It was my first visit to Go Native this weekend, thanks to Manjuu. The café restaurant is housed along with one of their co brands The Purple Turtles – one of my favourite places for lighting. The building itself is beautifully and tastefully done, with art pieces, antiques, lighting options and a lot more. It’s lovely to just go and check out the place, trust me. I could spend hours there, admiring the pretty corners, curios and how nice everything looks. But of course, that day we were there to visit Go Native, so up we climbed the stairs, and came upon the rather warm dining room where the event was taking place.

We were at Go Native for the launch of wines, and a sampling of the wine paired food. There are various wines on the menu, and we started with a glass of the Kadu Chenin Blanc. That was paired with the Banana Stem Guntur Idli, and the mixed veg misal pav. Quite liked both. We moved onto the wine cocktails and had the Sabudana Kabab – that is delicious by the way! This is not food I usually eat, but some of it I rather enjoyed. Tapash of course seemed absolutely happy munching on the healthy snacks! Among the drinks, the Spiced Pear Sangria and Herbed Melony Sangria were good. The Assorted Sliders had various different fillings in the patty, and homemade bread. Nice and sumptuous.

The wine pairings and selection were spearheaded by Gaurav Thapar, who’s designed and conducted various wine courses and pairings. We have attended various sessions by him as well, and it was quite interesting to hear his perspective on this very different kind of pairing with vegetarian contemporary food. He explained the challenges around this concept. And also how the menu is being created based on grapes and their origins, instead of looking at brands and their wines. He also emphasized that the menu would feature only Indian wines.

The event also featured artworks by very talented and self-taught artist Aarohi Singh, who has been painting and creating art for the last 30 years. There were various series of her works on display at the restaurant and store, that she first explained, and we later went and saw. She spoke about her life, journey and how her art evolved over time. In retrospect, I realize maybe we should have done a group tour of the art works.

In Summary

Go Native’s restaurants are open in HSR Layout, Jayanagar and Lavelle Road. They use local ingredients, indigenous grains, pulses and spices, seasonal fruits and vegetables ensuring clean and organic produce sourced from farms around Bangalore. Thereby promoting a mantra, the world is rapidly and decisively moving towards – Farm to Table. The food is nutritious and healthy, and also ensures sustainability and ecological balance. Their retail store features products from artisans, foundations and businesses focusing on arts, crafts and wellness. There are various other ventures of Go Native, but for the purpose of this blog post, I have limited the discussion to the café and store. Definitely worth visiting and exploring.

 

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