The Druid Garden: A Delightful Multi-sensory Dining Experience

The Druid Garden: A Delightful Multi-sensory Dining Experience

If you were to look back at life, how would you summarise it? A lot of us fail to enjoy life at the moment in anticipation of the future. But for me, life is all about creating vividly beautiful memories that I can cherish every time someone asks me the same question. I enjoy exploring the magnanimity of the world and its beauty through the eyes of a traveller and my memories are often speckled with visits to new restaurants where I try to reconnoiter the flavours and aromas of food.

I am grateful that Bengaluru has been very obliging to the foodie within me. I have witnessed a lot of new cafes, lounges, and bars come up around the city. And, imagine my exhilaration at visiting these new places where I could try something extraordinary, and indulge my taste-buds in surprisingly new flavours each time. If you are a foodie like me, then check out The Druid Garden, you may just find it to be your next favourite watering hole.

The Druid Garden finds its inspiration in the lustrous magnificence of exemplary culinary delights around the globe. It resonates an impressive intermingling of sophistication, innovation, and authenticity. Designed to represent a European beer garden, the restaurant brings together design ideas from different corners of the world. And when I say corners, it is not just a figure of speech, but literally the corners of the world including inspirations from Panama, Peru, and Argentina. With a stage for live bands and multi-layered, German-style seating which includes a VIP deck; this restaurant derives its cool quotient from the retractable glass roof ~ rains won’t stop this place from serving its guests. With the elegant wooden designs adorning the restaurant and an Alfresco top floor, there is no better way to tantalise your senses with the tasteful décor setting the mood for an epicurean journey!

The Druid Garden’s impressive menu has been curated with inspiration from owner Amit Gowda’s favourites which are picked from 15 of the world’s renowned cuisines. The result is an enticing spectrum of dishes which range from desi tikkas to lip-smacking tacos. I have great respect for people who can strike the right balance, and the culinary artists at The Druid Garden exemplify the combination of modernity and classicism winning my respect in their display of superlative expertise. The restaurant proudly boasts of using organic and natural ingredients, going to great extents to avoid the use of artificial flavours or colours in the dishes. And, the bartenders craft delightful cocktails that will sweetly coerce you into rethinking the norm.

Here’s how The Druid Garden elated our taste buds:

Cold hors d’oeuvre or Appetiser

Smørrebrød {Danish Open Sandwiches} ~ on rye bread with roasted pepper and confit tomatoes

Let me introduce you to Denmark’s national dish and their most acclaimed meal, the unpretentious smørrebrød. At their simplest, smørrebrød are open-faced sandwiches artfully created on a thin layer of dense sourdough rye bread known as rugbrød, which delights visually as well as in taste. At The Druid Garden, this very tasty and moist appetiser was creatively done with an innovative topping, offering a more detailed texture contrast than an ordinary sandwich. The Smørrebrød reminded me of the goodness of freshly baked, satisfyingly chewy Danish rye bread which leaves a distinctively sour taste that tends to linger in your mouth; sublimely delicious!

Salad

Campagna Burrata ~ cheese with a fresh heirloom tomato salad and blood orange dressing

The uncanny tastiness of Burrata! For the uninitiated, burrata means buttered in Italian. Fresh burrata has a rich and creamy taste, and the Campagna Burrata at The Druid Garden had a really soft texture which smoothly gave way just the way soft butter melts when you cut it with a knife. As my knife gently cut through the dish, the soft inner curd and fresh cream oozed out, offering a sweet milky flavour that gently fills the palate. If you’re a lover of mozzarella and ricotta, the Campagna Burrata is so what you want.

Entrée

Melon Carpaccio with Crab Salad ~ with orange, fennel & arugula and ponzu dressing

The essence of Italian cooking is not in its flamboyance but rather its minimalism and simplicity. With the help of fresh ingredients and by mastering basic cooking techniques, one can enhance the true flavours of the dish. “Carpaccio” is the name used for dishes that use thinly sliced raw meat or fish to be served as appetisers. The one served at the restaurant looked appetising, came with a lavish drizzle of special sauce, and was topped off with shavings of Parmesan cheese. Terrific and especially good for low-carb aficionados.

Assorted Indian Platter:

Amritsari Paneer {rolled and stuffed with julienne vegetables} ~ This classic north Indian dish is innovatively recreated where chunks of paneer are marinated in flavourful Amritsari spices. As you bite through three delicious layers of this gourmet pakora {fritters}, your taste buds will experience hints of nutmeg and cardamom in the crunchy coating, followed by softly moist paneer, which in turn leads to an explosion from the sweet-spicy centre taking your palate on a roller coaster ride of flavours.

Palak Anjeer Kebab {stuffed with dried figs and served with mint chutney} ~ If you are yet to discover the world of kebabs, let me tell you that they are prepared using minced meat or vegetables which are wrapped in skewers and cooked or grilled. For those who lean towards vegetarian dishes, the mouth melting palak kebabs at The Druid Garden will certainly make you yearn for more.

Beetroot Shami Kebab {with Lotus seed and served with mint chutney} ~ I can’t even begin to talk about the flavour until we discuss the colour of this gorgeous dish! What I do love the most about beets is their vibrant colour. Loaded with antioxidants these kebabs are a powerhouse of energy, making for a mouth-watering and healthy side dish.

We can all agree that a delightful platter of delectable kebabs with an awesome dip makes for a great start to a meal. The smoky, char-grilled aroma and melt-in-mouth texture easily gets you hooked.

Assorted Mexican Platter:

Chicken Empanadas ~ baked with manchego and cream cheese

My husband and I both love these tasty Latin-American-style turnovers, and the juicy and flavourful baked chicken empanadas here were irresistible! The shredded chicken and cream cheese filling wrapped in a flaky pastry crust added layers of flavour to these golden brown delicacies.

Vegetarian Empanadas ~ baked with corn and leek

Healthy vegetables flavoured with a perfect blend of spices before being wrapped in a flaky crust ~ we savoured every bite.

Chipotle Vegetable Tacos ~ with peppers, corn, and a pumpkin seed gremolata

These smoky Chipotle vegetable tacos were delicious, where the veggies made for a savoury and crunchy topping; an absolute must-try.

Main Course

Grilled Lamb Chops

Lamb is my “desert island” meat. My taste buds find true reprieve in almost every aspect of lamb meat, be it roasted or grilled. And with the right mix of earthy spices to accentuate its flavour, lamb meat is in a true sense, “food for the soul” for me.

I found The Druid Garden’s recreation of the classic combination of lamb and mashed potatoes pretty fantastic, especially with the creative addition of the berry sauce. The succulent lamb chops, paired rather nicely with the roasted garlic mashed potatoes and the tangy sauce; and the creamy mash enriched with roasting juices was so good that I wanted to eat it with my fingers!

Dessert

Mixed Berry Sorbet

While I confess to a sweet tooth, especially high-fat, calorie-dense ice-cream; a refreshing bowl of cool, frosty sorbet is often more enjoyable.

A modern take on the classic, The Druid Garden’s sorbet is served on a bed of chocolate soil, fresh orange segments, and orange-scented chocolate ganache. This dessert was very light with delicate spicing which urged for a richer and darker flavour like the dark chocolate which in turn complemented the cold freshness of the sorbet. Literally the most sophisticated sorbet ever!

The Unbelievers dessert ~ black sesame cake and kaffir lime coconut sorbet with lemon curd and miso butterscotch

The super-moist nutty sesame glory in that dark but whimsical way paired with rich coconut cream and aromatic kaffir lime sorbet that had a beautifully rich mouth-feel, and was every bit as flavoursome as ice-cream… was most definitely “dessert for the soul”! Try it.

Hazelnut Torte ~ layers of dark chocolate torte, chocolate hazelnut ganache, salted caramel jelly, almond and white chocolate feuillentine with sour cherry coulis

A sweet tooth’s dream! This decadent multilayered European delicacy, with a name derived from the German word “torte” which means cake, was brilliantly layered with chocolate buttercream, mousse, and fruits. It was incredibly moist, and was possibly the best chocolate torte I’ve ever had!

Mocktails

The restaurant serves up some quirky cocktails and mocktails which are a perfect way to augment the anxious wait for the beer which is still being brewed. And, there is so much more that I want to try out here the next time I visit, like the pizzas which are made in an authentic wood-fired oven.

Moscow Berry Mule ~ Vodka muddled with a fresh berry portion and sparkling ginger beer with berry caviar

Mary’s Little Wand ~ Tomato juice and vodka, whisked with Oriental spices and topped with an ethereal cloud of celery

Skinny Pina Colada ~ Fresh tender coconut water, cold-pressed pineapple juice, and classic rum… as light and spirited as a midsummer night

To conclude: The staff are pleasant and knowledgeable. I appreciated their help on the beverage list and what foods paired best. While the food isn’t fussy, the dishes are visually appealing and decadently delicious. The cocktails are a wonderful accompaniment to the food, and The Druid Garden certainly emphasises that. Located in the ambient neighbourhood of Sahakar Nagar, The Druid Garden is an enigmatic food destination for food aficionados who enjoy sipping on their favourite drink and enjoying an epicurean meal under the stars.

Getting there:
The Druid Garden
40/1, Century Corbel Commercial, 3rd Floor,
Sahakaranagar Main Road, Sahakaranagar,
Bengaluru – 560092

Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from The Druid Garden. Due judgment and care have been applied by the author to remain objective and unbiased in the review.