I slept over breakfast today, so I did a couple of Google searches to find a decent Sunday brunch. I have already seen the one in Leela Palace, so after a couple of results I ended up walking to the Taj West End hotel. They serve an all-inclusive Sunday brunch with sparkling wine and a full range of foods from salads to grilled meat and dozens of desserts, which seemed exactly what I was looking for.

The place was empty when I arrived, so I got to choose a table from anywhere around the place. I ended up in an outdoor table on the terrace, just beside the bushes that surrounded the back yard:

For starters I pursued the salad table, from which I found about ten different kinds of dishes from all around the world. It made collection of them to my plate and ended with this:

The selection included German potato salad, chicken salads from Hawaii and India, large shrimps and octopus salad, just to mention a few. I was a bit hesitant with the octopus, but it turned out to be really good! The other salads were also brilliant, so ten points for them.

Next I went for the main dishes and again there was a variety of choices waiting for me. I gathered a nice set of meat, bread and vegetables to fill up the next plate:

Yes: meat balls. Apart from them, there is some chicken in a tomato-and-strawberry sauce (yum!), German and Italian bread, some lamb and those Italian pasta thingies I never remember a name for. I could not have imagined eating strawberries in a salty main dish, but the combination came out really nicely. Again, ten points.

I didn’t have the time to get up and get the next plate, when a waiter from the grill brought me a sample platter with a little bit of everything:

There you have it: chicken, pork, lamb and a some kind of a cake grilled on mild flame. To me, this was the weakest link of the brunch, but still the lamb was excellent. The chicken was not thoroughly white, so I decided to skip it just in case. I don’t want to get a food poisoning three days before my holiday, thank you.

Seems like the sparkling wine had a little effect already since the next picture is not entirely vertical:

Double chocolate mousse, some kind of a pudding thingy and a cake with white chocolate decoration, all extremely tasty and sweet. Ny personal favourite was the cake, apart from the fruit on top – I’m not sure what it’s called, but the taste was really mild. The mousse was overwhelmingly heavy and I had to give up with it before my stomach exploded. I left at least a dozen of desserts to be tried later, since I just couldn’t eat more. Luckily I got a glass of whiskey included in the brunch after a minute of haggling, so I could let the food settle down before getting back.

The whole thing cost me a little over 2700 rupees (42 euros), but was definitely worth it. There were several occassions where I just sat in the table, held a glass in my hand,  peered at the birds in the sky and felt like I was really alive. Enjoying life seems to be something I can do here more frequently than in the cold, dark winter of Finland.

If you ever happen to visit Bangalore, I definitely suggest you to try out both Leela Palace and Taj West End. Just don’t go to both on the same day as it would be total waste of your money,

Tags: food, hotels, luxuries, photos, prices