China Bistro — Restaurant in Bengaluru

n love with some authentic Chinese? If so, Bistro China surprises you with impeccable quality of food. It is one of the finest restaurants in Indiranagar to indulge in Pan Asian Cuisines. They are mainly specialized in Japanese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai and Korean as well. The first glimpse of the restaurant itself is enchanting. One will have a feeling of entering into a forbidden land when you reach at their entrance with 2 gargantuan samurai statue flanking at their doorsteps.

►Menu: The Menu mainly emphasizes on a wide variety of dishes which are drawn out from cuisines like Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian and Thai, etc. The Menu card features handpicked dishes from various cuisines and are categorized under their respective categories. They have got a separate menu card exclusively for Sushis and Beverages. The Sushi menu is again subdivided into Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Sections and features a good number of items under each section. ►My Culinary Delight:

We started off with the soup Eight Treasure chicken soup. The taste was good and soup contained a hybrid of corn and miniature number of chicken pieces.

From the starters section we chose (1) Fire roasted Mandarin Chicken - One of the best starters, we had from there. There were 5 chicken strips which were clung to a toothpick and were placed on the top of a hollow steel box. It was embellished with pieces of spring onions.

(2) Pan Fried Chilli Fish -The fish used is Basa and was embellished with coriander leaves and green chili pieces.

(3) Chicken Basil Dumpling - Chicken momos were really nice and the filings inside had an ample number of minced succulent chicken pieces in it. The presentation of the dish was amazing it looked green in color with the addition of basil leaves. It was garnished with basil seeds on top of it.

(4) Prawn Tempura Roll - It was sushi with a prawn piece mounted on the top as a holder It was served on a wooden boat-shaped tray and it contained 6-7 pieces of sushi with one piece of prawn on the top as its holder.

(5) Sanchoy Bao - The only veg starter which we ordered from the list. Bao is something unique which I haven't tried before and I liked it very much. The dumpling contained a collection of small paneer pieces as its fillings and the taste was awesome

(6) Ginger Capsicum Fried Rice - One of the main course dishes we had. The taste was good like the normal fried rice. The quantity was ample for 2 people. The rice was embellished with pieces of red, yellow and green capsicum.

(7)Mee Goreng Noodles - . The noodles were garnished with carrots, coriander leaves, and green chillis and it looked brownish in color. The taste was slightly hot.

(8) Fish in black pepper sauce - . The quantity of the dish was decent and it contained 5-6 pieces of succulent minced fish pieces along with few pieces of green capsicum.

(9) Thoi Chicken - Thoi chicken is just similar to Fish in black pepper sauce in terms of its gravy but in lieu of fish pieces, it contains a heap of miniature pieces of chicken. The taste was really good just like a similar Chinese main course dish and the quantity was ample for 2 people.

(10) Ambush bosch - Its their signature dish and they will give it as a welcome dish for everyone who visits their restaurant. It was complimentary for us. This dish is considered a welcome shot. Its an amalgamation of yogurt cream mixed with a slight amount of coriander powder, and algrain

○Beverages:

We chose few mocktails from their list of mocktails

(1) Blue Heart - It was an aerated drink which is prepared using blue curacao syrup. It looked blue in color and the taste was good

(2) Chinse Cooler -

(3) Coconut Lychee Mocker

(4) Apricot Orange Blossom

○Desserts

(1) Budha Fu - Budha Fu is their signature dish in the desserts section. I was really impressed to see the presentation of the dish. Its a mango pudding which is served along with toffee sauce and chocolate powder. The toffee is enclosed inside a sea shell and the chocolate powder is kept...

I have been to China bistro in Mumbai and I was keen on visiting the one in Bangalore. I used Zomato's Google maps to track the location but China Bistro wasn't marked on the map. Followed the location and reached the right spot. Bike parking is available. Limited parking for 4 wheelers.

Entrance has 2 huge statues welcoming you to their Bistro. The interiors are neat and clean. The open bar is at the centre and the kitchen at the very end with a glass wall. You can watch them cook.

The staff is friendly and ready to assist. Some find it difficult to pronounce the names correctly but that's ok.

As complementary, they serve two shots of molecular white balls in soup spoons. It didn't go well with my pallette. Try at your own risk. It's not bad it's just different.

They also serve complementary salad which I didn't like too.

Recommended: 👍 Not worth:👎 Good portion:👌

Mocktails:

Sangria Ice tea: This tea has a strong flavour of Apple and miniature Apple cuts were added to it. It was a refreshing drink though I didn't find it to be an ice tea. 👍

Mango Basil Melody: Another refreshing drink. You can however request them to add less of ice to enjoy it. 👍

I ordered the last drink on recommendation but I can't recall the name. It was sweet and pink in color.

You can try their mocktails, it is actually good.

Starters:

Chicken BBQ pockets and Open Bao: The Bao pockets were good but at the very end bite you are left with no filling. For open Bao, they use the same pocket which makes the Bao bun slightly thicker. Bao buns were soft and rightly made. I have eaten the better version of Bao buns.

Crispy spicy avocado sushi: I liked their sushi. They made it the right way and it wasn't falling apart. The dip was overpowering though. 👍

Tempura prawn sushi: If you are sushi lover, you should definitely try the ones available here. Same comment about the dip.👍

Pak Choi and vegetable dumplings: All the vegetarians who love green leafy veggies do try this dumpling. I being a non vegetarian loved it. But it's a little pricey for the portion. It takes an effort to make this perfectly.

Dynamite Prawns: Prawns are served in a cocktail glass. The portion size of the prawns is well deserved for their pricing. The prawns tasted fresh but sauce wasn't great. The word 'Dynamite' makes it sound spicy but it didn't live upto it's expectation.

South Asian Chilli Cottage cheese (Paneer): The cottage cheese was soft and the sauce was complementing the cottage cheese. 👍

Chicken with thousand chilli and Sichuan pepper: Not as spicy as it sounds. They just add a several pieces of dried red chilli with a hint of honey. I felt the taste of it, I maybe wrong. 👍

Fire roasted Mandarin Chicken: Best to be eaten hot. The chicken is crunchy and becomes chewy if not eaten hot. The portion size is good and can be shared by 5. They serve the chicken in 5 mini skewers. 👌

I was too full or bloated after eating these many dishes so I skipped my dinner and dessert.

Overall Experience Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Portion size: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Value for money: ⭐⭐⭐ Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ambience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Presentation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's a casual dining restaurant so the pricing would be such however order dishes that suit your pallette and avoid ordering too many chicken dishes...it makes you full.

China Bistro has a buffet option, I guess you can try that to get a feel of the food. The pricing is decent.

They also have 1+1 and...

We went for a family dinner (3 people - I, Wife and my sister in law). The location is easily accessible and the fiberglass replicas of terra cotta soldiers make it very recognizable. While the restaurant was quite big, I was unimpressed by the interiors and ambience - things seemed weirdly out of place, a center section dedicated for drinks and sushi preparation which was surrounded by awkward seating arrangements. The overall lighting and ambience was poor. It just felt off... Considering the name, I was a but surprised that the menu was Pan Asian instead of just focussing on Chinese cuisine, but it was fine - more options for us. The food did not disappoint one bit. We were treated to a free fancy starter which was high on theatrics and tasted great as well. We went on to order Salmon Sashimi and Singapore Chilli Prawn. Sashimi was prepared well, though I would have liked a thinner cut. On to the main course and we ordered a Green Thai Curry and Hunan Chicken with Shittake mushroom both served with rice. Both were also extremely well made with generous portion size. No regrets till now. After finishing, we moved to desserts and ordered Buddha Fu and Chocolate Rolls with ice cream. The former item turned out to be a great choice with an excellent mango pudding as base, vanilla ice cream on top surrounded by choco chip and cocoa powder. It also had an element of theatricality involved which was novel with desserts. The staff was wonderful and receptive to our needs. Everyone was constantly on their toes to make us comfortable and even accommodated couple of move requests by us because we were looking for seating with sofa so that our infant can be a bit more comfortable. Overall one of the most rounded dinners we have had in a long time. But one might ask why a 3 star rating? That's because when we were presented with the final bill, we realized the actual cost of the meal. Even though we were three people, we ordered more like two people since my wife and sister in law are not heavy eaters - 2 non alcoholic drinks, 2 starters, 2 mains and 2 desserts. For a similar meal elsewhere in Indiranagar, we have paid around Rs 2,000 many times. Our final bill at China Bistro stood at Rs 4,000. The Singapore Chilly Prawn itself was Rs 600, but what stung the most was decoupling of rice from the mains (Thai curry and Hunan chicken) which added more than Rs 600 to the bill - meaning we were billed for rice separately. So effectively, I paid Rs 800 + Tax + Service Charge for a bowl of Thai curry with rice . This underhanded move left a severely bitter after taste. We quietly paid our bill and left. All the way back to home, we discussed how we got ripped off. Let me reiterate - Nothing against the staff here but directed more towards the owners who decided to implement this Smart-Assery... I would not want to visit even for office dinners and lunches (which I mostly organize for my unit) where the tab is picked by someone else - it would feel stealing from my company. Just for perspective, I paid Rs 4400 for a fabulous dinner buffet at JW Marriott for my...