Over some corn cakes and dim sums, partner Nikhil Merani, tells us that Mumbai-based Nom Nom's first foray into Bangalore is to offer its customers an elevated casual space that offers an eclectic mix of Asian flavours. Nom Nom is located inside RMZ Ecoworld, Bellandur and the tech central location means the IT crowd and the Adarsh Palm Retreat residents are who we might be running into on our next visit. Yes, we've already made plans. We like the booth-style seating that offers that little bit of privacy and promotes more talking. Plus, what's not to love about a space that has lots of sunlight coming through the day, and transforms into a cosy, warm space in the evening?
We digress slightly when we are here to tell you what to order because on our preview we sampled over 15 dishes. If you are accustomed to eating cottage cheese, try the Cottage Cheese where you can pick between different classic sauces – black bean, chilli basil, et al – or go for the Koh Samui one. Here cubes of cottage cheese are tossed in a light, flavourful coconut-based sauce that's not too overpowering. Because we are on the subject of coconut, the Tender Coconut and Raw Mango Salad is another thing we enjoyed. It's a refreshingly light salad (great for lunches) bursting with sweet and sour flavours with a hint of heat. We haven't come across corn cakes in recent times, and we went nomnom on the ones served here shamelessly. You will too once you bite into the soft, light, slightly crispy morsels.
Between the Pattaya Chicken, Rock Shrimp, and Indonesian-style Spicy Bird's Eye Chilli Prawns, this writer picked the Pattaya Chicken as the favourite of his night. A sweet and spicy chicken with hits of lemongrass is the way to this writer's heart. The shrimp and the prawns got thumbs up from everyone at the table for the heat. The Pan Grilled Pomfret works for anyone who likes seafood and the Shanghai chilli sauce that comes with it has a delightful little kick. No wonder they serve it with the gyozas.
For mains, since we were nearly full, we took small portions of Thai Green Curry and Chicken In Black Pepper Sauce. The flavours are on point and the chicken paired well with the Bangkok Rice that had a nice coconutty aftertaste. For desserts, we recommend the 70 per cent dark chocolate Delice Dark with a matcha cream for the chocaholics. For everyone else, the Basque Cheesecake.
Location: RMZ Ecoworld, Bellandur
Timings: 12 PM to 4 PM, 7 PM to 11 PM
Cost For Two: INR 2,000 (without alcohol)
