Farzi Twist – Farzi Cafe launches new menu. The menu which pushes the boundaries in the usual Farzi style. It is inspired by south of India and for me it was a mix of hits and misses. Read to know what the must have’s at Farzi and may be the must avoid’s too 🙂
Farzi Cafe – the name invokes opposite reactions usually. People can be neatly divided between two camps – OMG what a fabulous place and OMG why do they need to mess with my food. I find myself sitting in between the two camps, often on the fence often on whether this kind of modernisation of food is a good thing or bad. My answer to myself often is that if it adds to the dish, why not? I don’t mind the liquid ice or the spherification if it changes the texture and adds character and flavour to my food. In fact, I love the idea of presenting the good old comfort food in all new package and Farzi pushes those limits, my only problem is that sometimes the limits are pushed too hard. But I guess it comes with the deal.
I like how the things they try, of course not everything works. There are times when the whole thing feels forced, specially the liquid ice, I wish they stop doing this randomly because there are many times it just ends up with people just waiting for it to die before they can get to the food. But there are somethings that work so well, that you end up licking your fingers.
So here is what we tasted on weekday Date a few weeks ago when me and N decided to check out the new menu on a whim. Farzi folks had been asking me to come over since they launched the menu. And I thought that sudden date lunch would be a good time to do so.
I thought a photo essay would be nice here, since the afternoon pictures were so pretty.
Spherification of Mango Yogurt – Amuse buche that I loved. I think Gagan did good with the whole spherification of yoghurt and this version was stellar. I could eat many pieces of this happily.
Delhi Style Dal Moth Matka chaat. I think one of the best things I ate that day. It really was one of the best chaat I have eaten in Bangalore for a while, only if they lost that useless smoke because it really was just for show
Dhokla and Farsan Salad. If there has to be a stellar example of modernisation of Indian food. I would have laughed at someone praising this dish if I hadn’t tasted it myself. But the dhokla, various forms of farsaan, the chilli tadka crackers they all came together to create a symphony which was fantastic. People go to Farzi and order this without a fail
Prawn Koliwada is a brilliant dish from Maharashtra where a prawns are encased in light and well spiced batter. It is a delight if people get it right unfortunately Farzi failed to deliver here
Another dish that went down the “it did nothing to my palate route”. Patti samosa with sulemani chai style dip. Neither the dip, nor the samosa had any flavour punch unfortunately
Vodka, Orange Juice, mint. A decent cocktail, very summery
I actually forgot all the cocktails name. Either I was very drunk or I am getting old. But frankly none of the cocktails packed a punch that left a memorable memory
I rolled my eyes when I saw this arrive at my table. That chicken in the large rolling pin. Was it required, can we not get over the jazz? But one bite in that delightful chilli chicken spiced by Guntur chillies and I had forgotten the rolling pin and I did see many people very impressed with these things. So may be even if we don’t like it, Farzi is actually filling a gap, a need and if that is the case why not
This was a mango based cocktail and that is all I remember
Mac and Cheese Parkora Bites made it to my table on a cycle carriage and I really wanted to send them back on that carriage itself. It didn’t work for both of us.
Mutton Shawarma and Biryani – two classics combined together in one dish. Did it work? Me &
N differed on this but I think that’s because I didn’t like the Shawarma itself but I do think it has the potential to be a great dish
The famous Farzi Cafe charcoal appam, this one served with Asparagus and Water Chestnut Kurma. I wished they had just skipped the chutneys because with that there was too much happening for my palate. The curry was really nice
Bise bele Risotto – does the idea freak you out? It did freak out a lot of us. Did it work? I didn’t care as I am not a Bise bele anyways. It did work for N and a couple of other friends and I had some other friends absolutely hating this one. So I guess taste and decide for yourself.
They say save the best for the last and I think Farzi believes it in because desserts were the star of that day for me. This Ghewar Malai Tart is probably the best ghewar you might eat in Bangalore ever and that saffron foam was just beautiful.
Smoked Rasmalai with Rabri and Strawberries, this one put me in fopod coma. The smokiness in the rasmalai was really really good.
So what do you think of this kind of food? Do you enjoy the jazz around your food? It being served with tons of fanciness around it? Or do you prefer to dive right into your food and cut the stuff around it? Do you want your comfort food to stay in tact? Or you are ok with it being played around with it? Or like me you are somewhere in the middle, sitting on the fence and watching how it all pans out.
Farzi Cafe
202, Level 2, UB City
Vittal Mallya Road, Lavelle Road, Bangalore.
Phone : 91 7259400900
Cost : INR 2000++ for a meal for two with alcohol
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