After considering umpteen places to dine for a team lunch, we froze upon Sizzling Street at the {Big Pitcher} on old airport road. This is not my first visit to Big Pitcher I have been to their other restaurant last time with a different team.
Though we had a good time during my previous visit, the overall service quality wasn't great, but we could not stop talking about the baby corn starter that we unanimously loved. So this time, I kept my expectations a little low at their buffet restaurant. But I was pleasantly surprised with both the service as well as the food. The starters were served at the table, some on the plate an some on the tabletop grill.
The buffet included a choice of drink and I went with an apple tiber. I must give credit to myself for choosing this refreshing clear drink with a mild fragrance of elderflower cordial and a tinge of lime | Not an iota of anything apple. The taste reminded me of a frozen icy dessert that I grew up with.
I did sample my colleague's 'My Name Is' drink, again a wonderful cocktail of mango, strawberry with creme and basil seeds {the ones you get in Falooda}, again brought back some childhood memories of the drink I grew up trying.
The dahi paapdi chaat served was well balanced, and was a perfectly cool way to get into the meaty route.
The angara murg kebab was wonderfully marinated, so was the malai machili kebab, beautiful succulent pieces, well marinated and cooked beautifully. But what stole, most parts of the attention was the mustard prawns. Small in size, high in flavour, this dish made most of us, asking for a 'Prawn Refill on the Grill' on autoplay. The prawns had a very distinct nutty flavour, which made it unique as well as tasty. While I was getting coconut undertones, I was told that it was mostly the mustard that played around with my taste buds.
Of all the veg starters that we tried, the paneer tikka was a standout, soft, succulent and seasoned well. The chatpata mushrooms were grilled well and the Chilli Cauliflower was great too. The veg fingers along with the dipping sauces were a nice end to our starter service & we moved onto mains.
We requested the veg grills to be done separately in the kitchen and not be spread alongside non-vegetarian grills & the service staff happily obliged and saved the day for my pure vegetarian colleague.
Too full with the starters {mostly prawns}, I just grazed through the buffet swiftly.
I went ahead with trying the veg soup, which was a Pea Purée soup. Surprisingly it was an excellent addition to the buffet, beautiful balance of flavours, seasoned well. Undoubtedly for me, the soup was the star of the day, apart from the apple tiber off course {and the milk cake, pumpkin halwa}. I typically dwell more on salads in a buffet, but today gave it a complete miss and jumped right into mains.
Out if the three not so veg mains, the Rara Murg is worth a mention. Nice chunky pieces of meat in a slightly spicy slightly sweet thigh gravy. Would have been a great way for your rotis to be dipped into, but was equally good with the Murg Dum Biriyani. The biriyani itself was good with nice flavours, but definitely not the best you get in Bangalore. Don't get me wrong, this is not a Biriyani speciality place, they are expected to get everything right, & are not known to specialise in one dish. But out of the biriyanis, thrown in as a part of the buffets, this one comes in the top five.
The fish and noodles were ok, or maybe I was too full to even get a sense of flavours. The dal was not great, just ok to be likeable, not lovable.
Moving on to the dessert course, a huge spread with healthy fresh fruit options & the not so healthy sinners. The Pumpkin Halwa & the Milk Cake was a winner, very traditional flavours, closer to the ones being served at home and in South Indian speciality sweet shops. Icecream Options were limited to two, but decent enough to gobble down with the sweet sinners. Overall a great place for a great buffet lunch with your team or your loved ones, had a great time, thank you {Big Pitcher}.
Though we had a good time during my previous visit, the overall service quality wasn't great, but we could not stop talking about the baby corn starter that we unanimously loved. So this time, I kept my expectations a little low at their buffet restaurant. But I was pleasantly surprised with both the service as well as the food. The starters were served at the table, some on the plate an some on the tabletop grill.
The buffet included a choice of drink and I went with an apple tiber. I must give credit to myself for choosing this refreshing clear drink with a mild fragrance of elderflower cordial and a tinge of lime | Not an iota of anything apple. The taste reminded me of a frozen icy dessert that I grew up with.
I did sample my colleague's 'My Name Is' drink, again a wonderful cocktail of mango, strawberry with creme and basil seeds {the ones you get in Falooda}, again brought back some childhood memories of the drink I grew up trying.
The dahi paapdi chaat served was well balanced, and was a perfectly cool way to get into the meaty route.
The angara murg kebab was wonderfully marinated, so was the malai machili kebab, beautiful succulent pieces, well marinated and cooked beautifully. But what stole, most parts of the attention was the mustard prawns. Small in size, high in flavour, this dish made most of us, asking for a 'Prawn Refill on the Grill' on autoplay. The prawns had a very distinct nutty flavour, which made it unique as well as tasty. While I was getting coconut undertones, I was told that it was mostly the mustard that played around with my taste buds.
Of all the veg starters that we tried, the paneer tikka was a standout, soft, succulent and seasoned well. The chatpata mushrooms were grilled well and the Chilli Cauliflower was great too. The veg fingers along with the dipping sauces were a nice end to our starter service & we moved onto mains.
We requested the veg grills to be done separately in the kitchen and not be spread alongside non-vegetarian grills & the service staff happily obliged and saved the day for my pure vegetarian colleague.
Too full with the starters {mostly prawns}, I just grazed through the buffet swiftly.
I went ahead with trying the veg soup, which was a Pea Purée soup. Surprisingly it was an excellent addition to the buffet, beautiful balance of flavours, seasoned well. Undoubtedly for me, the soup was the star of the day, apart from the apple tiber off course {and the milk cake, pumpkin halwa}. I typically dwell more on salads in a buffet, but today gave it a complete miss and jumped right into mains.
Out if the three not so veg mains, the Rara Murg is worth a mention. Nice chunky pieces of meat in a slightly spicy slightly sweet thigh gravy. Would have been a great way for your rotis to be dipped into, but was equally good with the Murg Dum Biriyani. The biriyani itself was good with nice flavours, but definitely not the best you get in Bangalore. Don't get me wrong, this is not a Biriyani speciality place, they are expected to get everything right, & are not known to specialise in one dish. But out of the biriyanis, thrown in as a part of the buffets, this one comes in the top five.
The fish and noodles were ok, or maybe I was too full to even get a sense of flavours. The dal was not great, just ok to be likeable, not lovable.
Moving on to the dessert course, a huge spread with healthy fresh fruit options & the not so healthy sinners. The Pumpkin Halwa & the Milk Cake was a winner, very traditional flavours, closer to the ones being served at home and in South Indian speciality sweet shops. Icecream Options were limited to two, but decent enough to gobble down with the sweet sinners. Overall a great place for a great buffet lunch with your team or your loved ones, had a great time, thank you {Big Pitcher}.
