Some new discoveries last weekend (when I was supposed to be studying my French, but did everything else but!):

Cosmo Village – A lounge bar. My first visit. Heard quite a bit about the place. It’s a decent joint. Liked the comfortable sofas. Nice music. (However, I have got quite a few conflicting reports about it). Crowded like all other places on weekends. I have a feeling that no one stays home anymore (I can hear you say: look who’s talking!). Wherever you go (any day of the week) you have to battle not only traffic jams but also crowds. Unfortunately, all these cool joints close early. So at about midnight, we had to beat a hasty retreat. It’s located off Brigade Road.

Dublin : the bar at the Windsor Manor. Out of the window, there’s a pretty pool. It had just rained, and the skies were turning dark. One particular tree beside the pool had about a thousand parakeets on it (and I didn’t have my camera). The weather was beautiful. Watched the F1 on the big screen. Kimi Raikonnen won. Felt a little sorry for Shumi though (where was he?!). It was the seventh consecutive race without a Ferrari victory and Schumi must be now wondering how he allowed his greatest fears in the form of Räikkönen and Alonso, to get ahead. Ah, a friends says he’d become arrogant. But I think he’s a champ and will bounce back. Regardless of all the talk of his going old. He should go out in style at least after all his exploits on the track.

Opus : A neat place somewhere near the Palace Grounds area, can’t remember the name of the road. They had karaoke night on Sunday. It was a cool evening and thankfully, it didn’t pour since we had seats outside. Nice music. Some great singers emerged from the woodwork (or wherever they were hiding). One from our group who floored everyone singing Ironic and No Doubt. I am quite sure some of them were professionals, the way they were singing! We missed winning a champagne bottle for the birthday boy by a whisker, methinks! A nice place to chill out, if you’re looking for good music and a chilled out environment.

Any other chilled out places you know in Bangalore?

27 thoughts on “A few new discoveries

  1. hey anita,
    the new look of your blog is pretty cool.
    yoi might want to check out “taika” for its awesome ambience!( scented candles, indian chants etc.,)

  2. My vote for Opus ! Dee was awesome on Saturday night…

    I think I spotted you at Tavern on Saturday night though. I remember, coz I told me friend, ooh ! Look ! Look ! Celebrity Blogger !! or some such 😉

  3. muthu, thanks! taika, yes. kaushal swears by it and we nearly did land up going there. but since it was saturday, we decided not to risk it :0)

    aditya: 13th floor is a nice place. the view at least, if not the food 🙂

    vignesh: it was me! you should have yelled a big hello. would have made my day 🙂 it was so packed that we left almost as soon as we entered! next time, remember to come up and say hello!

  4. looks like u have ventured out to the dark side of the moon only recently 🙂

    cosmo has been there for quite some time … first of the lounge bars and fusion food places…

    dublin…. only thing i remember is that they are the only pub serving Guiness….

    i think u shd come out with a list of places u havent been to… and people will fill pages with the recommendations here…

    there is nice cozy place called “windsor pub” near mount carmel….

  5. Hey Anita,
    There are loads of cool hangouts in Bangalore. I have a lot of favourite places. Here’s a list..
    1. Aura- it’s a lounge, bar, disco and has a nice restaurant too. They serve alchohol too. Pretty good food. The ambience is really good. It’s on Cunningham road. It’s in the same the same building as Pizza hut.
    2. Taika- amazing food. Great ambience.But i would prefer Aura over Taika
    3. Spin- great place to hangout with your firends. it’s off Residency Road. You’ll really like the place. I love it. It’s not like your just another Disco. You’ve got lots to do out here. got the dance floor, the terrace , the portico area. In all it’s a no nonsense hangout.
    4. Barista- I love the barista on Lavelle road. It’s next to coffee day. It’s inside an interiors store called Cinnamon. really nice place to hangout.
    5. The 13th Floor- It’s in Barton center, on M.G road. You have to do your bookings if you want to enter. Got a really nice view. Pretty good music. If you don’t want to try the food over there, then you have a choice. there’s a nice restaurant on the same floor. it’s one of my favourite restaurants..
    Anyway gotta go. will soon add to the list
    Regards
    Divya Rao.

  6. So the list continues…
    6. Ebony- The roof top restaurant. Spectacular view. Good food. Serve Alchohol. At Barton centre,M.G. road. On the 13th floor. So if you are in Bangalore, you must visit this place.
    7.Windsor Pub- Nice cool place to hangout with friends. If you are a sports junky.. then this is the right place to watch your fav sport, with your friends and unwind with a glass of Beer or anything else you like. Some really great steaks. But if you want to treat your taste buds then you must try their Mangalore cuisine. It’s located near the Palace Grounds.
    8.Bombay Post- On Airport road. In the same building as TGIF. Food is pretty good, it’s the interiors that will bowl you over.
    9. Banjara- It’s a nice cozy place off race course road. A nice place to go when better places are full. 🙂
    10.1920- It’s off M.G. raod Near koshy’s. Neat place. Old Architecture retained. Used to be a pub before called 180 Proof, but the owners of 180 proof shifted to Delhi. A calm place, to sitback and relax. not a badly lit place but goes with the interiors. Good food. Lovely stuff to drink.
    so to say there are many more places… will tell you about them after you have tried these.
    Hope you like them.
    Regards,
    Divya Rao.

  7. anita,

    i like Java city and Corner house..both places have a nice mix of people,and the ice cream in corner house is simply marvelous. and in the Corner house in Carlton towers, they dont tell you to hurry so one can just sit there and nurse one ice cream for hours together!!!

    have fun

  8. Geoffreys’ is nice.Hope i got the spelling right.You can get hookahs there too.

    Well haven’t been to taika too many times.I did flick a lotta free drinks the last time and i also think the entrance too clumsy with the crowd around the bouncer.I remember this time when the cops busted the place…twice…so the management is crooked with no connections.

    Spinn…mmmm…the tequila shots there are fake substitutes or diluted, coz i was on 2 legs and composed after 8 shots!!

  9. Anita…your split pictures are opposing.
    Well i could use Photoshop,and rotate the left n right pic by -60 and +30 and merge them or something.
    or maybe it’s not worth it.

  10. yeah well OPUS was great. Looks like amateur artists who’re highly talented wait for a career break here or something. Well this oriental chic rapper kicked every ass.

    Anyway Beware OPUS makes up bills. we landed a 8K thing for 4 of us, which went back once to get reduced by 700. Prices lil steep. Great ambience

  11. hey anita,
    was doing a search for stuff on the net about opus .. and stumbled upon this (oops … sorry i own the place …. and wouldve been conucting that weeks karaoke … sorry ur buddy missed the champagne… )then i got sucked in deeper and deeper … me too is a produce of mumbai … me is a child of the early 70’s .. 72 to be exact.,.. and whaddya know?? a piscean as well … anyways stay in touch … im gonna start a blog for myself as well … can i put u on the opus mail base … its a community of a lot of like minded people
    muaah
    carlton

  12. Hey,

    I like Opus too! we’re organising a theatre workshop for newbies and those interested in getting to theatre at Opus this weekend (Oct 22 and 23). The fee is Rs 800 for the workshop including workshop material and buffet lunch and evening snacks on both days.

    Please join up and ask your friends to as well!

    Contact me at 99451 90852 for details.

    Anindita

  13. Hi,
    I got here from Bombay some time back. My favouite places are Pecos [the music is my kinda music and the grub is great]. But it’s a garage really. These days we hang around Mojo. Both these around Brigades. I also love Legends of Rock in K’mangala. I mostly pub to listen to music and get high. Ambience is good but not that important. Sure like Opus – just wish they did a bit more live acts. Another great place [like Opus but much larger] is Grasshopper. It’s beyond IIM on Sarjapur Road. Heard Kookie there the other night. He’s one of the finest guitarists around.

    Hey, What’s happening this New Year? Anybody heard ofa good party? Miss Goa this time of the year…If you know of anything do write to me at satrajitc@yahoo.com

    Cheers
    Satty

  14. Hey ppl,

    does any one knw of any place in and around bangalore where one can hang out for the nite with one’s gf!..do lemme knw cause ive hrd the police have been real hard on the regular discs and they kind of clos early!

    akaash

  15. hey nice blog u got out here. im new to town and have been keenly checking out places,just thought id add me bit. was at opus last friday (3 march), they have this really unusual guest DJ [im told he’s an md of some big company and moonlights as a dj sometimes]. It was the most amazing music our group ever heard. The place rocked like crazy…never seen before, every single person at the place were on their feet. U must check it out if hes playing there again.
    cheers
    shanks.

  16. hey ppl,you gotta check out the barista near anil kumnble circle,towards the end of mg road.,the crowd there is awesome and can sip ur coffe for hours toghter.the music there is awesome too

  17. hi..im new to bglore.was in Pune for last 4 yrs.well,the most absurd thing about pubs in bglore is that they open up at prbly 8 or 9 n close by 11…whereas in Pune it usually used to get started at 11 or 11.30 n go on up to 2am or even 4 in the mornin….they wont even let u in bfore 11…n i think thts really hw it shld be lke…

  18. Hi guys!!

    Just shifted recently from delhi. Am new here n I need friends and I need to find out cool places.
    Cant sit in d hotel all d time watchin tv.

  19. If its aresturent that u r looking for, I can suggest a few,
    Try, Taste Of Rampur-Its very opposite to forum,the service and the ambience are too good and off curz the Food is damn delecious.
    Hope u like it

  20. hi anita..

    have u tried sunnys? its another awesome place.. and if u don’t mind giving preference to food over ambience then you could try hyderabad biryani near lifestyle.. the biryani is the best andhra one i’ve eaten in bangalore i guess.. and if ur looking for some place to just go and sit and relax on a sunday or saturday afternoon you could try la madeline.. lavelle road..

    by the way divya.. the barista is closed down now and so has ur 1920 (its actually 1912) and there is brand new place – HARD ROCK CAFE – with some awesome interiors.. i also say that cos we did it 🙂 (khosla associates).. i dont know if this blog is still active but i just felt like posting one..

    cheers..

  21. hey nitin as u said barista closed down then i’m afraid to say even la madeline also closed n even i feel this blog is not active nymore

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