Nook — Restaurant in Bengaluru

I was recently invited to experience the ‘The Taste Of Malabar’ food festival at Nook, my first time at the restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, savouring the lovely food that was served to me.

The festival was an attempt by Chef Aniket Das (Executive Chef at Nook) to showcase the cuisine of the Mapilla community from the Malabar coastal region. Mapilla – also called Moplah – is community of Malayalam-speaking Muslims in the Malabar, with a distinct cuisine of their own.

I loved how the food festival brought Kerala to life. A little stall was set up to represent the chai kada (tea shop) of Kerala, complete with a variety of chips, bananas hanging off hooks and Malayalam newspapers. Coconut-leaf decorations adorned the ceiling. The front office staff were dressed the Kerala way too, with golden-bordered kasavus, white shirts, mundus and veshtis.

The food festival menu is in addition to the regular buffet at Nook, at no additional charge. A walk around the buffet showed me that it was quite, quite expansive, spanning a vast variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. I really mean it – the spread here is HUGE.

As we settled into our seats, little pots of Kerala delicacies were brought to us to munch on – assorted chutneys, poppadums, rose cookies, tapioca chips, sweet and savoury banana chips, and jackfruit chips. Every bit of this was thoroughly enjoyed by yours truly, especially the lip-smackingly gorgeous pumpkin, curry leaf and raw mango chutneys.

Next up, I tried out the somasi – wheat flour shells stuffed with different types of fillings and then deep-fried. I loved the two vegetarian versions, with paneer and mushroom stuffing within.

The onion samosa that I sampled alongside was also beautiful, crisp and perfectly done, the filling delicious.

I chose some salads from the regular buffet to sample, next. There are different types of chaats on offer at the counter as well. I loved the Capsicum Salad here, with a sweetish dressing, served with bits of feta. The Jackfruit Salad (yes, you read that right! Nowhere else have I come across a salad like this!) was a close second favourite. The Ripe Fig Salad was good too, as was the Soya Nuggets Chaat (the latter, again, something I have never come across before).

For main course, I tried out the Kerala Red Rice with Ulli Theeyal, a tamarind-based preparation with shallots. While I loved the earthy taste of the red rice, I felt the ulli theeyal could have done with a bit more flavour. The Cabbage Mezhukkuperatti or stir fry that I sampled alongside was very well done, too, mild and simple, yet full of deliciousness.

I also tried out the Vegetarian Pizza, Singapore Noodles and Hot-And-Sour Vegetables from the regular buffet, which I felt were just about okay. I loved the Paneer & Papad Sabzi I sampled from the buffet, too (Just how innovative that is, right?!)

The dessert counter at Nook is vast, just like the salad bar, including stuff for every kind of sweet tooth there is. Thanks to the food festival, the dessert counter had typical Kerala sweet dishes like buckwheat halwa, Calicut halwa and Vattayappam (sweet steamed rice cakes made with toddy). This was apart from the regular sweet dishes like ice cream, pannacotta, mousse and various Indian desserts.

I was able to try out very few of the desserts, of which I adored the chocolate gateau and the buckwheat halwa. The vattayappam, basboosa and mango-ginger mousse were so intriguing that I had to pick them up but, sadly, they did not hit the right taste notes with me.

Considering that Mapilla cuisine is predominantly non-vegetarian, options for vegetarians are relatively limited on the food festival menu. However, the regular buffet more than makes up for it.

The buffet is definitely value for money (Rs. 1099 + taxes per head), with or without the food festival, considering the...

It's been 5 years since I have been frequently visiting Nook at Aloft. But never ever has the experience been so disappointing. Two of us visited for lunch buffet today, the quality of the items, like Paneer, has gone down drastically. On selection bit, for soups, there was just one, as a standard, there are always two soups, one veg and one non-veg. For breads too, there was just one type, soft buns. But most surprising was the desserts counter, seemed like they had kept all the leftover cakes in a tray, and named them as 'Assorted Cakes', most of them not even fresh. Pls see the attached image and you will know what I mean. You cannot treat your customers like this, your dessert counter was simply offending! Even service was quite disappointing today. Indian breads were pretty good though, full marks for that!

Called the Asst. Manager to give the feedback. Post which the main Manager In-charge came, along with the Executive Chef Gulzar, heard our concerns, apologized and promised to take care of these going ahead. Felt very pleasant talking with the manager, kudos to him, he took my number too to inform me once they have full menu on the buffet, pls pass-on my appreciation to him. As a customer, I felt fully contended and happy, and thought will go back, rate the experience as 5 star!

Then we asked for the bill. One of the service staff said that the buffet charges for both of us have been waived off by the main manager. We dint expect that as we were already quite happy after speaking with the main manager, but it was a delight no doubt, so we asked him to call the manager to thank him. Instead, the Asst. Manager showed up, and he brought a bill, waiving off charges for one of us only, which felt awkward & embarrassing.

Now here is the point - Even if you had charged for full, that would have bee perfectly fine, as we din't expect any waiver at all. But if you were making a special gesture, but waiving off charges for one person, and charging for the other, I wonder doesn't Aloft has a heart and budget to afford the waiver for both? And that too backtracking after communicating to the customer that charges have been waved off completely? That was petty on your part, left a really bad taste in our mouth, seriously, we were pretty happy after speaking the with your main manager, this partial waiver did more...

Worst Service Experience at Noor Aloft – Absolutely Unacceptable Prime Membership Disrespected: As an EazyDiner Prime member, I expected the offers and experience I paid for. Unfortunately, this was completely disregarded at Noor Aloft.

Poor Welcome and Misinformation: Upon arrival with my group of 5, we were told by a staff member named Navaneetha and a lady (name unknown) that only buffet was available — despite clearly booking for à la carte dining.

Staff Argued Without Clarity: The staff insisted à la carte wasn't available until after 11 PM where in we were in the restaurant by 9PM and the Prime offer only applies to the buffet itseems. should we wait until 11PM for them to serve us? I had to escalate to EazyDiner support, and only after their intervention did the restaurant reluctantly agree.

Basic Hospitality Missing – No Water Offered: Shockingly, during this entire discussion, we weren't even offered drinking water despite of explicitly asking them. We sat without even the minimum courtesy extended to guests.

Food Service Was Cold and Dismissive: Once the food arrived, it was handed over without eye contact or any courtesy — no warmth, no welcome, just dropped off and walked away.

Chaotic and Unprofessional Billing: When it came to billing, there was zero communication — no clear instructions, no staff coordination,

Fussball Table – No Ball, No Response: After dining, we noticed the fussball table had no ball. Upon politely asking some X attendee there who has went to Navaneetha, who saw us waiting, he chose to ignore us, smiling casually without taking any action.

Lack of Etiquette and Respect: The attitude of the staff was dismissive, as though we were dining for free. There was no sense of customer service or accountability.

Pattern of Negligence: I noticed multiple 1-star reviews for this location on EazyDiner, and now I understand why. This isn’t a one-off — it's clearly a pattern.

Urgent Need for Action by Aloft Management: This kind of behavior is completely unacceptable for any hospitality business. Aloft needs to immediately address staff training, etiquette, and respect for...