Bisi Bengaluru: 1131 reasons for a tipple!
It's a pleasant, open, tipplers hangout, with interesting smoothies to help you wash down your grub or your choice of poison, and golf.
1131
Remember a time when the Cantonment was a breeze to live in? Everything was a hop, skip and jump away, the air was deliciously nippy, the mood laidback? Everyone was not jumping over the other to make it to that meeting, presentation, call or tipple on time… We are digressing, though. In the city, in Indiranagar, comes yet another entrant that sits proudly on 100 Feet Road in an expansive warm wonderful double deck open starlit courtyard, spread out across three floors and offering tipplers and the harassed city slicker a chance to take a breather. A breather, because it's that kind of casual, bright and warm terraced place, where one can appreciate the weather (only in the winter, though), and hangout with likeminded golf buddies as there is a state of the art golf simulator in the air conditioned second floor.
Eleven thirty one or 1131 is for an evening of no pretentions. All wannabe golf lovers and novices have Mohan Kumar, the managing director a seasoned golfer to thank, as we were told that the only other place with a simulator is the Leela Palace! A trainer and professional caddie with a handicap of 12 lies in wait, to coax that (non-existent) swing, with tips to the right stance and grip. We tried, a comedy of errors ensued, with the birdie green beckoning on a virtual screen, and the 'holes' were elusive, you might be luckier.
The company that is known for House of Commons in HSR and Koramangala, is foraying into the Indiranagar precinct. Director Dilip Nair, explains, "We have been in the industry for long, and it was time to make our foray into a more eclectic space. 1131 is a multi cuisine kitchen and bar, the idea was to make it for families, and not just as a pub." The simple lines, bright and colourful interiors with a green wall of shrubs all make 1131, which incidentally is the original address of this once verdant quiet neighbourhood. Even so, with multi cuisine restaurants, the menu can sometimes do too much… Continental, Indian, Asian, Mediterranean, smoothies, and more, diluting the overall focus. It's a pleasant, open, tipplers hangout, with interesting smoothies to help you wash down your grub or your choice of poison, and golf.
We started with chicken wings, spiced, crispy fried and tasty, but overdone. Next came the celebrity shrooms, which we have come to love with the simplicity and flavour of the ordinary mushroom. Ours came with a delicious spinach stuffing, though we would have preferred the mushroom without any batter. The Asian menu has dimsums. We tried the Mushroom Duxelles Dimsum, which was average, and Celery Silken Tofu Dimsum, tasty, albeit slightly sticky around the edges. The Szechuan glazed vegetable Sui Mai seemed a cross between a springroll and a dimsum, not for our palate, definitely, or yours. The non vegetarian dimsums were better, the sage and spring green chicken dimsum, gently flavoured, and Prawn Sui Mai, with a fresh potli of pink succulent prawns was tasty. The sauces, a herbed and a mustard were very, very average, we would have liked that classic chilli oil or bean dip.
The Baos came in, a bit sticky - they could have been fresher and plumper. The wasabi green pea and sage stuffing we are still trying to make sense of, and the teriyaki chicken and leek one was again average… The moonshine seafood dimsum was alright, we liked the Prawn Har Gow. If you like smoothies, try the watermelon refresher, pomegranate and sprout, or the peanut butter ones Pima he and coriander, delicious. For mains, we spotted Laksa but opted for pasta, Tagliatelle Alle Puttanesca - again very average, more garlic, black olives and anchovies, please, as the Puttanesca seemed missing in the action. Could have been herbed better and less creamy too. The Barbequed German Chicken Sausages Pizza thin crust was chewy, not crusty; we liked the yummy sausages though. Very average in terms of food, but we'd go there for the cocktails and smoothies.
Our definite show stopper was the Molten Chocolate Lava cake that was to die for… with its molten chocolate filling that oozed out much to our delight, that we dunked into with vanilla icecream with glazed strawberry and black berries, phew…. Must, must have it. The three floored space has no lift, which might be a downer for those wanting an upper here. A place designed well, surely deserves better food. The price point is lower than the other Indiranagar places, so it'll surely be a drinker's haven, and for a quick bite.
Address: 1131, 100 Ft road, 100ft and 12th main junction
Call 8951815322 /8861942476
Meal for two: Rs 1400
Must-haves: Prawn sui mai, lava cake and smoothies. There are happy hour offers with beer and pizza.
Look out for: The golf tournaments, training sessions and other golf-related events