On Saturday we decided to do the touristy thing and visit Tipu also known as the Tiger of Mysore Sultan’s Palace located smack bang in the center of the city (tickets cost 5rs per Indian, $2 per foreigner.) The three really cool things about it are;
a) arched columns and intricate art work which looks like carpeted ceiling (they really don’t make them like that anymore)
b) the “man-tyger-organ” toy he fashioned to express his opinion of the British!
c) the “flying swords” he invented powered by gun-powder

When we got the munchies we went by another foodies recommendation and hit up the Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (or MTR for short) for lunch. Oh. My God. Absolutely unbelievable vegetarian food and quite an experience (with wildly decorative mirrors) and albeit fairly straight forward wall art…

You’ll find this one on Lal Bagh Road. It takes approximately 15 minutes to get a table, order one of everything like we did (and definitely two medhu vadas) They even have their own signature grape drink (which matched my phone) and delicious South Indian coffee which you cool by pouring back and forth between swanky little silver tumblers.

According to Wikipedia this serves several purposes: mixing the ingredients (including sugar) thoroughly; cooling the hot coffee down to a sipping temperature; and most importantly, aerating the mix without introducing extra water (such as with a steam wand used for frothing cappuccinos!) Who knew?!

After some serious over-eating and a semi food coma we decided to walk through Lal Bagh garden with a variety of trees, flowers, a giant lotus pond, Japanese gardens, some very lazy and content dogs (and a slightly odd enclosure dedicated to snow white and the seven dwarfs.) One serious treat for Mumbaikers who see a shriveled tree or two if they’re lucky but mostly live in major concrete jungles. I realize that sounds harsh and I’m sure I’ll get over it soon, so don’t get me wrong I still <3 Mumbai big time just wish it was greener!

P.S. Don’t you just Love this friendly sign the government has put up generously offering all its visitors free oxygen? Oh you shouldn’t have. (No really you shouldn’t have.)

We headed out again after a quick stop at the Shilton and decided to check out Fuga (Ashok Nagar.)  When we first got to Fuga, after the psychedelic red hallway it was pretty empty (apart from a Japanese guest in a tiger costume, no idea what that was about) but by about 10:30 it was PACKED beyond belief and the DJ was playing some pretty sweet house music. We spent most of the night enjoying the breeze in their outdoor section and had plans to check out Cosmo Village for Thai food but decided to head to the Leela instead. Oh and we didn’t get time to do this either but Bangalore Pebbles, Ice, Shiro, Hardrock Cafe and a new F-Bar where Shilton guests get a free welcome drink.

The Leela is the most gorgeous hotel by the way and I hear they do a deadly brunch. Interestingly there’s a generation next coffee shop for the cool kids who have no where to go when the clubs shut and a late night Barista inside the Leela arcade seems to be the hang out of choice. But we went old school to the original coffee shop “Citrus” which totally lived up to our expectations and the pizza, club sandwiches and even chicken biryani really hit the spot. Somehow 11:45pm Bangalore time felt an awful lot like 6am Mumbai… I guess as long as you end up at the Leela Kempinski you’re good to go, right Aishwarya? :)

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Posted on: Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 1:54 am Filed under: Clubbing, Cool Stuff, Desi Girl Traveler, Food, Music, Parties & Events, Random Thoughts. Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.