I was invited for a blogger gathering at the invitation of Amrut Distilleries, makers of the renowned Amrut Single Malt whisky. I had heard of the brand, but never knew much about it nor had I ever tasted it. It’s not easy to find it in liquor stores and I think I have seen their whiskys more at airport duty frees. Amrut XXX rum on the other hand, that’s far more common. None the less, we were asked to come for a tasting session to be held at The Glass House on Lavelle Road.
There was a bit of space across from The Glass House to park my bikeThis was my first time at The Glass House, and first impressions: “Wow!”
I have gone to my friend Santhosh Singh’s farm before, but quite a lot has changed since our visit. First, Santhosh gave it name — Amrutha Dairy Farm. But later decided to not put up signs anywhere. Why? We’ll get to that later.
Amrutha Dairy Farm is located in Haalenahalli, Madhure Hobli, Doddaballapura.
I mean, here’s a map of its location.
Beyond that, all I can say is: good luck finding it on your first try!
The weather seemed nice for this visit
It is a bit of a challenge to find the farm, but if you follow the direction path highlighted on Google Maps, you can get there with relative ease if you use your phone as a GPS device.
We parked inside the farm. This is the farmhouse Santhosh and his brothers built.
The dairy farm was set up nearly 4 years ago. The initial plan was to setup a milk processing center, but when Santhosh realized the heavy investment that was required, he realized it would be better just starting off with just producing milk for the time being, and slowly ramp up.
Santhosh *only* has around 30 cows
Santosh is parallely working on a heifer rearing project (heifer is a young cow before she has had her first calf). This is to contain the operational costs on the business, such as drought in the area for consecutive years. So yeah, like many Indians, even these guys suffer from water and electricity problems. They also have a hydroponics system which can produce very nutritious green fodder (up to 1ton per day) and this was built completely from scratch by them after taking technical help from some guys in Europe and New Zealand.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. They have such a facility in the farm.They feed the cows a hybrid napier grass grown at the farm and maize procured from nearby farms along with prescribed nutrientsThis might look like a lot of cows but only 6 cows are ready to produce milkHelloThe farm has some extra land which Santhosh and his brothers are contemplating how to best make use of.
When word spread about Amrutha Dairy Farms, a Netherlands-based group came to India and approached Santhosh to join hands with the farm to set up a milk processing plant to produce products like khova, paneer and cheese. Continue reading “Visit to Amrutha Dairy Farm, a learning experience” »
Every year, during the holy month of Ramadan, Mosque Road in Frazer Town converts into a major hub for food lovers. Several stalls are set up selling a variety of Iftar treats by the road side, and every year, the number of stalls just keep getting bigger and bigger.
Now, you don’t have to go to Frazer Town for Iftar treats as stalls are set up outside every major mosque in Bangalore during the holy month of Ramadan. But Mosque Road being what it is attracts are a larger number of people. I have been Mosque Road with friends in previous years, but this year I wanted to capture some photos for my blog.
After meeting up with a friend, we rode down to Frazer Town, parked my bike near Savoury Restaurant and walked up to Mosque Road.
Stalls were set up away from Mosque Road tooHeads up: a lot of meat in this blog postMutton kheema and stir fried egg next to itThis was an organization handing out free copies of the Quran (in English). I asked for a copy as I have always wanted to read for myself what was myth and what is actually quoted in the Holy Book.I moved to Mosque Road where sheek kebabs were being cooked over charcoal. Beef, chicken, and of course mutton were on offer.This stall was selling Brazilian beef. When I asked the guy why he wasn’t selling Indian beef, the owner just shrugged and said this “tastes better”. Oh well, I know why. None the less, I packed some.Beef and colourful chicken kebabs beside it. Really put off by the use of food colour in meat.Idiyappams and chicken kebabs?Beef sukka. Sampled some and it tasted okay.We then crossed over to the other side where much of the big stalls on Mosque Road wereThat’s mutton being cooked on a huge slab or stone over a charcoal fire 🙂 They call it pathar gosht (pathar = stone; gosht = mutton)There were many of these food tents set up beside Mosque RoadIt was crowded!Mutton haleem. Haleem, for the uninitiated, is a thick gravy like dish made using wheat, barley, lentils and meat (plus spices).I don’t think I could have even stood here and ate something. Too stuffy and way too many people passing through.Lots of sweets on offer!There wasn’t a whole lot of sea food available and given the ‘Bangalore premium’ for seafood, whatever that was on offer was kinda expensive.There were many more stalls alongside Mosque RoadWe went in here nextChicken samosas, chicken fry, chicken kebabs, chicken this, chicken that…More beef and mutton grilled on stonePacked up some firny (sweet)And picked up some chocolate cupcakesI had some pudding next, which was yum!Even though much of the activity was on the right side, I crossed the road to check out what was on offer on the other lane on Mosque RoadMuch of the same, albeit far less glamourous that’s allThere weren’t too many different varieties of food on offer this side
After packing up some more food, I left Mosque Road. It’s obvious the annual Ramadan treats have grown into a big business opportunity for vendors over these past few years. It wasn’t this crowded when I visited 2 years ago. People of all faiths turn up to try out the food. Of course there were a few ignorant people. One guy was silly enough to ask if pork was available! 😛
Also, the prices this year weren’t low by any street food means. A plate of pathar gosht was sold for Rs. 200, and the quantity was only good enough for just one person. A stick of just three chicken-cheese balls cost Rs. 50. Don’t even ask about the sea food prices.
Still, if you have an opportunity to check out the fare on Mosque Road, do so if you have never visited the stretch during Ramzan before. And do it before Eid. Happy feasting!
