Cuppa @ Indirangar - Review by Bhuvana Venkatesan

My weekends are mostly spent at coffee shops with friends catching up on shopping experiences, work woes and general bearing it all over a good cup of coffee and some sinful indulgences. And yes being tough critiques we like to explore different coffee shops.

So this weekend my friends Sudakar, Saranya and myself decided to try a new coffee shop Cuppa which is nestled in a quite corner in Indiranagar. We had heard about the place and were eager to try the new place.

The ambiance is quite good. The overall colour is red and you will see it reflecting subtly - from the menu to the nameplete outside. As you enter you are greeted with comfortable seating arrangements (thankfully the tables are not close unlike few places where you end up overhearing your neighbor's talk). I ordered cold coffee while my friends both ordered cold chocolate shake. Since we had eaten a good lunch we settled for nachos served with jalapenos.

The menu has an interesting range of selection of beverages both hot and cold. From coffee to tea and milkshakes. They also have international blends (Ethopian and Costa Rican). The food palette also looks tempting with the usual burgers and sandwiches.

We got our coffee within 10 minutes and the nachos was served in quick succession as well. I quite liked my coffee - it was blended well (hate it when i get chunks of ice in my cold coffee) and the flavour was tasty. The nachos also was good - it was light and crispy. The jalapeno chutney went well with the fried nachos.

If you are an outdoorsie person and like to soak in the sun...there are seating arrangements outside as well. So the next time you are in the mood to unwind and catch-up for a conversy evening with friends you could drop in at Cuppa for a nice cup of coffee.

Website: http://www.cuppastop.com/

Address: Cuppa has sprang up in various locations. Pls check the website to look up the place nearest to you. I visited the one in Indirangar.
Wallet factor: Around 150/- per head. You can also check out the menu on the website.
Ambience - Not noisy and well lighted

Shiv Sagar @ Commercial Street

If one thing Namma Bengaluru has in plenty is our good old Sagars. Idli, sambar, vada, B3, khara bath,mangaluru bajji,pakoda can never taste better anywhere else. Be it Shanti Sagar , New Shanti Sagar, Sukh Sagar, Shiv Sagar…they all dish out South India’s best breakfast each and every day, relentlessly. My all-time fav amongst these is Shiv Sagar nestled in the busyiest, tinyest lane perpendicular (yes! perpendicular..don know how else to describe it) to Comm street.

After going on a shopping spree in Comm street…most of the female species usually think about 3 things. They are ..

1. Gwwwddd..wen will I get home and try out the outfits I got today ? (Excitement) Yippee! I look so cute in them (Narcsissm) and am sure Mallika (name changed) (who is my cube mate n eyes my clothes each day) will be soooooo jealous (Evil smile)

2. Gwwwdddd…am hungryyyyy..pls show me a place to munch something yummy. But..i really need to lose weight to look cool in the new top (Dream the impossible)..so only light chumma eating..nothing heavy…maybe just juice is enough (but actually thinking bout cheese masala dosa)

3. Gwddddd….i hve no money (Realization)..the kurtas and the shoes and the new bag cost me a lot (Regret) ..but wat the heck? someone has told money comes and money goes ..so y stop youself from shopping (Denial)....after all, clothing is a basic necessity (back to square 1)

After so many emotions (no wonder they say women are so emotional) and over-reactions, one place atleast most of us head towards is Shiv Sagar :) One look at the menu and the price quoted against each cools u off and ur mind insists to chuck the juice idea and indeed go for a Cheese Masala Dosa.

Last week, Bhu and me underwent a similar situation as above and found ourselves sitting in the comfy two seater. Beside us were 2 aunties (in their fifties maybe) who were immersed in the joy of eating the heavyiest of the paneer tikkas and ended their meal with the heavyiest of desserts..ie. Kulfi Falooda.

Over palak dosa (my alltime fav) , glances on wat the aunties are hogging, getting glaring glances back from one of the aunty across me, eating peas pulav n yoghurt, Bhu’s all smile pose for my pic , gushing on how we found the collest swimwear, gushing more on how exciting it wud be to get into the water to beat this heat, sipping cold badam milk and kesar falooda , Bhu and me felt most comfy in this restaurant. Me, who never never never eat alone in any restaurant, feel so homely here that I actually once ate a rava dosa all by myself :D. Mom loves the sompu here and often eats a mouthfull :). Do try it before u pay n leave.

Address:

5, Narayan Pillai St Commercial Street, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001 - 080 25323767
Open Weekdays 9am-11pm

Review :

Food – Very satisfying, especially after heavy shopping. They have a desi mix of all cuisines.. Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Italian but only vegetarian.

Must Try – Palak Dosa, Cheese Masala Dosa, Spring Dosa, Faloodas and the Sukh Sagar Sizzling Choc Brownie.

Service – The usual no-nonsense type. Waiters act lil grumpy n restless maybe coz its almost always crowded. You really gotu wait during peak lunch/dinner hours to get a seat. The AC seating area is on 2^nd floor.

Ambience – Do u even have the time to look around wen all u can think about is the new top u bought from Mischief ? On a serious note…they serve in clean dishes and plates amidst the Rajastani desert frescos on the walls.

Crowd – Mostly females carrying huge number of carry bags :). The wide sofa sets do make sense nw! I've visted this place with mom, akka, dad collegues, friends, extended family ...suits almost all.

Cost – Quite less and very conveneient when u have only few notes left in ur purse. Bhu was maha thrilled to see that our bill came to just Rs.200. (100 Bhu and 100 Me..perfect math..hehe)