Underdoggs" and he told the its a Sports Themed bar and lounge. But when I got an opportunity to visit this place on last weekend I realized that its not a Sports "themed" bar, Sports itself is soul of this place.

Located on the outer ring road of JP Nagar which connects Puttenahalli to Delmia Circle in the same building which houses Kesariya. I don't know why they even have a lift facility to their floor, they should encourage their guests to be more sportive and make them climb all the way till second floor. (Its just my view & Yes! I too used lift)

AMBIANCE: Behind the all metal door on the second floor there is an entirely different world awaits to welcome you. Being a hard core sports lover I fell in love with the ambiance at the first glance itself. First thing you notice in this place is the beautiful work on the wall decals. Whether its illuminated time line, or the collection of headlines of major sports events, or the portrait of legends, or the collection of autographs and jerseys. Everything succeeds in transforming you into a sports enthusiastic.

It has two floors, the lower deck serves as a casual hangout place with some really interesting indoor games like table soccer / fuzz ball, table tennis/ping pong, billiards, etc. Lower deck houses a decent bar counter and a small stage opposite to it for hosting live music & small programs.

While the lower deck serves as best hangout place for singles and group of friends, on the other hand upper deck serves as a fine dine area for family crowd. The upper deck also has a billiard table and a small dart alley. You can find creativity in every bit of this place a cricket helmet hanging over the table emitting dim incandescent light is one of them.

This sports bar could be great place for watching live sports events. It has multiple high resolution screens in every corner of its property. It can screen multiple sports events live at once. I'm really glad that such an iconic place is just in few kilometres away from my place.

EVENT : I was invited as a part of bloggers meetup organized by Underdoggs itself, though I reached late, I was able to participate in some games. As soon as I entered this place and before saying hello to my blogger friends I was dragged into the beer pong game. And in the first attempt itself I made my opponent to down a glass of beer (thanks to my expertise is countryside game Lagori!) Later, along with fellow foodies we explored the place and played some more games. By 8PM lights got dim and music started to gain pace turning the whole environment into cheering mode. Couple of drinks and shots with friends made the evening more memorable.

FOOD: I'm so glad to find that some of their signature dishes are veg. The overall quality of food was really great and presentation was brilliant.

Garlic Lovers Pizza

Pizzas : They have limited collection of pizza, yet each pizza I tasted was too good. First Makhani Pizza came in my way; amount of ingredients in the pizza were fair and they appeared fresh. I felt they could have added more sausage.
Garlic Lover's Pizza: Perfect name to tempt a garlic lover like me, this pizza was none like others I had in recent times. Moderate garlic taste with right amount of spiciness just mesmerized me. Lovely!

Naan Rolls

Stadium Bites: Its a wacky name for their after appetizer collection which had Tandoori Dimsums and Naan Rolls. Both dishes were result of quite an out of the box kitchen experiment. Naan Rolls was their much promoted signature dish and to be frank it was more tastier than they claimed! Spicy Paneer gravy on perfectly roasted naan has tempted me by its presentation itself. And when I tasted it, felt like some angel has blessed upon me. Naan Rolls is a must try dish in here.
Tandoori Dimsum was equally awesome, the vegetables used in its stuff was cooked perfectly and the dimsum itself was well steamed. Overall this dish appeared perfect!

DRINKS: They have some exotic collections of mocktails and cocktails. Every named every drink after a legendary sports personalities. Some how you can relate the taste of those drinks either with the sports or with the personality itself. After trying one drink you just can't avoid yourself by exploring all their collection.

I was welcomed with Robin Van Berry Mocktail, it was more like a fruit punch and was on lighter side. However not bad if you are starting your evening with this drink. The presentation of this drink was really good.
Mary Kom Cooler: True to its name, every sip of this drink felt like a punch to me. Moderately spicy and strong on the appetite. Since I'm a spicy lover, I enjoyed this drink with Tabasco Sauce.
Litchi Kamakazi and Cinnamon Whiskey were two shots which you will surely enjoy if you have a group of friends. Both shots were quite perfect and added a little extra booze to our evening.
Gayle's Rum Runner and Xavi Basil Pina are the two drinks which I was not able try as I was running late, But both drinks looked very attractive. I love to visit this place soon to try those two drinks.

Rum Gulab Jamoon & Ice

DESSERT: If you think desserts comes with risk of catching cold, think again! Their signature dessert Rum Gulab Jamun with ice cream will surely changes your opinion about the dessert. At the first bite I felt like a strong war between ice and fire is happening in my throat. Ah! that wonderful feel, its going to stay in my memory for a long long time. The concept of serving Gulab Jamoon and Ice Cream with Rum is definitely out of the box. 

EVERYTHING ELSE: Parking would not be a problem and they do offer valet parking. Hygiene has been maintained all over the place. The only issue I figured out was with air-conditioning. It was too hot near the bar area.

FINAL VERDICT: In my views Underdoggs helps you to bring out the talents in you which you have forgotten and its a well known fact that sports brings the people together, who knows you might get a best friend for rest of your life while cheering for India with a beer. Its a different world which offers a different kind of experience.

BAKASURA RATING

4.0 / 5

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EXPERT VIEWS:
Nameesh N Rajamane, Food & Lifestyle Blogger

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GALLERY

Rasta S02 E01 : A Wonderful Culinary Journey through Multiple Cuisine

By looks this restaurant has a stand-out appeal. We travelled almost from one end to another end of the city for a lunch meet up, and this restaurant worth it. Warm service, great food & a fantastic company made my day! In my views this restaurant is like a treasure needed to be explored more.

AMBIANCE: This Restaurant cum Pub cum Cafe has spread across in 3 floor. Ground floor has quite nice cafe type of ambiance, first floor has a smoking zone, equipped with a decent bar & beer tap. Some of the corners on first floor are shady and offers a perfect space for couples. Kitchen is located next to the bar and they have succeeded to keep their food secrets behind the doors. Seating capacity is good and scientific. It can house any kind of crowd easily at any point of time.


FOOD: Some of the dishes they served here were strangely new to me. So, before writing this review, I made a fair search about those dishes on internet to know its origin, cooking method and ingredients. Because some food can not be judged in an Indian view! Here is my experience about the food;

Zucchini Fritters: It was one of my favourite dish which I use to grill by myself during defence family meet up in Chennai. But these people made me to realize the real side of its taste. It was perfectly grilled and topped with spicy salsa. Just loved the way it was presented. I really appreciate their innovative idea to serve it with salsa.

Veg Rissole: By looks it was very close to Fried Mozzarella and this was the first time I tasted this dish. It was truly delightful. I'm a big fan of deep fry dishes and I kept experiencing every bite deeply & slowly. Finely chopped Fresh vegetables packed in a soft layer of cheese and fried it to the perfect point. Wow! Just mesmerizing!

Veg Vol-Au-Vents: At the beginning they served Prawn Vol-Au-Vents which was quite attractive, later upon request they made Veg Vol-Au-Vents for us veggies. To be honest it was average. The filling should have been more and they should have choose more vegetables or corn. Though I tasted it for the first time, I felt something is missing and finally when I did a research on it I figured it out. They should have used some ghee to the bread surrounding Vol-Au-Vent, it would have delivered a great taste to the bread without disturbing the filling.

Spaghetti Pesto Pasta: It was served as a main course, though I'm not a big fan of spaghetti, I liked this dish. Although it wasn't tangy, it justified over all taste.

Caramel Fruit Cup: It was served as a desert, attractively chopped fresh fruits with generous portion of various syrups in a semi transparent caramel bowl was eye catchy in deed. But the choice of fruits were very limited, I would appreciate if they include more fruits. Caramel bowl was bit high on sweetness but yet a good desert.

Belgium Chocolate Brownie: This was totally awesome, I'm running out of words to describe its wonderful taste. It was totally unexpected and I still wonder how come a pub can serve such a great desert. I ended up stealing brownie from others plate while they were busy in posing to camera! Just loved it!

Lemon Based Mocktail: In between I asked our host Mr.Vikram to get me a best mocktail, he got me a lemon flavour based mocktail (I forgot the exact name). It was out standing. On a first sip itself it refreshed my mind. I'm really thankful to Vikram for such a great mocktail.

SERVICE: Our host & the manager Mr. Vikram was very generous person and took a good care in every aspects. He explained the food every time as and when it arrived on our table, he suggested genuinely and very open for the suggestions. Servers were very attentive and their service was warm.

EVERYTHING ELSE: Textured plates might seem like its not clean, but don't worry its just an illusion. Wash area was not clean and it was stinking. Dining area on second floor is quite open towards a dumping area which has resulted in flies swarming in and around restaurant. Management has to take care of pest control and other above said things seriously. Parking wouldn't be a problem.

FINAL VERDICT: A great and casual like place to hangout with your friends. Don't expect rich ambiance, it is just the way as it should be.

BAKASURA RATING:

4.0 / 5

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EXPERT VIEWS:
Naveen Suresh, Food Blogger

Event Organized by:      

GALLERY

A Perfect Party Place: Pizza Hut, Jayanagar 3rd Block

It's been a while since I visited any Pizza Hut outlet. My bad experience in some pizza hut outlets made me to stay away from it. However, a birthday party became a perfect reason to break my hard feelings about Pizza Hut and to visit this 3rd Block outlet.

This outlet has became a landmark by itself in Jayanagar and one in few outlets which has good dine-in facility. It will usually free during weekdays and little crowded in weekend which makes it as a perfect party venue.

AMBIANCE: Compared to other Pizza Hut outlets in Bangalore, ambiance in this particular outlet seems little basic. Well, it has vast space to handle any kind of crowd. It also has a separate party / family section. Everything was neat and tidy, kitchen is visible from the dining area.

Masala Lemonade

SERVICE: It appeared to me like their service was too mechanical. However I didn't see anything to complain about, they actually hosted our birthday party pretty well by singing. I just expect them to be humble & smiling while communicating with guests.

FOOD: We started with Masala lemonade which was quite okay. Drink was spilled all around the glass before arriving to our table and made us to use tissue napkins to hold it. Then arrived cheese Garlic Bread in the form of appetizer. By the time we started to have appetizer it became cold, but still it tasted great.
We ordered medium sized two pizzas for main course namely Tandoori Paneer & Country feast. Both were great in terms of toppings, quality & quantity of cheese. Crust was really soft. We replaced mushroom topping by jalpenos in country feast pizza as maximum members in our team didn't like mushroom. Overall experience with pizza was good.

EVERYTHING ELSE: Parking could be a real problem during weekends. Wash area didn't had soap & hygiene factor was low.

FINAL VERDICT: Though there are many great places for pizza located in Jayanagar, factors like accessibility, decent seating capacity & good dining experience makes this place undoubtedly advantageous!

Cheese Garlic Breads

Tandoori Paneer Pizza

Country Feast Pizza

BAKASURA RATING:

3.5  / 5

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EXPERTS VIEW:

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