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Ritz Carlton is one of those places in Bangalore that can’t be missed because it is situated the most prominent location in Bangalore ie., Residency Road. But, we all generally avoid such places owing to the cost that we might incur going to this place. I personally had the same feeling but then its never happened that I missed visiting any good places in Bangalore. Because I think that the cost might be on the higher side but then they offer such services for which they charge highly.
I was about to go personally when I ended up getting a free voucher of INR 5000 from one of the upcoming Food-Review portals in Bangalore – Towntrendz. They kind of selected top foodies and gave this voucher for which I am ever so thankful 🙂
Well, now its time for me write a bit more about the Hotel and specifically write about ‘The Market’ restaurant that I visit @Ritz Carlton.
Location
I remember, travelling on Residency Road on numerous occasions and look to the right to find it there. Well, for those of you who have not heard of this place, its after the Chancery Pavilion and surely you can’t miss it as its got a beautiful entrance.
Ambiance
As I entered inside, I realised that there will so much more to this place rather than just another restaurant. And when I asked for the valet parking and starting walking realised that the Ritz has a section to the right where in – Perfumes (Espa), Chef made chocolates, pastries and other bakery items are found. Further enquiry gave me a shock as they said that the each of the small chocolates costed nearly Rs.70-80. I got some chocos as a takeaway and headed inside. Took the list to the floor where ‘The Market’ restaurant is situated. As you cross the main reception area, I found the ‘The Market’ restaurant to be at the left to reception.
The entrance looks awesome and then you see this section to the right which is like a Lounge bar. Another thing to notice is the collection of wine-bottles that are stacked up, I guess there were like 200 odd bottles there. Anyways, I head straight into the Market. The manager there greeted us quite well and then showed us couple of tables an picked up one. There was a section of tables way ahead and looked secluded and may be more private, but the manager told that it was reserved. Well, I guess it does happen sometimes in a big hotel, there might be big party but I think to my disappointment, it never got filled the entire evening.
That doesn’t drain my spirits as I was focussed on eating some good food.
The first tour of the buffet is quite critical as there is quite a few varieties to be tasted. Started with the first section where plenty of bread stacked up, chef seemed to be busy making something there, if I’m not wrong the fruits were being cut and readied for one of the salads.
Then came the section of actual salads and followed by Hummus & Babaganoush. These are few items you can taste along with bread and taste yummy.
Next section was the pasta section where various veggies, pasta variants and meats and there on display. The ask was to pick up items and give it to chef, they would then make it.
Along with that was the next Japanese section with Sushi(s).
As I was a walking along, started to wonder where the Indian food was, finally found it, where there were like 4 veg subji(s) and daal.
I heard a the manager say that the ‘Food is changed every 1/2 half to keep it fresh’. I am not sure how they achieve it but then I think they might be heating, tasting it and confirming the dish consistency in taste.
There was section of papad(s), curd-rice and pickles.
Next was the desert section which had quite a few items.
Basically in terms of the food varieties they had – Indian, Chinese, Japanese & Continental food varieties.
Buffet Spread
I was quite keen to start having food. The manager obliged by serving us the ‘Veg Manchow’ soup. I think it was pretty good, perfect blend of veggies and the liquid part of soup with typical man chow flavour. Enjoyed 1/2 bowl of it served along with breads & chow-chow.
We got a nice plate with all chutnies including – Hummus, Babaganough, Cream, Red chutney, Pickle, Tomato chutney. This was given so that we can take it along some of the breads.
Soup
There was another soup in the Indian veg section ie., Mushroom clear soup. Initially I hesitated but then went for it. Must say it tasted pretty good. The liquid had very good flavour and nice mix of mushroom and few other veggies were there.
Along with the other 2 soups, there was this tomato soup, which was also simply superb to taste. I wanted to take it so that I don’t miss out taste the most common Indian soup 🙂
Starters
Japanese
After the first section, it was turn for some Sushie, which was specially made by the chef and it was good. I would say that it was brilliant coz it did not make me feel really awesome. But I guess I need to tell about this chutney which is served along with sushie, you should never take more than a tinge amount into your mouth along with food coz its ultra spicy 🙂
While the appetiser were being consumed, we got 2 items that were ordered for drink – 1 was the strawberry+pomegranate refresher which was pretty good. Then I tried the ‘Lichi Margarita’.
The margarita was a bit of the disappoint as there was no punch to the drink. Then the bartender came over to discuss and he understood my concern. He ended up adding another 30ml of Tequilla which improve the taste immensely 🙂
Next was the turn to go for some chef cooked noodles which was well done with nice mix of veggies and noodles. Overall the taste was not too much on the spicy side and bland, just optimum.
Indian
Indian starters were also part of the menu, so the next item was the ‘Veg Kebab’ which served with mint-chutney and was brilliant to taste. The kebab was well done and soft.
Next came the turn for the Paneer which I feel was okay okay coz the chef had put some ginger in between the paneer and there was this onion piece on top. It was served again with mint-chutney. I think the flavour of ginger was was making me comfortable. I told the chef and he immediately changed it.
Another thing was surprising to me was that a good hotel like this facing problem in getting good paneer. They were facing problem in getting good paneer and are getting it from Delhi. I am surprised coz many small hotels served such soft paneer. Well, its hard to think how a star hotel faces a problem like this.
Main Course
While the starters were good overall, there were quite a few items to try. Immediately we for the Indian main course where in I took some Brinjol curry which was more like ‘Yengai’ (bring brinjol pieces in masala curry).
Other items I took was – Corn palak, Paneer butter masala, Bhindi sabji & Channa sabji. Palak and Bhindi were simply superb. For sure channa was too good. The only issue again was with the Paneer sabji with the Paneer not being completely soft.
Ask for some Kulcha and Tandori Roti. Both came on a plate and just tasted awesome. It was well done with the right amount of softness.
Another important item in Indian food is the ‘curd-rice’ with south-style papad. Again the curd-rice had some cream and thick curd. It was simply awesome to taste.
In the hurry of eating some Indian food, missed out taking pasta, which was reminded to us by the manager and we ended up asking Chef to make pasta with Spigetti, which was again containing items that I had asked for to be included. I had asked chef to put some ‘Tomato Pesto sauce’ and it was yum 🙂
Deserts
Finally the desert is a section that is simply irresistible. There were like plenty of items. Some of the my favourite there included – Mango Mascarpone Duet, Kesar Bufi, Chocolate cake, Gajar/Carrot ka halwa, few more types of cakes which I don’t remember the names and of course the best items the ‘Crepe’. Ended up taking 2 crepe – 1 was the strawberry and another was chocolate. Both the crepes were simply super awesome.
If this was not all, the chef made some ‘wish-a-desert’ kind of item where I choose ingredients to go into ice-cream, it was made specifically and bought to us.
It was a sumptuous dinner and my family enjoyed it. If this was not all there was coffee served in the last so make sure that you get to cancel all the heavy food and come back to becoming normal again 🙂
Rooftop Pub
Overall it was an awesome experience having food at the premier restaurant in Bangalore. I enjoyed spending every bit of time there. Infact, the manager took us to the top floor where there is a new Lounge Bar has come up by name ‘BANG’. They specially wanted to focus on corporate big-wigs like CEO, CFO to come and enjoy the location. Since this is more of business hotel, they wanted to avoid youngsters into it. Not sure to what extend they will be able to control that.
I would recommend anyone looking for a classy place with good food, which is centrally located in Bangalore, to just hop into Ritz Carlton Market. My overall rating for this place would be at 4. But then I am kind of quite torn apart as the experience was simply super. There were 1-2 err(s) which I am sure they will correct it as the manager acknowledged and told that they would be taken care. I trust the Ritz folks, so my rating is surely going to be higher, so I go with a 4.5 for this place 🙂
How could I not given this kind of rating when I spent nearly 5+ hrs enjoying every bit of the restaurant, ambiance and their hospitality.
Other ratings for this place would as follows –
Food – 4.25/5
Service – 4.5/5
Drinks – 4.25/5
Ambiance – 4.5/5
Food for 2 on a normal day might come to Rs.3000-3500. On a weekend it would be Rs.4500 for a couple for the sunday brunch. They have another option with drinks that goes even higher. But I would advice people to celebrate the special occasion here, like the way I did 🙂
