Chai ‘aka’ tea is one of the favourite refreshing drinks for most of the Indians.  Usually we all love to enjoy some savouries, mixtures, kodbale or anything a little on the spicier side.  This craze for chai/tea and the food is what the ‘Chai Gilli’ restaurant has looked to capitalize on.  Bangalore being a cosmopolitan city, people from various regions want to try food from their regions.  But apart from that if there is twist brought to the current offering along with a good price deal, people would just love.  Let me share my experience from my recent visit.

Ambiance
A casual dining place which has got the traditional foldable chairs, the kind of chairs that were once quite popular sitting options at homes.  Now, the same chairs are being coloured and used for sitting.
Wooden high tables and long tables are setup across the restaurant.  They also seem to have a really long wooden table which is more like the community table with nice lights above them.
They have these huge milk cans that were being used or may be still used, by milkman to supply milk.
There are some unique lighting arrangement.  LED lights places inside glass used for serving cutting chai and fabricated as set of 4-6 nos in a group.
There are 2 huge TVs where people can enjoy watching matches like the IPL, Football or in general music channels.
A special mentioned of the Indian Railways logo as well that they have done which somehow give that local look.
The washbasin also is also based on chai/tea theme.  They have a kettle from which water come outs.  The nozzle can be opened with a lever.  And the water gets collected in an aluminium bucket that has holes like normal washbasin holes.

Food
The most important reason for people to visit this place has got to be the food taste along with the pricing.  I tried multiple dishes, let me share my thoughts.

Nachos platter – A wonderful combination of Nachos and cheese along with salsa sauce.  There are also some nice coriander pieces on top of the cheese used for garnishing.  Cheese is added in plenty and it tasty yummy.  The only thing I thought they can do to improve is to spread out the Nachos in a bigger bowl.

Tadke Wala  Maggi – One of the favourite breakfast or snack item that is loved by all of us, especially the original Maggi.  They have done a slight twist by adding fried onions on top, which sure tasted good.

Veggies on Khakra (pizza) – This was one of the most unique offering where they made a pizza with khakra.  Imagine a plain khakra with cheese and veggies on top, traditional pizza base now stands replaced.  Khakra is in general hard and crispy, it enabled in lifting individual portions.  A unique offering that I would recommend to all.

Khamini (Dokla + Khakra) – A Gujrati based dish in which they piece of dhoka is kept on top of khakra.  The dhokla is not the contemporary dhokla but it is a mashed, filled in a cup and inverted on top of the dhokla.  They also add pomegranate on top of dhokla, which enhances the taste.

Chilly Cheese Toast – This is the normal toast bread that had cheese on top of it. It tasted pretty decent.  With addition of chilly pieces on top of cheese, it is best combination with hot chai.

Namkeen / Corn / Sev Puri shots – Pani puri were stuffed with namkeen, corn and sev puri individually.  It was quite unique and I specially loved the corn.

Just / cheesy Garlic / Masalafied Garlic bread – Garlic bread served in the plain form is not preferred.  Here at Chai Gallic they have options like Cheesy Garlic and Masalafied.  Masalafied is quite unique and is more like the bruschetta.

Red tomato Tang – This is the pasta with red sauce.  Flavours of the sauce and few other spices were adding a lot of taste.

Drinks
Elachi / Masala / Rajasthani Tea – There are plenty of tea options at this restaurant.  Among these they have set of 10 tea(s) for which milk needs to be added.  Taste of the tea was good but I felt that the flavours could have come out more if they would have brewed it a little longer.

Rooibos / Rose Tea
These are special teas which are to be taken as dark tea without milk.  They give a timer that has options for light, medium & strong tea.  These are teas meant for special tea lovers.  I tried Rooibos & Rose tea and loved both of them, also felt refreshed.

Overall Experience
I am glad to have visited this place and enjoyed the array of food options available.  The combination of good food, ambiance and location is helping this place.  I also felt quite relaxed and more at home.  The staff were quite knowledgeable and always ready to give suggestion on the food & drink.  I heard that they have plans of opening in Koramnagala shortly, I am sure they will do good.  I rate my current experience at 4.0/5.

Rating in other departments.
Food – 4.0/5
Drinks – 3.75/5
Service – 4.25/5
Ambiance – 4.0/5
Food for 2 at this place will come to anywhere between INR 400-700.