Jun 01, 2009 05:30 PM
13650 Views
(Updated Jun 11, 2009 07:25 PM)
A nice looking(from outside) restaurant had opened in our neighbourhood(Jayanagar). So my wife and I were enthusiastic when we decided to go there for lunch. The place looked great from outside. Valet parking, new spanking looking facade. The place is called Cable Car - promises a San Francisco(SFO) experience located on the Jayanagar-JP Nagar border 100 ft road just after the Indira Gandhi circle traffic light on the same side as Ragigudda Temple/Woody's etc.
Inside the ambience was like an American Bar and Grill. Furniture with treated rubber wood in a bright wooden yellow colour. A replica of cable car was exhibited in the interiour with some seating. Menu is folded like some typical American breakfast joints that you see on the highways. On one side was Indian fare and on the other was surprisingly Italian(later I realised that I had not read the hoarding outside well when we walked in).
Well, we were excited and decided to order Italian. One bummer was there was no wines, no liquor licence yet. We decided on Asparagus soup, Stuffed Potatoes had our eyes on the Eggplant Parmagiana. That is until we read the description. It said creamy Polenta in some sauce. Polenta? Duh! A quick check with the waiter revealed that it was a misprinted desciption. He assured us that it was the real McCoy with Parmesan Cheese. Well. we had our doubts. Good thing they had newspaper like menus. They can throw them away. More scanning of the menu revealed more confusion. Antipasti said the heading - Under it was listed a selection of Pastas.
We decided to order a Soup, Stuffed Potato and a Rissotto(Gold Coin) and see if we have the space for a main course. The Rissotto descrption said Saffron flavoured Rissotto on a bed of Spinach. The order came in reasonable time. The soup was too creamy, the Asparagus flavour was submerged in cream. It also had a surprising brown colour. Stuffed Potatoes were nice, just wish they didnt have kidney beans and tomato ketchup taste as the stuffing. The Rissotto turned out to be a Rissotto cake! It was a Rossotto cake fried in oil with some sickly saffron colouring. Two cakes were placed on top of a small bed of spinach. The description of the dish said never mentioned fried cakes.
Looking around, we were treated to the sight of most people lustfully chomping into Curry dripped Rotis. Sigh! We should have ordered from the Indian Menu. Closer look at the decor revealed more confusion. Why an Italian Indian eatery with an American ambience? The high backed wooden benches had stained glass fillings giving a church feel. There was a mysterious white arch which occupied so much space that the cash and register was pushed to a corner. Furniture was not child friendly. I just wish they served American fare and not veggie Indian Italian. A pub/bar with the same ambience would have been more apropos.
Altogether, the place gave the feeling of a confused menagerie with a Chef who has pretentions of being able to cook vegetarian Italian fare. I guess he downloaded the Italian recipies from the Internet, but cut and pasted wrongly in his menu. We were very very disappointed, we should have stuck to the new Little Italy branch which has moved to Koramangala or wait for the one which will open up in 7th Block Jayanagar.
That said, I have no idea about their Indian vegetarian dishes or food quality. Have no plans of finding out!
