A grand sunday lunch at the legendary restaurant Empire Bannerghata Road.

Who would not feel at the top of the world when one gets an invite from a legendary restaurant of the city for their menu tasting event??? and so was i .. feeling overly joyed and at the top of the world when i got invited from Ruhhi Singh, the Chief Marketing Officer of EMPIRE Group of Hotels to be a part of their food tasting event in their newly opened Bannerghata road branch, One more Vow factor being it was the 49th FBAB (Food Bloggers Association of Bangalore ) meet up, My hearty thanks to FBAB for the invite, it was one gala event with loads of discussions about the legendary EMPIRE, their speciality foods and so on which i would be discussing further..

THE EMPIRE - IN CONCISE :

It gives me a lot of pride in writing about the 50 year old legendary restaurant, Bengaluru's most famous and most wanted restaurant. The successful history of Hotel Empire began with the start of a small restaurant on Central Street, Shivaji Nagar in 1966 by Mr. Abdul Rahim who had an excellent track record in the field of catering. The strong desire, enthusiasm and focus to constantly serve their patrons with quality food at a reasonable price with prompt customer service has driven them to grow into one of the leading chain of restaurants in the Garden city.  The management of EMPIRE maintains a strong rapport with their staff-members ensuring a happy workplace for their staff, we were able to see few people working there for almost 30 years and its definitely a pride to them. With all these conscientious and diligent efforts this humble place has now stepped into the successful 50th year. I extend my hearty congratulations to the management for their tireless work  and my wishes for them to achieve more and more laurels..

I would tell that their fruits of success is they stand in the TOM ( Top of Mind ) ladder. Yaehhhh,  I still remember when i was a new-comer to Bengaluru four years back, i asked few people for the city's  fame restaurants and people keep telling me - "TRY OUT EMPIRE" ,  its one of the city's famous restaurants. Feeling great to dine at this legendary place.

Value added services : 

Empire has got their app where in their patrons can order all their favourite dishes and avail all exciting offers at a touch . Please find the link to download their app : Empire's app

Wonderful Wednesday: 

Celebrating Empires 50 years of grand success and as a token of love, the empire group brings to their patrons "Wonderful Wednesday". One can purchase biriyani's , kebabs, 2 chicken shawarmas @ just 50rs. Offers valid with takeaway's and app

 They operate past midnight tooo: 

Yes, empire is always well known for their past midnight operations, they happily serve their hungry customers late nights too. A big boon to bachelors, spinsters working midnight's and also to travelers who reach the city late night.

Quick action approach:  An initiative to resolve customers complaints and queries in a minute, a real good approach.

Now Come on, lets get shifted to the mighty ambience, service and food about their newly opened branch in Bannerghata road.

 Ambience :

The ambience with Empire Bannerghata Road is sooo very new and gives a royal touch, very unique from their other outlets. I should say that Empire has made a  remarkable shift in giving a stylish ambience to suit their patrons taste. The woody and bricky interiors with high ceilings and huge chandeliers makes it a pleasant and stylish place for one to dine in.

 Once you enter the restaurant you can feel the state of art and a royal feel which can host around 250 people and 75 people in the garden area. I fell so much in love with the garden ambience, as it was airy, spacious, too stylish in the English way with Victorian lamps and huge lovely chandeliers.

 Calm yourself with the fresh air , the gorgeous meditating moonlight and some greenness around you, what else can make one happy???, A perfect place for couple's, happy family dine-out's and why not even corporate gatherings..

 

Location:  

Situated in the prime location of the city being a big boon to residents, college students, working souls in and around Bannerghata area.


Now let me take you all on a quick tour on my yummy food trail

 The Yummy Food Trail: 

 The balmy Sunday afternoon was followed by quite an elaborate and yummy food trail. Welcome drinks, shorbas, loads of kebabs, roti's, gravies, biriyanis and huge bowls of ice-creams, intersting food talks was the scenario.  Empire hotel being a non-vegetarians paradise i tried out their non-veg delicacies.

 Welcome Drink: 
We were served with Lemon-mint cooler, Kiwi Colada and Pina-colada. I choose to go with the lemon-mint cooler served in a tall glass was so crisp and refreshing.

Shorba: 
I tried out their veg shorba, hot and healthy comforting the balmy weather, there was no added corn-flour to it so the happy me.

Kebabs and Starters : 
We were served with loads of kebabs and starters which were all very exclusive and age old recipes

Grilled Chicken : The grilled chicken of Empire is very famous across the city, i loved the grilled chicken here with sharp flavours, cooked well inside, very aromatic and served with mayo.

Empire's fame Grilled chicken

Prawn Ghee Roast :  The beautiful little prawns, fresh right from the ocean,  gorgeously done with perfect spices turned out to be a show ruler, People kept asking for more. I strongly recommend Prawn Ghee Roast at Empire. Try it out people and am sure that you cant just stop with one plate.

The yummy prawn ghee roast - beautiful little prawns right from the ocean in chefs secret recipe

Chicken Kebab :  Succulent piece of chicken marinated in their secret spices and fried to perfection , was so vibrant and yummm..

juicy chicken kebabs

 Brain Pepper Fry :  Not a fan of brain, so dint try this out, but few of my convives liked it. Seems it is yet another speciality of EMPIRE.

brain pepper dry

 Chilli Chicken : Bite sized succulent pieces of chicken sauteed in Cantonese sauces, was yummm..

Chilli Kebab : Quite interestingly done, was looking more like a bonda kind.

chilli kebab

 Veg Starters : 
My veg convives were served with Baby corn manchurian, chilli paneer dry and gobi manchurian.

Paneer chilli dry, gobi manchurian, babycorn manchurian.

Roti Basket : 
We were served with Butter Kulchas, Roomali roti and the EMPIRE'S fame coin paratha. I tried all three and they were too good.

butter kulcha and roomali roti

Empire's fame coin parotta

  
Gravies and curries : 
I tried little scoops of all their non-veg gravies like Hyderabadi chicken, Chicken Korma, Mutton Varuval  and Butter chicken . My personal favourite being the Hyderabadi chicken and the Butter Chicken.

Hyderabdi chicken, butter chicken, mutton varuval, chicken korma

Also tried out the Palak Paneer, Veg Korma in Veg curries.

 
Biriyani's and Rice : 
We were served with their grilled chicken biriyani, Raan biriyani and EMPIRE'S very famous Mutton Shaadi Biriyani, I fell in love with their Shaadi Biriyani as i love biriyani made out of jeera samba rice, the robust flavour of jeera samba rice alongside the chef's magic made their shaadi biriyani a delight and it was a true feast to my taste buds.

Empire's fame Grilled Chicken Briyani

Mutton Raan Briyani

 Ghee rice and Butter Chicken : 
A rustic yet flavorful combination. I tried out their ghee rice with mutton varuval too but i so much fell in love with the butter chicken combination. lip smacking one and am drooling even now..

Ghee rice , i paired it with butter chicken, heavenly combination.

Desserts : I Scream ice-creams:
Now comes the gorgeous, eye-catching show stoppers. EMPIRE perfectly knows to bring out that hearty smile from their patrons and as an effort of that we were served with huge bowls , yes two huge bowls of different flavoured ice-creams in a bed of cut fruits topped with loads of nuts, tutti-fruitti's.  enchanting sauces.

Huge bowl of icecreams in a bed of cut fruits topped with loads of nuts and sauces.

 Omggggg that was out of the world after a hefty and hearty meal. Hospitality at its best.. We were also served with pineapple boats and watermelon boats, uniquely presented.  I can feel the warmth and love they have for their patrons.

watermelon boat

pineapple boat

 

Quality and Service : 

The management keeps quality and prompt service as their top priority and i strongly believe that this parameter is their success mantra.

Overall experience and ratings : 

My overall experience with Empire Bannerghata Road branch is a memorable one, a day to cherish forever. The yummy food trail with warm service from the management and the wait-staff was remarkable, i also noticed that apart from bloggers all the other customers were also treated with warm hospitality and happy faces were found everywhere.

Now let me do the rating stuff out of 5

Taste : 4.5/5
Ambience : 4.5/5
Ambience : 4.5/5
Service : 5/5
Quality :  4.5/5
Price : 4.5/5
Overall rating : 4.5/5

And here i wind -up this write up by once again extending my hearty thanks to RUHHI SINGH, the Chief Marketing Officer of EMPIRE GROUPS,  WELL DONE IS BETTER THAN WELL SAID is her mantra. It was yet another perfectly organized bloggers meet up from her. My hearty thanks to the management for having hosted us, A huge thanks to Food Bloggers Association of Bangalore (FBAB) for the invite. 

So friends, do visit Empire Hotel , Bannerghata road branch with your friends and family.  Yummy food and all the fun is yours.

Address : 4&5 Green Orchards Layout, 1st cross, bannerghata road, Bangalore,
landmark : the lane oppsite to Spar Hyper market.

Picture Courtesy : Rajan Sampath