Bangalore food review: I & Monkey

There’s a monkey in all of us and while our old schoolteachers might not let us express that, it’s a characteristic we often come face to face with. It’s not that I & Monkey, one of the most talked about restaurants in the city, will put up with a drunken brawl on their premises, but it does sort of let you discard your corporate face, social face and whatever other faces that you might have and encourages you to be you true self — therefore, it’s already one of my favourite places in the city.

White distressed walls — very Greek — smart lighting that allows you to eat in privacy and yet you can see what’s on your plate and a warm setting (sometimes quite literally) is what I & Monkey appears at first glance. However, don’t be fooled by its size; little nooks and corners that are tucked away behind the pillars work as a fabulous camouflage as far as the space is concerned.

Now, for those who have pledged allegiance to Windsor Pub on Millers Road, I & Monkey has the same owners; the only good thing here is that they have a full bar so you don’t have to depend only on the beer. The food is similar to Windsor but with more additions.

On a rather warm evening, drinking absolutely chilled Corono with a dear friend and chewing through Shikari Style Vedi Erachi (beef strips, fried twice with shallots and spice), the whole I-can-do-this-forever feeling swept past. And even though those delish beef strips were spicy as hell, nothing would dissuade those strong emotions. You’re going to feel it too!

Along with the vedi erachi, the stuffed mushrooms that came to the table were nice enough but perhaps not as divine as I’d have liked. In fact, that’s one of the setbacks of I & Monkey — there vegetarian menu isn’t very impressive. Incidentally, they’re working on it so right now you’ve got to make do with some very typical fare.

The other starter — very predictable though — that I quite enjoyed was the Sindhbad’s Fishy Fingers. Nothing extraordinary about it but fish fingers with beer or cocktails are always a happy treat. This specific one was a tad too greasy for me but tasted good nevertheless.

That’s the thing, you can’t be on a diet here — everything is more than what you’d expect.

For instance, the Kenny Boys Kangee, which is barley soup with diced vegetables, comes with two puris topped with cheese on it. And that one soup is a meal! There’s a non-vegetarian version too, where they add bits of chicken, but it sort of does nothing to the dish except to make you feel happy that you ‘ate’ chicken.
However, that soup tastes like the backwaters of Kerala — the bits of stewed barley, the fragrance of the stock; it was as wholesome as it can get.

For main course, I stuck to seafood, trying the Malabar Crab Curry the first time and the Prawn Curry the second time. The only hiccup is that in this weather, too rich a meal can play havoc with your system.

The curry was perfect — bright red, spiced correctly with a lot of crab, but they were too tough for my palate. I also think the crabs were on some sort of a diet because we didn’t find much meat in there.

As for the prawn curry, it was as smooth as Malabar curries go — the coarseness of the chilly and coconut, the fiery colour and gentle flavour — it’s spicy but won’t burn you — is good enough for me on any night. Now it’s not exactly how you’ll eat this curry if you were actually in the Malabar region; it’s definitely a little toned down, refined if we may, to make it palatable for Bangaloreans in general.

If you go on a Sunday, you’ll have the privilege of trying some of their Sunday specials — such as appams and stew. But you can also indulge in the Meen Vevichadu and Kappa — Syrian Christian fish curry cooked with smoked cocum and served with boiled tapioca — goes well with the whisky!

There are a few desserts — ice cream etc, the Goan almond cake served with whipped cream (not the ones from the can) etc. No frills on that section, which is something that wins your heart right away. The service is friendly, sometimes a bit too friendly, but you don’t mind that because you see, here you are just you, not some CEO, manager or a top executive; just a fun person out with friends!

I & MOnkey
968, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar
Call 40923656
Price: Rs1,500 (Meal for two)
Cards accepted. parking available
Rating: ***1/2