Culinary Heaven

It's the season for reviews. But unlike most, who have been posting reviews for movies, I shall post a review for, you guessed it, food.

This weekend, I made a trip to Bangalore for the first time in my life. Apart from the thrill of going to a new city, one of India's finest, at that, there was the anticipation of eating at Shiok. This restaurant is run by Madhu, whom I met online, and made friends with over our common interest in food in general and in Indonesian food in particular. So when my Bangalore trip was planned, of course, a trip to Shiok was on top of the agenda.

The website for the restaurant has details about how to get there, as well as pictures of the interiors, so I shall get straight to the food ;-) We began with the tiger prawn satay... which taste as heavenly as they look on the website. Flavors of fresh turmeric and galangal burst on your tongue and the prawns are grilled to succulent perfection. Next came the fish cakes redolent with zesty lime leaves which gave them a unique taste. Then we got to the chicken in golden baskets, which give you a mixture of the fragrance of coriander with the sweetness of corn and crispiness of the baskets and all around yumminess in general.

I desperately wanted to try the crab, and Madhu got one wonderful specimen out for us to see. It was huge!!! And alive. Which, sadly, put our friends off the whole thing. They did not want to eat something that was so alive. I would have gone for it on my own, if it wasn't so big. After all, if all the foxes felt dissuaded from eating the fluffy bunnies and the tigers got swayed by the big bambi eyes of the deer, then ecological balance would go for a toss? But, maybe next time.

Anyway, we were already quite full with the three rounds of starters. So we tried to keep the main course frugal. We had drunken beef, which is not really drunk itself, but is so appellated because it is a good thing to eat while getting drunk, and which is actually a "starter" according to the menu. Along with that, came the highlight of the evening, the nasi goreng. One spoonful of it, and I was transported to a warung in Java, and my happiness was clearly reflected on my face.

There was absolutely no room for dessert, so Madhu made a super secret dessert drink for me (which I suspect was some mix of ice-cream soda and vanilla vodka). And there ended our feast. Madhu, you are indeed a maestro, and I look forward to giving you many more opportunities to showcase your culinary prowess on my visits to your restaurants! Thank you for one of the most memorable and satisfying meals!!!