Bangalore city has plenty of restaurants that serve food of different cuisines. It is hard to say if food of specific cuisine is popular in the city. Coz the IT City has seen lots of immigrants from across the country and world. And each of them have a different choice of cuisines. But surely I feel that there are few cuisines which are popular like – South Indian, North Indian, Italian, Chinese and Thai. Every area has restaurant serving food of different cuisine. This way the restaurant can stay unique and also be in the mind of people. There are few places which are so popular in the city that it become popularly known to everyone. One such wonderful restaurant is the Hunan restaurant which serves Thai, Chinese and Seafood.
Background
I wanted to share some info about the restaurant in the area of Koramangala. This area has the popular college in town called Jyothi Nivas and also the famous Forum mall. There are plenty of people stay in and around this area, also there are many offices. It means that there is quite a bit of public looking to try some good food.
Hunan is setup in the popularly called ‘Food Street’ in Koramangala, where there are restaurants next to each other like pack of cards. Looking into the opportunity, the restaurant set itself up. And in matter of no time, it has established itself as the best Chinese Restaurant in town. It has been awarded as the ‘Time Food Award for most popular Chinese/Thai – 2016’.
Few popular made all of this popular area –
Mr. Jagdish Menda, CEO Hunan &
Mr. Pema Takchung, Director, F&B, Hunan
I recently visited the place as part of Bloggers Meet. This was setup as part of ongoing Food Festival as Hunan.
Location
Let me give directions from the Koramangala 100ft road which popularly has the BDA complex. If you are coming from St Johns Hospital side, the BDA complex appears to the right side. Cross the signal and take a left at Sukh Sagar Junction. Drive along for nearly 1/2kms and keep looking for CPK, Black Pearl to the left side. Directly opposite to this building, Hunan can be spotted. It is on the 1stfloor off the building. You can take the stairs to reach up to the restaurant.
Ambiance
It is critical that places that are popular among the crowd, to have well maintained décor. The folks who designed this place had taken care of the designs. Let me share few things that I observed.
- Brilliant lighting across the restaurant which isn’t too bright nor too dim. The shades used to cover the lights and create the effect are equally good.
- There are plenty of seats across which can probably accommodate around 40-60 packs.
- Well setup tables for people just come, sit and have a dining experience.
- The wall has plenty of awards being given to the restaurant. This for sure is made possible due to the great cooking abilities of Chef Pema Takchung.
- Specifically, they have some Chinese Dragon Symbol made of brass that is etched onto a wooden wall in the back.
The ambiance lets you relax and enjoy the meals.
Food
The most critical aspect of the restaurant is surely the food. Their place has the quality aspect taken care of by Chef. Let me share my thoughts on some of the food that I had there.
Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup
This is a vegetarian soup which was made thick and was one of the first item I consumed. The soup tasted quite good and was the favourite among other friends who were with me. Infact, the non-vegetarians also that thee soup was quite tasty. I don’t think that we could get soup of this quality elsewhere in Bangalore.
Tom Yum Soup
One of my favourite soup that contains the Thai Spices, galongai in lemon grass broth. The taste was quite good and little spicy as well. I enjoyed the soup very much. Infact, the quality of the soups is so good that you feel like taking them instead of trying out the main-course.
Truffle Scented Edamame Dumpling
A wonderful dumpling which had some great stuffing of veggies and then the pockets made. The liquid around the dumpling had the special ingredients & spices, which enhanced the flavour of the dumpling.
The food was quite wonderfully presented and it was hard to resist taking pictures.
Vegetable Crystal Dumpling
Quite popular dumpling among the vegetarians. It is the translucent dumpling stuffed with water cashewnuts, mushrooms and vegetables.
It is best consumed with the vinegar and spices. There was a special chutney kind of item that had the flavours of mango and green chilly, which enhanced flavours of dumplings.
Vegan Vietnamese Spring Rolls
This was a dish that looked quite delicious but I could not taste as it was non-vegetarian.
But the food was presented quite well.
Bao
This is one of the wonderful dishes that you get in few places in Bangalore. It is basically the steamed, filled bun or bread-like item which is on the lines of traditional Chinese mantou. There was good number of veggies stuffing which when consumed, tasted quite good. It was hard to resist and I took around 2-3 portion of the bao.
Non-veg variant also was presented in the similar manner.
Crispy Lotus Steam with Ginger Honey Sauce
A crispy crunchy lotus stem that was tossed with green chilli ginger and honey sauce.
The taste was quite irresistible. Most of us had at least 2-3 servings of the dish.
Khao Soi
This is one of the popular dishes among the Thai folks.
It has become quite a popular dish among food lovers in Bangalore. It is a dish is more like a soup where in rice noodles is served along with coarsely chopped veggies, garlic, sprouts, broccoli, beans, nuts, onions along with special coconut curry.
The taste was simply the best and I feel that it is hard to find a place which serves this delicious item.
The gravy items served was on the lines of Thai Yellow Curry. Infact, the curry is so tasty that you can eat it as is.
Deserts
Chocolate Spring Roll with Ice-cream
A nicely made ‘Chocolate Spring Roll’ that was served with simple vanilla ice-cream.
The taste was good and I very much enjoyed and infact relished it.
Drinks
There were couple of drinks that I tried here which tasted quite good. One of them was based on coconut milk which tasted like Pinacolada but it was different.
I very much enjoyed the taste.
The other drink that I tried was containing some tea and other ingredients. It has nice froth and I very much enjoyed the flavours in it.
Overall Experience
It was a great Friday evening spent with fellow Blogger friends at a popular restaurant in Koramangala area. I very much enjoyed the taste and flavours in each of the dishes. The presentation of the food was also quite good along with the service. I would want to visit this place more often with friends and family. My rating for the restaurant on the basis of the food that I had would be 4.0/5. I am sure the next time I visit this place; the rating will go up.
Rating in various departments.
Food – 4.0/5
Service – 4.0/5
Ambiance – 4.0/5
Drinks – 4.0/5
Food for 2 at this place would cost anywhere between INR1500-2000.
Bloggers/Foodies at the food tasting event included – Nikhil, Debolina, Dushyant, Pratheek, Bibhuti, Ashmita, Rahul, Abhinav, Prarthna.