Art of Fine Dining : Grasshopper

The occasion of my husband's birthday demanded we go to a special place for a belated celebration for just the two of us. After much Web hunting for a 'Romantic restaurants' I chanced upon Grasshopper, a restaurant that is tucked away in a corner of Bangalore, far from the traffic infested roads.

This restaurant has had some very good reviews on the Web and what drew me to it was the fact that it has no menu but promises a 7-course meal fit for a food connoisseur. Also this place is exclusively available on reservation which means no waiting in queues and no crowd (At one time it can accommodate four tables of 5 people each).

This place is a good one hour drive to Bannerghatta from where I live but we didnt mind it all on a rainy Sunday afternoon with a cool breeze giving us company.

We were looking forward to the European style of fine-dining, something we hadnt experienced before. I must admit that neither my husband or myself are experts on fine dining but we are foodies and willing to try something new all the time.

Grasshopper is just a couple of Kms from IIMB, and close to a lake., table was in the verandah overlooking the small courtyard which had several shades of green. We didnt have to order anything, as the menu for the day ws already decided and the chef was just waiting for us to begin his art. We chose vegetarian and no alcohol, just a cool lemon soda and ginger-mint to go with the meals.

1. Starters came in first; we started with Aubergine with walnut paste on garlic bread. This was both smooth and crunchy, with a delicious dressing of Olive oil.

2. The second one prepared us for the exclusivity - Zucchini with cream cheese and steamed garlic. This had both visual and tasteful appeal. The cream was just rightly flavoured and went extremely well with the garlic which had lost its pungency after being steamed.

3. The third starter just blew my mind away - Beetroot with sesame seeds and blue cheese. "A taste that my tongue has never experienced before!" I exclaimed. I never thought they could do that with beetroot and cheese! It was indeed an awesome combination as the steamed beet was lightly sweet and blue cheese was strong and pungent... creating an assault on our taste buds that we throughly enjoyed.

The starters had really got us in the groove and we were eagre for the rest.

4. The salad arrived looking all green and fresh; served on a bed of salad cabbage were Basil and other hebs freshly plucked and roasted tomatoes and figs. I was a bit disappointed with the salad as I expected a veg salad to be a more delightful to taste. I felt like a cow chewing away the cud. What couldve saved it for me perhaps is Mayonaise or some sort of creamy salad dressing.

5. After overcoming the salad with a few nibbles, I went straight in for the first main dish - Sweet Red Pepper stuufed with Tofu and Asparagus. This looked interesting as the green and red combination looked very inviting. I found the tofu very home-made and loved the red pepper. Asparagus was however given in its naked form with no value-add, and I realised how bitter it can be at some bites.

6. The final main course was mushrooms with baby potatoes and a leek. No one can go wrong with this combination. This was well cooked, had a nice herby sauce and the quantity was good enough to make me go slow. I enjoyed the taste and wished I held a red wine to go with it. No compalints with this simple dish. The surprise element wa sthe the leek (i forget its name) which I hadnt tasted before.

7. Ah, the final climax of this event was the dessert. We were presented with five choices - lemon cheesecake, chocolate truffle, coffee icecream, lemongrass ice cream, and fig and almond ice cream. We both went instantly for the lemongrass icecream as we had tasted this before and totally fell in love with it. Expectedly this didnt disappoint us a bit. The ice cream came with shavings of lemongrass adding to the romanticism.

The setting of the place was just perfect as we watched the raindrops kiss the garden. There was no hurry to leave and make way for some other guests, there was no impatient waiter hurrying us with the bill, in fact we had to call him to get the bill! We spent a good three hours eating, and enjoying each other's company.

The meal lasted long after we had it and drove back home. We felt as if we had participated in an event specially created for us and still savouring it.

I am not going to spoil it by letting you know how much it cost us becoz frankly this experience was too good to be adjudged as pricy. I just want to recommend that if one is ever looking for fine-dining and to be treated exclusively, then visit Grasshopper.

(Photos will be posted soon)

Dream Date in a Limousine or Hot Air Balloon

I like to go online often, hunting for gifting ideas. So just two days before my hubby's birthday I came upon this cool website www.excitinglives.com which has some 'never-heard-or-seen-before' gifting ideas. I recommend this website for the sheer range of gifts they have, although I am yet to place an order.

Some of the eye catching ones are:

1. Dream Date on Stretch Limousine - this caught my attention immediately as I was looking for something special to do on my husband's birthday. Unfortunately this 'gift' option is only for residents of Delhi/NCR. This costs something around Rs9500/- and I think its perfect for a memorable date. Counting my days till this service arrives in Bangalore.

2. Chocolate Spa Treat - Ah! you guessed it, its for 'WOMEN ONLY' that includes a chocolate body scrub, oil massage, and a full chocolate body wrap! Fortunately this one is in Bangalore, and costs about Rs2400/- I am enticed to try it someday.. hoping my hubby will gift this to me on my birthday!!

3. Naughty Chocolate - (Cant get enough of Chocolate) This one is perfect for a couple, who want to spice up things with a 'naughty' session involving some liquid chocolate, a red feather, and oodles of passion. This gift is meant to be used in the privacy of your bedroom and involves no professional masseur.... but just the two of you.
The gift lets you be wild with your partner with hi-quality liquid chocolate that's great for massages and body-painting. You can use it with whipped cream or fruits, is completely edible and can be easily washed off - not that you'd need to! Comes at a price of Rs1250/- and I think its worth every penny.

4. Private Air Balloon Experience - This one is for keeps, a one-hour ride in the air in a private hot air balloon. I am sure it will be a "top of the world" feeling to be with your loved one amid the clouds. This too is for residents in Delhi and comes for Rs 13,500/- :(

5. Midnight celebrations - For an affordable element of surprise, this is ideal, as you can have flowers (a dozen red roses) delivered at midnight with a personal message. ideal for those who are far away from their loved ones and want to make an impression with just Rs2150/-

6. Then you have the elite gift options like the F1 Night race in Singapore (Rs1.87 lac), Combat Flight experience that will let you fly a fighter jet in Moscow or Los Angeles (Rs1.5 lac), Zero Gravity experience similar to what astronauts feel in space and loads of other such options.

I was quite impressed by the range of the gift offerings in the website. Now I know where to look for when I want my gift to be special. I hope to try one of these options soon, provided they are within my city and my budget.

For now I am still hunting for a stretch Limousine car rental service in Bangalore, can anyone help?