For a long time, I’ve heard references by foodies to J P Nagar being “Cheapie Nagar” as there were only eateries, no “restaurants” in the area. Well, this seemed to suit most people fine, as they would drop in at a Darshini, or an IT-service eatery, to have a quick bite, and “dining out” meant dressing up and going to the centre of the town.

As traffic increased, so did the reluctance of the people of south Bangalore to brave logjams to go out for dinner…and perhaps Ankur Nagpal and his wife Shilpi saw this gap and decided to fill it.

“Aroy” (“delicious” in Thai) opened a few months ago, and when I returned after a long absence, my walk along the Mini-Forest made me realize that a bookstore and a restaurant had both opened within a stone’s throw (not that I throw stones, but….)

The decor and ambience of the restaurant was very impressive indeed. The open terrace is beautifully decorated, and looks out on the dense Eucalyptus foliage of the Mini-Forest. The decor is undertated, but very streamlined and contemporary.

So on Saturday, I decided to go to Aroy around 7pm and make a booking for later in the evening…and was told by the hostess, Jenny, that it was booked full! However, she did take my booking, and when we went there by about 8.30pm, we were told that we could not have a table on the terrace (which we wanted) so we sat inside.

Our drinks (Long Island Iced Tea, and Mojito) were outstanding, and there is no doubt that the barman knows his stuff. But contrary to what the menu card said (only 30ml of alchohol in every drink) the Long Island Iced Tea contained 75 ml. However, this wasn’t a minus, and we sipped contentedly.

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