Anglo-Indian cuisine with a twist

British pub in Whitefield is an ode to Winston Churchill.

A restaurant or a bar in a mall is something that we are all getting used to. In this case, if you can brave the traffic and make it to VR Bengaluru in Whitefield, you can be sure to have a good time at The Whitefield Arms.

You’ll have to walk past a small cafe space on the upper ground floor of the mall to reach the pub. It has both indoor and outdoor seating. The indoor has regular tables, sofa booths and bar stools with exposed ceiling and brick walls – sticking to the colonial theme that they were going for. But since the weather has been quite lovely these days, my friend and I opted for the outdoor section. The picnic tables gave the pub a casual feel and thankfully, we didn’t have to listen to the metro construction work or the on-going traffic noise from outside.

Twice Cooked Pork Belly

You’ll find a lot of reference to the UK former Prime Minister Winston Churchill at this Anglo-Indian pub. Why do you ask? Well, he was supposedly a frequent visitor to Waverly Inn back in the day and it’s also rumoured that he once courted the inn-keeper's daughter.

Though the servers boasted of authentic Anglo-Indian dishes, we found that they were more of a fusion than anything else; we aren’t complaining though.

We tried the ‘Mushroom Poppers’ which was a good combination with a chilled mug of brewed beer. We didn’t agree that it was beer battered as it says on the menu though. However, the cocktail sauce was lip-smacking.

The ‘Grilled Honey Chilli Beef’ was one of our favourites. The meat was cooked to perfection. We liked that it was spicy and the hint of sweetness from the honey balanced out the flavour quite well.

The ‘Twice Cooked Pork Belly’ is a must-try. The pork was juicy and succulent and we loved the usage of hoisin sauce, curry leaves and green chillies. Honestly, we couldn’t get enough of it.

Soon after the ‘quickies’, as they have named the starters, we were quite full. The portions were generous and we had only very little of space left to try out the main course.

Chocolate Sin For Two

Nevertheless, we braved up and made room for more. Served with rice, there was something about the ‘Railway Mutton Curry’ that brought back childhood memories. The curry was spicy but thanks to the addition of well-cooked potatoes, the flavours were well-balanced. It’s been a while since we tried a mutton curry that was flavoured packed, too. Oh, there were rice crackers with it!

My friend ordered the ‘Papa Pat’s Grilled Pork Chops’ which we didn’t enjoy that much. Though it had all the right items – sweet and spicy barbecue pork chops served with boiled potatoes and walnut rush – it wasn’t intriguing enough for us to go back for more.

As always, the best was saved for the last. The ‘Chocolate Sin For Two’ was definitely heaven on a

plate. If you grew up having your grandmother’s moist chocolate cake, this is a must-have. We can’t begin to describe how soft and moist the slice of cake was. And I repeat, it was heaven on a plate.

While the beer that was served to me was good, both the cocktails that my friend had weren’t up to the mark. It was either that the alcohol level wasn’t proportionate or the added agent didn’t go with it. Either way, if you plan to go for a drink, recommend that you stick to beers.

‘The Whitefield Arms’ is located at VR Bengaluru, 60/2, ITPL Main Road. For more details, call 4512 8631.