A Visit to The Blue Ginger, Taj West End: Part I

Last Saturday I paid a visit to one of the most storied hotels of the Taj Group in Bangalore. Though most hotels of the Taj Group are storied in their own unique way, the Taj West End on Race Course Road in Bangalore is supposed to be a classic of sorts having been converted into a heritage hotel from an old colonial bunglow built in 1887 during the heydays of the British Raj in India. Now, the purpose of my visit was to actually sample the music of a much adulated Indian-origin DJ by the name of Karsh Kale who had flown down from New York to give us Indian party hoppers a taste of the best in modern electronica scene. But this post is not about Mr. Kale though I must say the man creates highly original music that can compel you to dance at its best and just make you swing holding a drink in your hand at its worst.

So, coming back to the greater purpose of the post (which IS to serve mankind in general!!!), I decided to make an evening out of an otherwise boring Saturday and dressed up in my best clothes and headed out to the Taj West End to not only to listen to an eclectic selection of music, but also to sample the offerings at one of the most talked about restaurants at the hotel, namely the Blue Ginger which serves the Vietnamese cuisine. Little did I know that I was about to be ripped in the backside of my pants, I had planned to dine at the restaurant and then slowly tip-toe my way into the Blue Bar and wait for maestro to begin his show.

Now, at the outset I must say that the Vietnamese cuisine is not exactly the best of cuisines to cherish and I wholly concur with the description given by Vir Sanghvi in his famous food column. However, I wish to approach the situation from the point of view of an amateur who is trying to juice the exotic without losing much in terms of monetary substance.

So, not getting into the ambience of the place which is best left to the designers, I dive head on into the menu and my experience of a small meal I had at the Blue Ginger. Now let me state at the outset, Blue Ginger IS an expensive place and a typical dish will set you back by Rs. 1300/- on an average!!! So, the place is not for the faint hearted in terms of spending . Me being a complete stranger to any eastern cuisine beyond Chinese and a bit of Korean and Japanese, had to take the help of a very obliging lady who helped me select a popular dish with a half-portion of vegetable fried rice. Now the dish I had was called 'Sauteed Prawns in Coconut Milk Sauce with Lemongrass and Mushrooms'. As I waited for my order nursing an odd peg of Teacher's Highland Cream, I had a look at the wine list which was very impressive and includes wines such as Chateau Petrus that set you back by Rs. 2,34,000 + Taxes!!!

So, my order arrives and I am a tad disappointed at the quantity served. The rice was fine and cooked well with the inclusion of pieces of baby corn and some green veggies, however, by the end of the meal I found that the dish was sufficent for just the half-portion of rice I had.

However, the prawns were really tasty, they were cooked well and I could feel the uniformity in taste. The sauce was something of the colour of turmeric and it was a surprise to my tastebuds to have something cooked in coconut milk. For those who have tasted vodka, you will realise that you feel the drink when it actually hits your throat, that is the exact response the sauce evoked in my throat with its spicy flavour hitting you in the throat. Adding to the subtle spiciness was lemon grass which creates juicy bursts of a sweet and sour flavour in your mouth. Overall, the experience is a little odd and leaves you in a bit of an awe about the distinctiveness of the flavours.

The baniya in me was a little comforted when I picked up the cheque to find that I had been charged only for the drink and the prawns but not the rice! So much for frugality!

So, I do agree with the fact that Blue Ginger is a place where you need to pay a premium for what you have, however, the wide menu promises to hold many more such culinary surprises and I am raring to go back to discover some more of this uncharted land when time and wallet permits!

Finally......my food blog!

I have finally been able to gather the courage to start the food blog I had always wanted to and seeing the unavailablity of most blog names I chose earlier, I have come up with something that could pass muster with the most serious gastronomic species of the human-kind. Now me being a poorly paid IT professional working in the deep end of one of the country's most teched-up cities (i.e., Bangalore) can try to get the best out of what my little wallet would allow me to indulge in and more often than not, I shall try to cover the places where one can have a nice and filling meal for Rs. 500 if one is a lonely, single man like me.

But, putting professional obligations aside, what is a whim or a hobby without a hint of cynicism in it??? It is this cynicism that often leads us out of our tracks and takes us into the depths of the great unknown where one can get handsomely rewarded for his inquisitiveness or simply end up with a dint of disaapointment that can momentarily, if not forever, halt the idyllic travails of a meandering mind. I shall try to be not-so-adventurous, what with my modest resources that can not exactly buy me dinner at the fanciest of places that Bangalore has aplenty.

It is an interesting thing to intellectualize eating out, but for now, I guess indulging your stomach more than your mind will do the trick here. So good luck to me, as I go out into a culinary adventure that can only be satisfying if not very rewarding.