Food

The Yellow Chilli & Hong Kong Restaurant – Church Street, Bangalore

By on • ( 2 Comments )
Advertisements
The Yellow Chilli and Hong Kong are the new restaurants to start operations in the busy Church area of Bangalore.  There are quite a few new restaurant coming up in the recent times.  And most of the restaurants have a great launch and offer a wide range of discounts to lure customers.  But the restaurant I am going to write about has taken a completely different strategy.  This approach completely baffled me.  And that too when the restaurant is a franchise under a great banner, that surprises you even further.  Yes, I am talking about The Yellow Chilli and Hong Kong restaurants @Church. 

 

The restaurants (The Yellow Chilli & Hong Kong) are part of the SKR which ofcourse is ‘Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurants’, who ofcouse is the most renowned and the best Masterchef of India.  In terms of the starts, the restaurants actually opened up on 5-Sep & 11-Sep respectively but they did not go public in telling people that it is part of SKR as they wanted to let the customers decide to come to restaurant by themselves and taste the food.   That way the owners get candid views from the customers, which they could take back to the creator himself.  I guess the idea seems to have worked wonders. 

 

As the business of restaurant started picking up, it was decided to bring the celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoor himself to cut the ribbon as gesture of opening.  And I am sure now with the arrival of celebrity chef to the restaurant, there would be people pouring in left, right and center. 

 

Location
In terms of location, it is situated in the beginning of Church Street.  To be precise, it is right opposite to Starbucks, along side Blue Frog.  Both the restaurant are actually situated on the 2nd floor.
There is no chance to miss this restaurant to the left side.  And the best part is that they have valet parking serving which become quite useful in Church.  Coz it can become quite hard to find parking on the Church Street.  Infact, there have been times when I have had to keep it nearly 1km away and walk back. 
They also have a basement car-parking space which is quite useful.
Ambiance
The ambiance of both the restaurant is a bit different and appealing.  As you get out of the lift, the restaurant to the right would be The Yellow Chilli serving authentic Indian Cuisine.  To the left is the ‘Hong Kong’ serving Chinese food.

 

The Yellow Chilli to the right has a great entrance that has loads of the Sanjeev Kapoor authored books and photos.  There is a reception area to the left where there would someone to greet the guests as they arrive.  The seating is quite comfortable and the best part is the view sitting next to Church Street.  I am sure it is going to be a hit among the one and all.
HongKong is the restaurant to the left side which has got the Chinese and Hong Kong style food.  There some nice partitions across the tables which has got great wood work.  And the lighting is a bit dimmer which is most expected of Chinese restaurant as folks expect calm and peaceful place for dinner/lunch.
Its time to share more details on the menu/food being served in specific restaurants.

 

The Yellow Chilli
The chain has been serving its patrons with both traditional and innovative Indian cuisine.  The menu in the The Yellow Chilli reflects Sanjeev Kapoor’s culinary excellence that draws inspiration from the North-West Frontiers with delicacies from the Mughal era and specific regions of Punjab. 

It includes some of his signature dishes, both in vegetarian and non-vegatarian options, like Hare Masaley ka Bhuna Paneer, Shabnam ke Moti, Shaam Savera, Lalla Mussa Dal, Tandoori Basil Prawn, Lawrence Road Tandoori Murgh, Chandi Kaliyan, Puran Singh da Tariwala Murgh, Raan Buzzkazi and some cool deserts like Gulab-e-Chulkand and the likes.

 

Hong Kong
This bears  Sanjeev Kapoor’s stamp of culinary excellence with quite a few of his signature dishes like Brocolli with Tofu Dimsun, Har Gua Dim sum, specially cooked Hong Kong style grills Gai Yang, Crunchy Nuts on Crackling Spinach, Crispy Lamp, Mopu Tofu and many more.  Chef Kapoor has always been very fascinated with the cuisine served across Asia especially in Hong Kong.  From a Cantonese fare to the understated Japanese food to unusual combinations from Malaysia, Hong Kong is kown for its myriad of flavors and oriental decialcies and Sanjeev Kapoor wanted to bring that to his talbe for his customers.

 

Info on Owners
The franchise owners include S.M. Sonnad and Sidaarth Sonnad.

 

SM Sonnad (Partner) has nearly 38 ears in General Administration and has served in Karanataka Goveernment with various departments starting as Tahsildar, Asst Commissioner and many other govt posts.
Sidaarth Sonnad (Managing Partner) has been in the software profession for quite a few years before deciding to work along with this father on this venture.
Overall Event
Its time for me share my experience on the event.  The start comes right at the entrance of both the restaurant that had ribbons for Sanjeev Kapoor himself to cut open. Sanjeev obliged by being there right on time and cut the ribbons with a radiating smile.

 

Then he was directly taken to the press-conference where there were reporters and fellow bloggers. 
Sanjeev was quite down to earth in sharing his journey in the food industry and answers lots of the questions from folks.  Infact, I too asked him a question on the ‘differentiating factor of the restaurant to let it survive amid competition’.  Sanjeev’s answer was quite straight and he mentioned the need to focus on serving good food.  The competition would then be taken care by itself.

 

After that there was a cook out event where Chef Sanjeev Kapoor himself cooked a meal for folks to taste before heading for the interviews.
Well, this happened to the best part as Chef met up with all bloggers and obliged by taking Selfies with each one of us. 

 

During our conversation, he also mentioned how we bloggers had the power to influence.  And that we should be putting the right data for people to read and lead the way.

 

While we were waiting to meet the celebrity chef, we were served with some real good Veg starters which included Kebabs, Paneer.

 

This was not all coz I also wanted the autograph from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor himself.  To that he was kind to give it.  And for sure this is something that I will cherish for long time.
About Sanjeev Kapoor
Sanjeev Kapoor is the most celebrated face of Indian cuisine today.  He is Chef extraodinarir, runs a succesfful TV Channel ‘Food Food’, author of bst-selling cookbooks, restaurateur and winner of several culinary awards in India and abroad.  Amongst other things, his website www.sanjeevkapoor.com which has more than 13k recipes, attracts more than 9million page views per month and over 3.5 million fans follow on Facebook.

 

In the Closing
Overall a wonderful day of meeting celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, meeting foodies and bloggers.  I would wish the restaurant good luck for its success.  More details on the restaurant-
The Yellow Chilli (TYC), Bangalore
Address: 2nd Floor, MSR Westpark Building, #3 Church Street, Opp Church Street Metro Station, Off Brigade Road, Bangalore – 560001
Tel: 080-25599991
Email: churchstblr@theyellowchilli.com
Website: www.theyellowchilli.com
Hong Kong, Bangalore
Address: 2nd Floor, MSR Westpark Building, #3 Church Street, Opp Church Street Metro Station, Off Brigade Road, Bangalore – 560001
Tel: 080-25599992
Website: www.hongkongrestaurant.co.in