Imagine dining in a 180-year-old bungalow in Bengaluru. That’s what the original Trippy Goat in Bengaluru offers. Founders Abhijit Murlidhar, Vishal Nagpal, and Vivek Poonacha achieved this three years ago and aimed to get a similar 180-year-old colonial vibe when they planned on opening their second outlet in Mumbai.
We entered the 85-90 seater space, nestled in Kamala Mills, on a weekday night and immediately noticed the elegant arches, teak, bamboo and cane furniture made by local artisans from Auroville which give the space a homely look. The room was airy and spacious but what caught our attention was the private dining space for a party of 10 and a wine collection next to it.
The cuisine quest
What started as a coffee shop with an aim to do justice to the beverage, later geared themselves with an extravagant wine collection to their menu with classic western food options such as tacos, pork, tenderloin steak, and pizzas. Although they follow a “cuisine agnostic” approach where they feel that they “don’t fall under one cuisine per se.” However, we were keen to try their modern South Indian options—the ones they are known for. The founders realised that they had to up their game in Mumbai because “such things [western dishes] are done and dusted many times in Mumbai,” says co-founder Vishal Nagpal. “We thought of bringing something new to the market that people have not experienced,” he adds. “We noticed,” says Nagpal, “that flavours from the South [India] are not that common besides a few places such as The Bombay Canteen and Tanjore Tiffin Room and we wanted to stay clear of the basic idli-vada-dosa.” The end result turned out to be modern South Indian inspired by the non-coastal flavours of Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu but steering clear from the common Chettinad curry and some inspiration from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
As vegetarians, we were expecting very few options but we were surprised to see an almost equal number of vegetarian items on the menu. To our amusement, they even had vegan options.
The great
(from left to right) Vegan Banana Blossom Croquette and Truffle’d Mushrooms
The small plates were worth visiting again for. The Truffle’d Mushrooms (Rs 425) topped the list for us. Champagne battered shiitake, button and oyster mushrooms fried along with onion, peppers and Alba truffle-soaked olive oil. The champagne batter and Alba truffle-soaked olive oil was a game-changer. Not too spicy, but it still has a unique flavour than the usual stir-fried truffle mushrooms you usually get at most cafes. The Vegan Banana Blossom Croquette (Rs 350), paired with a jalapeno-coconut chutney was soft, and flavourful with the tangy, spicy jalapeno included in the coconut chutney and we could not stop at just one. A pleasant fusion dish that caught our attention was the Rasam Ramen with vegetables (Rs 350) where the ramen broth was actually rasam and the noodles were replaced with idiyappam. The restaurant recommends non-vegetarians try it with crab meat.
We had heard a lot about their cocktails so we tried their signature one—the Trippy Beet (Rs 625). It was a gin-based drink with goat milk washed fresh beetroot juice, ginger and lemon. Despite being sceptical after reading this, we still thought of giving it a try and were not disappointed. The creamy aftertaste with the slightly sour beetroot tasted better than we expected.
The good
(from left to right) Trippy Goat Signature Poached Pear and Coorg Single Harvest Black Rice Risotto came with stuffed Kashmiri Morsel
The menu features a good mix of “fusion” food which is not on the nose for most foodies. It’s Not A Mutton Sukka (Rs 390) was their vegan take on the traditional mutton sukka with “evolved” plant-based protein. The taste of the sukka masala was good and the faux mutton was chewy, just like all mock meat usually is but personally, we would not order it again. The veg version of the Coorg Single Harvest Black Rice Risotto came with a stuffed Kashmiri Morsel (Rs 975). What we liked about this was the soft, sort-of jiggle-y texture of the Kashmiri Morsel mushroom and its stuffing which was sweet and spicy and went well with the otherwise slightly bland black rice risotto.
We ended our meal with their signature dessert called the Trippy Goat Signature Poached Pear (Rs 550) which had mulled wine-poached pear, Bombay kulfi and cream, topped with orange slices. The dessert and the taste were unique but a little too overwhelming for our taste buds.
The Miss
The Sundal (Rs 325), a vegan dish that can be ordered as a bar bite. It consisted of peri-peri chickpea and edamame. The flavour was good but we wished it was fried and crispy instead of boiled. The Trippy Goat is also known for making in-house sourdough bread. We tried their Naati Puttanesca (Rs 375), which was a sourdough flatbread with confit naati tomato, house sun-dried tomato, capers and moringa powder. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. We have had similar dishes at other places so this can be easily skippable.
(from left to right) The Trippy Beet cocktail and Rasam Ramen
Their aim
“Something that is not spoken enough about us,” says Nagpal, “is our wine menu but that is because we have many cocktails and food and many people [in India] don’t understand wine. But we have an interesting wine list at both our locations.” He believes that they create an experience when it comes to wine drinking and hope to push the wine culture in India and give it its due importance just as it is internationally.
A meal for two including alcohol will cost you Rs 2,000 (approximately).
