Food-E, Koramangala
These days we see a lot of restaurants serving fusion cuisine. Fusion cuisine is about combining cooking styles and ingredients to develop new flavor profiles. Fusion cuisine has been around for a long time and although the idea sounds interesting, mixing and mashing flavors do not necessarily end up well. The thing about fusion cuisine is that when it turns out good the accolades are endless whereas the flavors are extremely undesirable when it goes wrong.
There are a lot of cuisines out there which are mildly flavoured; mostly rely on the natural flavor of the ingredients. At times, the idea is to twist the recipes of certain dishes to cater to the local crowd and quite frankly, it helps. On the other hand, there are restaurateurs who are more inclined to promote a type of cuisine- however divergent or insipid the food may be. Having said that, both approaches are noble and have been largely acknowledged with positive reviews.
Food-E is a relatively new restaurant that has been serving fusion cuisine in Koramangala. Last weekend, I was invited to a Bloggers Table event to sample some of their popular dishes. Food-E is the brainchild of two former investment bankers and aims at serving very innovative and interesting fusion food. This restaurant is located near Wipro circle, Koramangala 4th Block. Although the ambience at the restaurant is quirky and simple, yet I personally felt cramped for space. I was welcomed by one of the co-owners and Abhay, from the PR team. Since I was already late by an hour, I quickly joined the rest of the food bloggers and placed my order.
Among the coolers that were served, I recommend the Fresh Basil and Cranberry Mojito. For starters, the Corn Bhel Nachos and Wok Tossed Chicken were my favourites. The Corn Bhel Nachos was a fusion of nachos with fresh corn, roasted peanuts, chopped veggies garnished with an in-house tamarind chutney. The thing I liked about the Wok Tossed Chicken was the sweetness (hint of orange) on top of the chef’s special spicy sauce.
They also have a couple of wraps (option of Dosa, Paratha or a Sub) with various fillings such as Chilli Chicken, Mutton Kheema, Chettinad Chicken Roast etc. We tried the Chettinad Chicken Roast filling wrapped in a Dosa. Although the dish as a whole was flavorful the aroma of Chettinad Chicken combined with the Dosa was not something I liked. We then tried one of their burgers- Mutton Galouti Burger- a charcoal smoked Mutton Galouti Kebab served in a soft bun with in-house spicy green sauce. At first, I felt because the patty was dry the burger itself was not juicy but on recommending another layer of butter on the bun- it tasted just right..! Without a doubt, the silver lining of our experience had to to be the three main course dishes served-
- Kerala chicken rice bowl – bed of rice sautéd with onions, grated carrots and cashews, juicy chicken pieces cooked in the traditional Kerala style with mustard, curry leaves, pepper and coconut.
- Palak Paneer rice bowl – the same as above but with chunks of fresh Paneer, cooked spinach with Methi and other spices.
- Kadai pasta – pasta sautéd with onion, garlic kadai masala and it comes in 2 variants – vegetable or boneless chicken
We called it a day with two Ice Cream shakes- the Paan Shot Milkshake and Brownie Cinnamon Twist. The Paan Shot was a blend of vanilla ice cream and meetha paan, fresh Betel leaves, Gulkand and Kesar Supari. The latter was a chocolate milkshake with brownie chunks and a hit of cinnamon.
Overall, I was quite happy with the array of dishes on offer at Food-E but but I cannot say that I was amazed by them. This could be owing to the fact that these days several restaurants venture into the domain of fusion cuisine and that most dishes are a straight forward blend of two different dishes (either from a regional or global cuisine). This could be the reason why my expectation from a restaurant that serves fusion cuisine is quite high and expect the dishes to tantalise my taste buds. Nonetheless, Food-E is definitely one of the better places in the Koramangala area to indulge in some spicy fusion cuisine.
