The title of this article is something I hear very often while discussing eating out options in Bengaluru. No matter how long you’ve lived here or how frequently you eat out, the city has such an overwhelming number of eateries, that it’s not surprising for one person’s favourite to be completely unknown to another. Here are some places that have given me delightful food experiences. If you haven’t tried these yet, you must!

YAUATCHA (MG Road)
The two words that best describe this expensive Chinese restaurant are ‘freshness’ and ‘creativity’. Worth it even if you give everything else a miss and just have the dreamy dim sum (baked, especially) and the oh-so-exquisite desserts.

Standouts: Asian Greens Soup with Tofu, Vegetable Shanghai Dumpling, Baked Chicken Puff, Golden Fried Chicken Puff, Mango Mascarpone Gateau, Raspberry Delice.

MEGHANA FOODS (Multiple Locations)
Heated debates abound on which regional biryani is better than the other, but I believe each style is enjoyable in its own way. Meghana Foods popularised boneless chicken biryani; quite a sight, the fluffy pieces of yellowish chicken ruling a bowl of spicy, well-flavoured Andhra-style biryani.

Standouts: Meghana Special Chicken Biriyani.

24@43 – CROWNE PLAZA (Electronics City)
The perfect prescription for a beautiful and relaxing food day, the Sunday brunch here shines with its pleasing ambience and elaborate buffet. It is a supreme challenge to choose what to eat, because everything looks so good, and most of it tastes even better than it looks!

Standouts: Tom Kha Chicken Soup, Prawn Momos, Kheema Pav, Kothu Parotta, Ratatouille Crushed Fish, Malabari Fish Curry, Singapore Style Chicken.

LUO HAN (HSR Layout)
I thought ‘Vegetarian-Only Chinese’ was an oxymoron, but I was so wrong! The magic they create using mock meat (primarily soya) satisfies even a hardcore non-vegetarian, and satiates the curiosity of a vegetarian wanting to know what meat tastes like. I can even forgive their indifferent service for this.

Standouts: Luo Han Delight Clear Soup, Drums of Heaven, Pad Thai Noodles, Spicy Coconut Flat Noodles, Soya Fish in Kung Pao Sauce.

PINKBERRY (Indiranagar)
One wonderful day, I gave ice cream a break and let myself be seduced by their frozen yoghurt. It turned out to be an unexpected gustatory twist to my dessert experience – satisfying, yet light.

Standouts: Mango/Green Apple for base yoghurt + Grapes + Pineapple + Pomegranate toppings.

Vinesh Koka is a professional training specialist who also loves to blog, sing, and eat interesting food. He blogs at vineshks.blogspot.in