Food Review

This weekend, along with my family, I visited the very famous Phoenix Market City Mall in Bangalore. If you want to amp up your holidays or weekends, this mall is a fun place to get together with family and friends for shopping and to have lunch or evening snacks.

We sat in the food court, which is located on the second floor of the mall. With a calming ambience, clean tables, and good seating arrangements, the place looked really inviting. Luckily, at 4:30 p.m., the food court was less crowded and peaceful. Had it been around 1:00 pm, it would have bustled with people, and one would be lucky to even find a place to sit.

We first ordered a chicken salad from Subway. If you are looking for healthy and nutritious salads, Subway is the place to be. Other than salads, they also offer assorted cookies, sandwiches, and wraps. They have many types of freshly baked, very soft sandwich bread that literally melts in the mouth. Some of the vegetarian options include Veggie Delight, Chatpata Channa, and Hara Bhara Kabab, while the non-vegetarian options include chicken, tuna, turkey, chicken tandoori, and roasted chicken. The price ranges from 250 to 500 rupees. I got a chicken tandoori salad that contained chunks of chicken and veggies such as lettuce, tomato, onions, jalapenos, olives, capsicum, and tomatoes. If you want, you could top it off with your choice of spicy or creamy sauces. The service was average, as the person behind the counter making my salad was a little hostile and unfriendly. The menu was great, with a lot of varieties to offer; however, I realised that this time the prices had been hiked. This was disappointing as the salad remained the same; you end up paying extra for the same salad.

For me, the best chicken salad should have plenty of colourful, vibrant, fresh, and crunchy vegetables coupled with tender, juicy, and spicy chicken, minus any sauces. The chicken in the salad was tasty and fresh; however, the veggies like cucumber and lettuce were browning on the edges, and the tomato was soggy. The veggies and the unjustified price hike were a big disappointment. Overall, I would rate this 7/10.

However, since I like salads, I might still visit Subway, but not this outlet. I would recommend this salad, but try other outlets as well to see if the quality and freshness of the veggies are better. Also, my salad had no creamy or spicy sauces, which makes it a healthier version. These sauces contain sweetened mayonnaise, which may be unhealthy. However, unsweetened mayo would make a perfect salad dressing, and it would be the best option for anybody who is health conscious. But getting unsweetened mayo in restaurants is difficult these days. So far, I haven’t found a single place that serves sauces with unsweetened mayo. Please comment and let me know if you know of any places that serve unsweetened mayo. Mayo on its own is healthy as it contains only eggs and olive oil, however, what makes it unhealthy is the added sweetener.

The next dish we ordered was chicken tikka from Kababji Café in the same food court area. They usually serve kababs, grills, Arabian rolls, shawarma, biriyani, Al-Faham, and so on. The price ranged from 50 to 600 rupees. The service was good, and the staff was friendly.

The chicken tikka was priced at approximately 300 rupees. It was spicy and very tasty. The chicken was tender and juicy. My only concern was the use of food colouring that gave it a deep red colour. Overall, the portion size was good, and I would rate it 7/10. I recommend this dish for its taste and tenderness, but not for its colour. However, you can get the same dish from another place where they use little to no colour.

Next, we ordered a doughnut from Mad Over Donuts. This was for my 5-year-old son. He was too generous to let me have a bite. Mad Over Donuts is the leading choice for doughnuts if you are really mad about doughnuts. Many varieties of doughnuts are available here. The price starts at Rs. 100 for a glazed one and goes up based on the flavours. It was fun and interesting to watch the doughnut-making machine pop doughnut-shaped dough into hot oil for frying. This place is creative with its doughnuts, and one is sure to get lost with the wide variety to choose from. We ordered dark chocolate for my son. The doughnut was rich, fresh, super tasty, and pure indulgence.

It was so rich that my son stopped at just one doughnut. One bite of the rich doughnut was just enough to satisfy my craving. I generally prefer a sugarless cappuccino to go with it, but I had to skip it as it is not advisable after eating a salad. It’s a must-try, and overall, I would rate it 8/10. Although they are a bit expensive, they have some cool offers on party packs. Undoubtedly, this is a great place for a doughnut lover, and I’m sure all the kids will love it.