Fia’s Lounge - Authentic Parsi Cuisine - Bangalore — Restaurant in Bengaluru

Fia's lounge is the newest entrant to Namma Bengaluru promising to serve authentic Parsi cuisine that is something of a rarity in Namma city. Apart from a few home kitchens, Sodabottle Openerwala, and a few restaurants that also serve Parsi food, this cuisine is hard to find. While the cuisine might have migrated along with its people from Persia, the offerings are very amalgamated into the Indian Culture that it is difficult to differentiate. Let's not get into the debate of who inspired who, you will definitely find something that will interest the typical Indian Palate. My tryst with this cuisine has been from my visits to 'My Way Little Dinette' that used to operate out of Dickenson road, sadly it is closed now.

So an excited me and a bunch of friends ended up here on a Sunday for lunch. We kickstarted in this beautifully decorated space with very impressive elements, with a drink that was just refreshing on a warm afternoon. What followed was a superbly made Parsi Tomato Soup with Soya-Keema-On-Toast that was a good start, but what I loved more was the garlic bread served alongside that was supersoft and very garlicky, giving a tough fight to any of the city's Italian bistros.

The Patrani Mach's equivalent, the Patrani Paneer was a very flavoursome one and had all the right elements of the authentic fish version that I had tasted elsewhere, which was my reference point, definitely recommended.

The Kathal Na Farcha, a deep fried vegetarian replacement to a Parsi farcha was decent, and we followed it up with a main course of Vegetarian Dhansak and a vegetarian Berry Pulao. The dhansak is a parsi dal that was quite thick and went well with the flavoured rice served alongside. For someone who is new to the cuisine, I personally found the dal to be too thick and very bland, and so was the rice. I had to resort to the fresh cubes of onion and tomato with a squeeze of lime to make the meal interesting. Later I was told that the tomato and onion cube along with the lemon squeeze is to be mixed into the dhansak, still I found it to be underwhelming. I did not have a great experience of the berry pulao during a recent trip to Mumbai at the legendary Britannia. Maybe the Berry Pulao isn't for me, I found the version here too a little underwhelming.

The desserts were a saving grace with the Parsi Sundae, that was highly recommended by my friends who had visited earlier, missing that day, I had to resort to the other two options of Lagan Nu Custard and the Ravo, a rich semolina pudding, which were excellent versions, very balanced richness that was not overpowering and a perfect end to meal that somehow was a miss between the soup and the dessert.

I did find several people from the Parsi community dining that day and loving the cuisine, that made me think, did I make a wrong choice of visiting them on a vegetarian day? Possibly, but my non-vegetarian dining partners did not seem to enjoy the meal too, so I might give Fia another go on a non-vegetarian day and make up my mind. Till then, it is for you foodies out there to explore Fia and share your views and educate me a bit too on the cuisine,...

As a vegetarian (eggetarian) I was skeptical when my son chose this restaurant for lunch outing today. it did not disappoint me and I came out fully satisfied with the place.

The ambience of the place is amazing. It intrigues you with the art works on the wall, displays, paintings etc. with required overall lighting. Furniture is clean. Its very clean and spotless including the place and cutlery. This is a good place for fine dining. Overall ambience gets score of 5.

When I opened the menu, I initially got very disappointed as the menu does not list the vegetarian dishes first, only after couple of pages, we found good spread of veg options on all menu sections. All veg food we ordered was presented well with amazing taste. Some of the Parsi veg food I ate was first time and I did not feel out of place in terms of taste while the flavor of the dishes was different because of Parsi spices which gives it a different flavor and taste, with all items we ordered with many starters, main dish and desserts. Though I was tempted to order the falooda after looking at it on adjacent table, but I was full. The drinks (Cold coffee) was average, they need to work on it to make it better, Persian Pixie was very good. Food gets a score of 5

Service is the area they need to work on. We had to call waiter for ordering food every time there was not much interaction with the captain/waiter on the food in terms of its composition and how does it compliment with the sides etc. We had We ordered food and bearer delivered food and we ate it. We had to call someone for providing regular water. We had someone from the owners to check on the food etc. which was good. For a fine dining restaurant service was not up to the level where it needs to be. Service gets a score of 4

Overall experience was good, food was good, me & my family enjoyed Parsi Cuisine it was also exploration as well. Overall Score of 5.

Looking forward to my next visit. I am already fixed on what I need to order (Veg Thali and Falooda) 😊

Thank You team Fia! for an amazing family lunch...

My family and I visited FIA's lounge yesterday for dinner. The restaurant welcomed us with its warm aesthetics and it's phenomenal team. Mr Prajwal, guided us with every course, we tried out 5 dishes and each dish had a story of its own. The one thing I found common in all of them is the warmth provided by the team, the love showcased onto the platter, how dedicated they are towards delivering experiences of a lifetime. We loved each and every moment of it. We started off with the tomato soup and lemon veg soup. It was accompanied with these lip smacking garlic breads💙. Next, we tried out their feta and spinach cigars, paneer and a mushroom starter, each of them were packed with amazing flavors that were dancing in our palettes 🫶🏻. Then, we tried out the berry pulao and dhansak. It was beautifully prepared, the flavors just explode in your mouth and it doesn't make one feel heavy as such. The gastronomical aspects of this cuisine is highly underrated, people should try out parsi cuisine, the health benefits are tremendous and it shows the love of a passionate restauranteur who aims to provide nothing but the best 🥰.

Coming to the team, Mr Prajwal assisted us with each course, explaining each dish and how well we can relate to our local foods, the family loved the recommendations 💙. We were shortly met by Mr Rustum ji and Fia ma'am. They treat every guest as their own family members, with a welcoming smile that can lighten up the atmosphere withing minutes 😄. We had amazing conversations, and their humbleness towards the food prepared, following strict sop's ensuring nothing goes to waste, it shows how they take good care of their cuisine!. I love this approach taken by them. In a world where every grain counts, they value their ingredients, and in turn the dishes speak for itself.

Overall, the experience was excellent, the family really loved the place. Thank you to the entire team once again, for making this visit a memorable...