Double the Joy : Monkey Bar Indiranagar

Monkey Bar has opened a new branch at Indiranagar and I am definitely happy about it!

So one of my favorite places in town opened its second branch a couple of months ago. Yes we are talking about Monkey Bar and if you don’t know about my love for Monkey Bar, go ahead and read this first 🙂 Now that you have drooled at the breakfast ,you will understand the joy I felt at the opening of the second Monkey Bar specially because the second one solves the biggest problem I have with Monkey, the space. Monkey Bar, Indiranagar is a much bigger place than the Wood Street one with the same quirky and pub like interiors. The Indiranagar branch has room for many more people than Wood Street.

We started afternoon with Mangaa, my favorite drink at Mobar. The aam panna and vodka blend together like a dream though, frankly it’s a drink we have been having at home since a while, but MoBar cracked the balance and made it big 🙂

 

 

While Mangaa is an old favorite, what worked very well for me that day was Ginger Rogers, Gin, Ginger Ale and Peach Syrup. May be it was my love for ginger or may be it was the perfectly balanced drink. I found myself drinking this more than my favorite Mangaa . I also liked the coconut like ceramic glass the drink was served in. Funky totally.

 

 

The other drink that was doing rounds that day which impressed us all in the first round but disappointed in the second was Wild Leaf – vodka, lime leaves, passion fruit and fresh orange. The first time it came on table I was delighted by it. Fresh and so well-balanced but all the repeats had the balance between the passion fruit and orange completely off.  I think I will try it once more before giving it up on it.

 

 

Needless to say, along with the drinks, there was a lot of good food floating around the table too. There was a lot of new stuff on offer which isn’t a part of the Wood Street menu, I was excited about tasting. That’s one thing I liked about MoBar, they are not just replicating the menu in two branches so there actually is something different you look forward to when you go to these. Both of them, though conceptually same, do have stuff exclusive to them to motivate you to keep visiting both branches. Clever clever, I say 🙂

One of the new dishes we tasted was Pirogies – Pan seared polish dumplings. These had three versions – Chicken, Celery and Jalapeño, Chili Cheese with sour cream and Spicy Italian Pork Sausage mince and surprise was that most of us preferred the chicken version over the pork one. Somehow for me the fat of the pork was taking away from the covering of the Pirogies. The chicken ones I would be happy spending my lifetime eating but the pork ones sadly didn’t work for me and yes I didn’t taste the veg ones though I heard they were pretty good.

 

 

The other new item on the menu which I was dying to taste was the Crab Rangoon – Crab meat and cream cheese filled fried wonton, served with sweet chilli sauce. It sounded right out of heaven, yes it is a rendition the popular American street food and for me it worked perfectly.  The crisp wrapper with the smooth crabmeat and cream cheese, a beer (ouch we are talking cocktails here but a girl can dream right) and crab rangoon and a garden would define a perfect  monsoon Sunday for me. Fellow diner who has been eating this in America was a looking a bit disappointed with this one though. Also a special mention to that sweet chilly sauce, brilliant it was.

 

 

We also tried the Devilled fish – Sautéed seer with chilli oil, ginger, garlic, galangal and lemon grass, perfect Asian flavours which to me felt like a dish right out of ‘Like that only’ (another restaurant of Manu). Needless to say it was rather nice.

 

 

The Goan Chorizo Pao had me dreaming about it since I had heard about it. Smoky Goan sausages, sliced onions, garlic and tomatoes inside toasted buttered pao which MoBar makes so well. Everytime I go to MoBar, I order a pork sorpotel and extra pav and I am a happy girl. The Goan sausages in this were good just I had imagined them to be, the pao perfect. It was a good dish which may be could have done with a tad less tomatoes, just a bit.

 

 

We followed this up with some burgers, namely the Sloppy Joe and Pork Belly Sliders. The Sloppy Joe is the fancy version of the Sloppy Joe we have grown up eating with BBQ flavored shredded pork served with coleslaw, fresh jalapenos, onions, peppers and lettuce in a brioche bun served with sweet potatoes crisps and celery salt. I think this was the only pork dish I enjoyed to an extent that day, it is surprising because MoBar usually does not mess up the pork. Now the pork belly sliders – a mix of twice cooked crisped braised pork belly, grilled scallions and sprouts, chilli mayo and basil. They looked adorable but somehow they didn’t work for me and I heard the same sentiment from fellow diners.

 

 

For the mains, there was a variety of stuff which I hardly tasted because I was oh so stuff and also errrr oh a little drunk 🙂 but pandi and pita are a regular favorite at MoBar and so is the Bork. I also heard good things being said about the Parsi Orderlies Mutton Curry – a mutton chop curry with a finishing of grated cheese though I am not very sure I like the idea 😉

And finally to the final course, the desserts. My only crib with the food at MoBar Wood Street is the dessert. I don’t like any dessert there pretty much and hence I was skeptical about trying them here but then I had one spoon of the made in heaven Chocolate Pot De Crème with Salted Caramel – Gooey, rich chocolate mousse and salted caramel topped with caramel popcorn good mousse but that popcorn. THEY ARE STELLAR. I can eat a whole packet full of it and who would have thought they will go so well with the chocolate mousse though I would skipped that bread they serve with it because it’s just perfect without it. And can you guys believe it. I don’t have a freaking picture of it. HOW TELL ME, HOW?

Sigh, so moving on the next dessert  – Lemon Cake – lemon curd, vanilla lemon syrup soaked pound cake with seasonal . Most people I know have fallen in love with it but let me admit it didn’t work for me. I found it too tangy there was only sourness which I could taste.  May be it was because it was served with strawberries at the fag end of the season and they were sour and were unable to cut into the tartness of the lemon to provide the balance that fruit should have brought.  The cake in itself was good and moist and so was the lemon curd, but on the whole, I found the balance in this one missing. But nothing to worry, I have chocolate pot de creme to go to. I doubt I will ever order another dessert at MoBar Indiranagar.

 

 

Monkey Bar.

Address: No 610, 12, Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore.