35 Brewhouse, JW Marriott, Chandigarh

Hey there! Hope you are safe, healthy and vaccinated.

It has been around one and a half years since we went out for a meal. Last weekend was a special occasion and we decided that it was finally time to step out and celebrate.

Most of us wanted to go to JW Marriott, and so we settled on 35 Brewhouse.

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The place was buzzing when we reached. I was expecting an elegant place with excellent food, especially with Chandigarh being a foodie paradise.

Our first disappointment was the lackluster treatment upon reaching the microbrewery. They were completely unprepared for us (even though we had made a reservation days in advance), and started fumbling for tables and chairs. We eventually settled down and asked for a beer flight followed by couple of beers, some cocktails and appetizers.

I didn’t find anything extraordinary in all the stuff we ordered; something that you generally expect at a place like this.

Hefeweizen – Flavourless and watery, you can give it a miss.

German lager – This was best of the lot. It was crisp and refreshing, nice brew for hot summer evenings.

Stout – This was average and lacked body

Classic margarita – This was too sugary and disappointing

Nachos – I had assumed that we’d definitely get housemade nachos here, but unfortunately these turned out to be doritos. At a place of this stature if staff is not even putting effort to serve quality nachos, there’s something wrong.

Malai paneer kebab – This was good. Paneer was fresh, soft and creamy.

We had just started with out food and drinks when it started raining. We were left stranded in the rain with our parents and none of the staff bothered to help us pick up our food and drinks. They were instead seen protecting their cushions and were least interested in attending to guests who were running for cover in the heavy rain. It was absolute chaos.

We were left unattended, waiting for a table for more than half an hour after which we decided to go to another place for dinner. We would have stayed back even with the average food, had it not been for the unprofessional staff. Hard to imagine this happened at JW.

All of us were cranky after this terrible experience, but luckily Park Plaza managed to turn our dreadful evening into a pretty good one. More about that in the next post.

Ambience: 3/5

Food: 2.5/5

Drinks: 2.5/5

Service: 2/5

46 Ounces Brewgarden, Electronic City

Yay! Electronic city has finally got its own microbrewery “46 ounces”. This gorgeous place is a part of hotel “The Oterra” and is spread across beautiful manicured lawns. I absolutely fell in love with the ambience the moment I entered, but did the food and brews live up to my expectations?

Read on to find out 🙂

Hopper’s Bar & Kitchen, Pondicherry

We recently made a quick trip to Pondicherry. Weather was lovely (sweltering summer hasn’t arrived there yet). On our first night, we went to this lounge called ‘Hopper’s Bar & Kitchen’.

The place was not very crowded since it was a weekday and we got a table of our choice. Seating was comfortable and lighting was perfect. They had an excellent cocktail menu and I was impressed with the number of whiskey based cocktails they had. Here is what we tried:

Gilly’s, Electronic City

Last friday we paid a visit to Gilly’s Restobar for dinner. Having never been to Koramalagala Gilly’s, I was looking forward to this one near my house.

We had made a reservation, which seemed unnecessary later on since the place had plenty of vacant tables. There was a minimal cover charge, which made me wonder why it was there at all 🙂

Fire Station, Electronic City

We recently moved to Electronic City and as much as I love the comparatively quieter streets here, I miss the ample food delivery options and eateries in HSR Layout and Koramangala 🙂 I have, however, made a list of places to check out in E-city and the first one was Fire Station.

This place is spread across two floors, one of them being open air with a pretty chilled out vibe. The color red can be seen in abundance, probably to be in line with the fire station theme. You will also get to see tiny fire extinguisher buckets used for chutneys etc.

Simon says brew, Koramangala

‘Simon says brew’ is a relatively new microbrewery, located right above the very popular Boozy Griffin. I was primarily excited about this place because of its amusing name. The place is split into three sections and has a decent amount of seating. Interiors are very simple; there’s a DJ console and the usual display of beer kettles and fermenters. Reservation is recommended on weekends since it gets quite crowded after 9.

Brooks and Bonds Brewery, Koramangala

I think Brooks and Bonds brewery is our new favorite in Koramangala now. The place offers some very enjoyable brews and delicious grub. It is located on 100 feet road in Koramangala and is spread across multiple floors. There’s plenty of seating available and the outdoor sections get a pleasant breeze. Decor is simple and laid back with basic wood and iron furniture and some funny quips on the stairways.

The Brew and Barbecue, Marathahalli

The count of microbreweries in Bangalore just keeps going up, doesn’t it? I had heard lots of good things about this place called ‘The Brew and Barbecue’ and we visited it for lunch this weekend.

This microbrewery is sprawled across the fourth floor of Soul Space Arena in Doddenakundi and is quite spacious. Decor is simple, but I found the indoor seating a bit dark for lunchtime. We opted to sit outside; this area was bright and airy.

Punjabi By Nature 2.0, BTM

“Punjabi By Nature” has been an old favourite in the family, since it never serves your run-of-the-mill artery-clogging greasy Punjabi food. Food menu here contains a large array of Punjabi dishes and drinks menu is interesting too. There is a microbrewery as well that makes delicious brews.

The restaurant is quite spacious and divided into different sections, all of them beautiful and comfortable. There is a pretty waterfall covered wall here and we took a table near that.

Rural Blues, Sarjapur Road

“Rural Blues” was on my list since it opened, and last weekend Mr.H graciously agreed to go there for lunch(finally!) 😀 The place has a beautiful entrance which looks more like someone’s residence than a restaurant. They have some beautiful outdoor and rooftop seating, but both of them were booked for a private party that day.

Interiors are very simple and neat, and I liked the fact that they hadn’t crammed in too many tables. There’s a bar counter on one end and an open kitchen on the other.

Their food menu is vast and they have dishes from many cuisines, Indian, Thai, Italian to name a few. Bar menu has decent choices for cocktails and liquors, though I wish they had more choices for beers. We started off with our usual bira along with veg nachos and magic mushrooms.