Madhu’s Shiok far eastern restaurant in bangalore

All those who know me, realize very well how much food excites me. I am passionate about (eating) it, though. But there are some people like Madhu Menon, who takes really shows what being passionate about somethings in life is all about. Madhu left his IT job about an year back and opened up his own restaurant in Bangalore, specializing in far-eastern cuisine. Now those are two things I truly admire - the strength to do things in life which you really really like, and of course being involved in the food art business. (Food is an art form, right?). Just to lend him a helping hand, and to express him the very best …

If you’re in Bangalore, please visit Madhu’s new restaurant, Shiok Far-eastern Cuisine, that serves good Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporean food. The restaurant is on CMH Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore.

Speaking of far-eastern and other eastern food, yesterday’s Hindustan Times had a scathing report by Maryem Reshi on the abomination that Mark Pi is. My heart is sadistically gladdened by the report. I hate the guts of restaurants which try to skim off a booming market by using fancy restaurants in posh malls, but with such pathetic offerings. Given the influence of these food critics, I hope Mark Pi either dies out or changes for the better (they have just five non-veg and five-veg items in their menu!!!). Wok Express and Yo China! give much better value for money and a much more varied menu. No wonder, every month, the noisy Delhi LUG folks are found there in the evening after their LUG meet.

BTW, that was just a different chain of thought. I had no intention of clubbing Shiok with these fast food chains :-P . If anything, the restaurant website is extremely informative about the pains taken to provide truly authentic food. And yes, if you are a foodie, dont miss the blog of the chef himself out there!

Update ( October 16 2004): A few hours back I got a pleasant surprise when Karana Verma, the CEO of Mark Pi India, called me up about my quite strong comments in this blog. He very sportingly appreciated my feedback, and asked me for the reasons behind my strong disapproval of his restaurant chain. When I pointed out the lack of options in the menu, he informed me that as of yesterday, Mark Pi has launched a new menu with more items. He did claim that Mark Pi had 50+ items in their menu, which might probably be true for Mark Pi worldwide. He even invited me to have a meal with him sometime so that he can introduce me to some items on his menu that I might not be aware of. He ended the call on a very emphatic note saying that “I DON”T WANT MARK PI TO DIE – NEVER – will never let it also”, and that the 80+families behind Mark Pi will only make it better.

I really appreciate restaurant owners taking pains to look for feedbacks, and ways to make their restaurants better. With such an attitude I dont think any restaurant can fail, ‘coz my firm belief is that the only restaurants which fail are those who have lost touch with their clientele.

I am looking forward to visit Mark Pi again in the next couple of days to try out their new menu._