Sunday Lunch at The Whitefield Arms

Last weekend, Soumya, a blogger buddy, invited me to lunch at The Whitefield Arms in VR Bengaluru. I had seen this place several times when I visited the area but never ventured in. I am usually with my kids, and I didn’t think it was a kid-friendly place.

But last Sunday was relatively free, so I fed the kids some lunch, strictly instructed them to play with each other, no fighting, and then trotted over to VR Bengaluru to get some once in a blue moon kid-free time with friends.

So, I walked into the dark bar at noon, only to be told that they had a table waiting for me outside. And then I stepped into the lovely, bright sunshine and wondered why I thought this was a dark, smoky bar.

The outside is simply beautiful.

All the tables are neatly aligned in the shade, and a row of flower beds on one side keeps you feeling relaxed. There is also plenty of open area around the tables, and it was filled with kids running around doing their thing while their parents chilled out enjoying a drink or two and some excellent food.

We started with the drinks naturally.

The vodka cocktails were good, but I thought the two whisky cocktails we tried – an Old Fashioned and a Mountbatten were OMG excellent, and if you like whisky, these are what you should try. Heck! Even if you don’t like whisky try these drinks – they are so tasty and just the right blend of alcohol and juice.

The Mountbatten is a mix of Scotch whisky, Pamplemousse, strawberry, lime, and bitters.

The TWA chips, cheese, and gravy was simply a dish of french fries topped with cheese, onions, dal makhani, and jalapeño.

I liked this all right, but the dish was overshadowed by the next set of plates to come to our table.

These platters were given to us for sampling. All the starters were good, but I gave two thumbs up to the onion rings. They were sublime, and I could have happily eaten multiple plates. The Suzzie’s Bangles were perfectly crumb-fried and served with delicious garlic mayo. Love! I also recommend the TWA chili cheese toast highly.

I didn’t try the non-vegetarian dishes, but my buddies loved them and recommended the Grilled Prawns and the Barrack’s Special (grilled chicken thigh marinated in coriander and mint).

I am a vegetarian, but that pork belly on the right looked very well cooked and luscious. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t brought Snubnose along to the lunch. She would have enjoyed all the non-vegetarian dishes. The place was perfectly child-friendly too (at least during lunch hours).

Next to come was the main course, and we were almost groaning – we were so full. The following dishes were rice-based – delicious but incredibly filling, and unfortunately, we were too full to do enough justice to it.

My dish of spinach, cheese, and potato dumplings was simply sublime. The basmati rice was cooked perfectly, sprinkled with saffron, and paired perfectly with the dumplings. I so wished that I had taken it lighter with the earlier courses.

And last – the dessert.

We sampled the carrot cake, the sticky toffee pudding, and the barboosa. All desserts were good, but I would go for the sticky toffee pudding if I went again.

In short

Try

• Suzzie’s Bangles
• TWA chili cheese toast
• Whisky-based cocktails
• Spinach, cheese, and potato dumplings
• Sticky toffee pudding

Skip

TWA chips, cheese, and gravy