Alluring food attractively served
"The Barons" at the Lower Palace Orchards in the northern part of Bangalore, dishes out Chinese, Indian and Tandoori food.Palace Orchards and its adjoining areas such as Malleswarem, Vyalikaval, Sanjaynagar and R T Nagar are essentially residential areas where apartments have sprung up in a big way. A number of fastfood joints, ice-cream parlours and "chaat" outlets have come up in these localities. Families have invariably had to make a trip to the far away Mahatma Gandhi Road and the Brigade Road for dining out. But now with The Barons being set up in a few months ago, these families are making a beeline to this restaurant.
The Barons does not boast of being different from its counterparts be it either in the fare offered or in the method of cooking. But what it certainly is proud of is the pain it takes to prepare and present each dish individually, says its general manager, Mr Praveen Kumar.
The tandoori, Indian and Chinese dishes listed in the menu, although not very different from those available in other restaurants, are categorised such as to make it easy for the customer to choose an entire five-course dinner with ease, For example, dals, raitha, vegetable curry and even paneer are listed under these heads separately, whereas most other restaurants combine them under either vegetarian or non-vegetarian under broad categories such as rice, vegetables, meat etc.
"The Barons" also offers a five-star menu, the reason for the varied choice being better allotment of work and quite a bit of preparation. Hence, even in the section going under "breads", it has several choices such as mutton and chicken and other vegetarian verities, topped by the "tandoori basket" comprising assorted Indian breads.
Some of the special items offered by "The Barons" include "Makkai Kumbh Haryali", which is mushroom and baby corn cooked in spinach gravy with traditional Indian masals, "Paneer sabzi sangam", where chopped vegetables and mashed paneer (unlike the traditional cubed paneer) are cooked together in a white gravy of cashew and tomato. "The Baron's Special" is a boneless chicken with mashed boiled eggs cooked with cashew gravy and garnished with raisins and cream.
Other innovative items are "Garden green sticks" - green salad on toothpicks, carrying an exotic nomenclature; and paneer onion stick.
Praveen Kumar says popular dishes at "The Barons" include "Jade Chicken" with spinach - a dry dish deep fried with onions and chillies and sauted with ginger, garlic and red chilli. The "Malai kofta" is also claimed to be different, using cashew paste and chopped raisins for marination. The dish is made of the traditional malai and is rich, says Praveen Kumar.
"The Barons" also lays emphasis on garnishing, presentation being as important as taste. Not a single dish is served without garnishing, which is checked by a food checker, says Praveen Kumar.
The interiors of "The Barons" have been done up in an american and British style with royal blue velvet upholstery and mirrored walls.
(Courtesy The Hindu)