With specialty restaurants opening at every nook and corner of Bangalore, dining out decisions have started getting complicated! My days are being counted! Actually, it’s not just the days, it’s the calories as well. While I have decided that I need to tie the knot this year, keeping a watch on what I eat gets extremely important. Every morning I wake up with a strong determination to avoid all forms of junk! But come Friday and somehow these rules get thrown out of the window. I give in to the temptation and end up heading to a restaurant or at least a café!!  What has changed is the fact that I make wise choices – either when I pick the restaurant or when I order.

 

Last weekend was no different. Friday evening began with a corn churmur at Chaipatty and then came the decision making part. Sunny and I initially decided to head to Chili’s and gave up on the idea. A fellow Wiz recommended Thulsi n Thyme. Actually, I think this is probably going to be Wizcraft’s next Take 5. Sonia had suggested it a while ago and this time around Chandrika too suggested we head there!! And so we gave up on Chili’s and headed straight to Thulsi & Thyme.

 

Thulsi & Thyme is a floor above Touche in Indiranagar. The signboard outside describes it as Indopean Cuisine! Well, we were excited! A pretty bar welcomed us and yes, the first feeling was ‘Nice’! The restaurant has 2 distinct sections – a closed romantic and dimly lit AC enclosure and another open air, breezy and yes, a must visit section especially on a random lazy Sunday morning. The staff seemed courteous and welcoming! The kitchen was open to inspection. Not literally but yes, a glass separating the dining from the kitchen. For those who wanted to know what the chefs were up to, the restaurant offered quite a good view. We did not dare to sit outside. Neither of us was carrying any warm clothing and we knew we would spend half our dinner cribbing how cold it was outside.

 

Remember, Meenakshi Karanth is counting calories!! So, there was surely no frill attached to the meal! This meant no mocktails, one starter split between the two of us and one main-course (sans the cheese). Yes, the idea was to say NO to the dessert! We began with Sunny ordering a Bounty – Hunter (a vanilla ice cream, coke and chocolate syrup mixed mocktail). I called for an Array of Crispy Vegetables for starters.

 

Our veggies arrived! It seriously looked like bhajjis that we could have relished at Chaipatty! I for a while was wondering that yes, we finally found a restaurant that lived up to its name – Indo + European. We had a platter of onion rings, aloo bhajji, brinjal bhajji & mirchi bhajji with some honey mustard kind of sauce. It was served with mint chutney and some white dip. I still can’t figure if the dip was mayo based or yoghurt based. It was pretty decent. Each of us got one of each.

 

Foursquare users had recommended Lamb Chops. So obviously Sunny was to order that. They had also recommended a Tomato Paneer Lasagne. But then, it had something I wouldn’t expect in a lasagne. So, now I was also thinking that I should probably start skipping Paneer, Cheese, etc etc. I came across Pumpkin Ravioli. The menu said cheese sauce. Well, I was offered to pick between that and Ariabiata sauce (tomato based). I picked the later.

 

The lamb chops were apparently delicious. And so were mine. I loved the taste and texture of the ravioli. It just blended perfectly with the Arabiata sauce. I wonder if the cheese sauce would do the same to the dish.

By now, we realized that the much awaited Bounty Hunter had not arrived. When it did, it was such a let down. Neither did it taste good nor was it presented well. To add to it half the drink would get wasted because of how it was arranged. A tall glass just did not suit the drink. The ice cream was topped with ice. So there was no way one could dig into the ice cream once the coke was sipped off. Plus it did not have an accompanying spoon. However, our main course made up for it.

 

I had tried hard to refrain from ordering a dessert. But as always, I went ahead and ordered a chocolate brownie topped with chocolate ganache and ice cream. However, it was probably one of the worst desserts of all time. Cold, rubbery and just not appetizing.

 

If I were to rate the restaurant, I would give it a 3 on 5. Average in taste, good ambience and okay for one time visit. A meal for 2 cost us around Rs. 1,700. So do the math and evaluate if you would want to actually visit the place.