Maiya Restaurant

Bangalore - My flight back to Singapore is at 11:05pm and so there is still a full day of meeting.  My customer pick me up at 9:30am - I have already checked out but left my baggage at the front desk.   He took me to his favourite restaurant - Maiya located @ 459/30, 30th Cross, 4th Block, Jayanagar.

Maiya Restaurant

We had Vada, Masala Dosa and Poori...the Vada is very good and delicious.   The Masala Dosa was also very well done and the skin was nice and crispy.    I was persuaded to try their coffee which comes in a silver cup and an empty silver cup.  I don't drink coffee but only tea but this time I tried and it was so good.   You are to pour the coffee into the empty silver cup till it is cool enough to drink.   The aroma is so delicious that is out of this world - even better than any of the coffee smell in Singapore.

I told VN that the best coffee in the world came from the shit...coffee from the civet cat.  

After meeting, we went to ITC Sheraton  Windsor - which is next to Le Meridien Bangalore.  This hotel is part of the Sheraton Luxury Collection and it is really grand and the room rates is very expensive at USD 300- 400 per night.   

Peanuts Masala

The food is not good as compared to reknown restaurant within Bangalore.  I had Chicken Briyani and it was really not as good as outside.   The yogurt which was supposed to go with the Briyani was sour and I avoided it.   I was told by VN that the yogurt is not sour but have a neutral taste.

On the flight back to Singapore, I watched Iron Man 2 - which is the new cycle of movies for the month of August.

UB City

Bangalore - Had a sumptuous breakfast with Lesley and we went to our separate meetings.

Which waiting for my customer to arrive and pick me up at the Hotel,  I took pictures from the front lawn of the Hotel.

Geese in front of the Hotel

Small garden

Geese on the Hotel garden

Lunch was at UB City - UB is an acronym for United Breweries and the company is the 3rd largest spirits company in the world according to their webpage http://www.theubgroup.com/. The restaurant that we had our lunch at Khansama serving buffet lunch - there is such a wide variety to choose from. You drink water from copper cups.

That's my lunch from the Buffet platter

Dinner we spent it at the Hotel - it was nice having a seafood BBQ in front of the Hotel swimming pool.
I had mutton and 4 nice pieces of giant prawns and it was good..

13th floor

Bangalore -  Breakfast was a good spread of Indian and Western.  I had 'Vada' and it was good, mango and orange juices were served.   I stayed away from sausages, ham, bacon due to the high salt and nitrates content.  Especially in India, I do not eat cut fruits as I had a bad experience of 'dehli belly'...lol .

It is a lovely weather but chilly around 24 degrees and the time was 9:30am.   I should have brought a simple sport jacket.  Many rich and famous people like to come and stay in Bangalore because of the year round good weather which inadvertably raise the cost of living and high property prices in Bangalore.

Lunch was at a restaurant called 'The Unwind Island' and they serve buffet @ R300 per head (about S$10) but they charge a bottle of water at R100 - which is expensive.

Dinner was at a cocktail lounge called 'The 13th Floor' @ Hotel Ivory Tower, 84 MG Road.   The ambiance was lovely and we were sitting outside overlooking the whole of Bangalore.  The weather was cold at around 19-20 C and I was not wearing any jacket just short sleeve.  After a while, it became unbearable and had to move indoors - it was really cold.

We had some finger food and Indian Kingfisher beer...later we move across to a restaurant Ebony for Dinner. 

Newspapers galore

Bangalore - One observation is that there are so many English newspapers around the Hotel Lobby and restaurants - I counted around 10 English newspapers to choose from all from India.

1.   Bangalore Mirror
2.   Financial Express
3.   Business Standard
4.   The Economic Times
5.   Chronicle Bengaluru
6.   Deccan Chronicle
7.   Indian Express
8.   Deccan Herald
9.   The Hindu
10.  The Times of India

Le Meridien Bangalore - very nice hotel

Bangalore - Singapore Airlines departed on time @ 8:05pm.  Along the way - there were many weather turbulence and hot meals had to be discontinued.    When I had my lamb goulsh dinner - meal is cold.  The Magnum ice-cream saved the otherwise horrible meal....

I managed to catch only 1 movie as the flight to Bangalore took only 3 1/2 hrs.   The Korean movie 'Forever the Moment' - this is true story of grit of the Korean handball team.    The Bangalore airport is new, the immigration and custom clearance was fast.

The airport transfer was waiting at the enterance of the arrival gate and was zipped in a 'Skoda' car.  Took about 40 minutes to reach the hotel without traffic and it was pleasant talking to the driver of the Le Meridien Hotel.  Apparently, there are 60+ drivers and cars and 30 will be on duty in the morning and 30 for the night shift.  He said because of the low business - he started work at 8am today to pick up his car keys and when he dropped me off it was around 10pm.

I am staying @ Le Meridien Bangalore located at 28, Shankey Road.   The rooms are tastefully designed wiht 42 inch LCD TV, Apple iHome and comfortable beds. 

The only drawback is:
- The room is too cold and the air-con cannot be adjusted warmer so I switch the air-con off and it is at a nice temperature
- The curtains are kept shut because the outside view are building under constructions, shambles and lots of rubbish.

On the whole - I will come back to this hotel again....

The iHome is a neat device that allows you to dock an Apple Nano and you can play music through the speakers of the iHome.  It is also an alarm clock.   I tied to dock my iPhone but it does not recognise but it does charge the iPhone.   Having an iPod docking station in the room is a first for me...

iHome

Another unique feature of this room is that it is secured with the latest, state of the art Hafele locks from Germany called 'dialock'.

Dialock

This is what the hotel lobby looks like from the glass lift of the Le Meridien Bangalore Hotel.

Taken from the glass lift of the Hotel

Ebun @ Greenbelt 3 - The Egg Restaurant

Manila - For lunch we had nearby the office @ Pasto City - 3/F Paseo Center, Salcedo Village, Makati City.   It is an Italian restaurant and I had Pomodoro Basilico - rich tomato spaghetti dish.

After meetings, we had our dinner at the famous Filippino restaurant - Ebun @ Greenbelt 3, ground level.   Ebun in Tagalog means 'Egg' and thus the restaurant was renovated in the colour of Beige and yellow.   The ambiance and service of this restaurant was excellent.  We had:-

Sinigang N Sugpo
Beef Shank Caldere
Adobo Rice
Fried Rice with Garlic
Lechon Sisig
Gulaman at Sago - drink that is similiar to our Ice-blend Milk Tea

Worth going back again to this restaurant....

Firewood Pizzas

Manila - Lunch we had AMICI Firewood pizzas and it was fresh and delicious.   I had spaghetti vogole and we shared a Margherita Pizza - it was yummy!

Portable Firewood Pizza

Another view of the Portable Firewood Pizza

Whilst visiting one of my customers, we had to cross a pedestrian bridge.   Crossing the pedestrian bridge you have to be carefull too...look what I mean.

The high electrical tension cables across the

pedestrian bridge

That's Joe getting electrocuted....

Dinner was at their famous seafood near the waterfront - Robbie's Seafood Restaurant @ Pasay .   My first taste with this Filippino famous dish - Sinigang - this is a soup chracterized by its sour flavor most often associated with tamarind. I like tamarind and therefore this dish was delicious to me.  This Sinigang was cooked with fish and vegetables like tomatoes.