Little Green Café - Restaurant review

A few of us decided to meet up on a Friday night at Little Green Café, situated off Church street on Museum road opposite Chutney Chang in the bustling restaurant row near Bengaluru's famous MG Road. The restaurant has a quaint artsy cafe/cottage like ambiance which serves exclusively vegetarian organic fare.

Pendant Lighting at Little Green Cafe Bengaluru Pic Credit, RupaB

Couple of things that immediately got my attention was that they used reclaimed wood to make a beautifully patterned floor. The lighting was next, the almost 60-80 LED lights hanging from the ceiling only consume the energy a regular 60w bulb uses!only 1 watt per bulb and there were at least a hundred of them hanging down from the ceiling. Finally, they use a unique air-conditioning/cooling, that works like a cooler and so their is less carbon footprint from cooling the whole place down. With large picture windows that surround the restaurant, light and cool breeze pour in all the time.

Now coming to the food, we started with non-alcoholic drinks, mine was the Lemon mint cooler with Basil seeds and another friend ordered a Watermelon Basil. Both were refreshing and cost Rs180 each, however I wish they offered natural stevia sweetener as I felt it was a bit too sugary.

Lemon Mint cooler at Little Green Cafe Bengaluru, Pic Credit: RupaB

We tried several appetizers, the Mezze Platter, little Tikkis, Bruschetta 3 ways and a Mushroom Cappuccino soup.

Mezze Platter at Little Green Cafe Bengaluru, Pic Credit: RupaB

The Mezze platter at Rs300 was the best, the Beetroot hummus a clear winner in terms of taste and texture. It was served with pita halves and crisp lavash sticks and a small helping of tatziki. The other hummus served was Chia hummus, basically a regular hummus with a sprinkling of chia seeds which did nothing to add to the flavour as barely 1/2 tsp of chia was used as a garnish. We asked for some extra lavash sticks and they kindly brought us some at no extra charge.

The Little tikkis at Rs250 had 6 mini tikkis that are made with quinoa & feta and ricotta and greens. I could neither taste nor see the said ingredients, hence I will not recommend this dish.

Bruscetta at Little Green Cafe Bengaluru,  Pic Credit: RupaB

Next up were the Bruscetta at Rs250, 6 slices of baguette bread with 3 different toppings. Sauteed mushrooms was outstanding, next was the Tomato avocado...even though these two flavours work well together, it did not have any of the creamy avocado flavour making it very average in terms of taste. Finally the traditional tomato/olive and herbs was again quite bland!

Mushroom Cappuccino at Little Green Cafe Bengaluru, Pic Credit: RupaB

The soup, while the name suggests coffee, I'm assuming it means there should be a froth/foam that is supposed to top the soup (faux molecular style). The bowl was quite large and the flavour of the soup was quite good and had a unusual sweet after taste for a savoury dish, but we did not see any foam and the waiter had no clue why it was called cappuccino!

In the mains we ordered two dishes, starting with Thai curry with red rice at Rs380. The gravy was sufficiently thick, mild Thai flavours with a few vegetables and firm tofu complete with the aromas of basil and lemongrass which was served with well cooked chewy Kerala red rice.

Pav Bhaji Fondue at Little Green Cafe Bengaluru, Pic Credit: RupaB

The second main was Pav bhaji Fondue at Rs360. Now the only thing fondue about this dish was that it was served in a fondue pot and an assortment of 2 pieces of grilled breads: mini pav, bruschetta, lavash sticks and mini pita. The flavour was quite good, reminiscent of a Bombay style gravy, but the portion was quite small in my opinion.

Desserts are placed up front by the cashier station and it changes everyday. We saw barely 6-8 pieces individually placed in little plates and placed in the cold cabinet, and it was not appetizing looking so we decided to pass on dessert.

Code of Ethics: We went on our own accord and paid for our meal.

Overall Rating
Food – 7/10
Ambiance- 8/10
Service – 8/10
Value – 7/10

Little Green Cafe

9/3, Prestige Pearl House, Museum Road, near Church Street, Bengaluru

Timings: 11am-11pm

Phone: +918861726457

https://www.facebook.com/Littlegreenbangalore/

Directions

Ful for Madame?

Meze or mezze in Eastern Mediterrean is a selection of appetizers or small dishes often served with beverages, similar to the tapas of Spain…or here in the US, Finger foods!

Beans are featured in many dishes and one of the legumes I particularly like are the Ful Medames. These small brown beans are members of the Fava family, of a specific type native to Egypt and the Levant. They are served with egg on top for breakfast, mashed into a puree with oil and lemon juice for mezze, or prepared as in this recipe, for a mezze, for a main course with meats, or for a side dish. There are restaurants in the Middle East- Egypt especially- that specialise in ful dishes!

Brown Beans with Herbs
Ingredients

1 15oz can of Ful medames beans

15-20 cherry tomatoes, halved
3-4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
3-4 garlic cloves crushed
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro or dill leaves (I prefer dill/suva)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Drain and rinse the canned beans. In a bowl add the crushed garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin powder, salt and pepper and stir in the beans and chopped fresh herb (cilantro/dill). Cool in the fridge for 2-4 hours and serve with more olive oil and lemon wedges and pita bread.

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This recipe is submitted for the event My Legume Love Affair, created by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook and hosted by Sra of When My Soup Came Alive.
For the event FIC-Brown, an event created and hosted by Sunshinemom of Toungue Ticklers.
And for Herb Mania-Dill, an event created by Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen and hosted by Latha & Lakshmi of The Yum Blog.