Thursday, March 25, 2010

Coffee and Tweet pal

A coffee pub that wowed me... 
A place that has beautiful ambience
Funky seating arrangements- some of them quite innovative and Interesting
A name that was hard to pronounce, inspite of asking a waitress... 


Am talking about the new Coffee shop in Bangalore -Matteo Coffea

Situated in Church Street, off Brigade Road, the coffee shop has a rich brown colour, plenty of outdoor and indoor seating space.

Met @winniethepoohi outside Magazines store and we walked towards the Cafe, walked in, spotted a seat in the corner- a purple sofa and two comfy chairs.. Settled in, and began exchanging info about each other..Oh, forgot to mention,we were meeting the 1st time.. Dint even know her real name till half hour before meeting!!   

A chinko waiter came to take our order [now, why do all coffee places employ chinkos???] and only he could understand what he was saying...  Told him to give us a few minutes before coming back asking for our order!!

Started talking, and hopped skipped jumped topics and kept at it till finally the waiter came back interrupting our fun conversation.. 
Anyways, we ordered a Hot chocolate and Cold coffee something [forgot the name, it looked like a tall glass of cold coffee with cream] and a Paneer wrap...  My hot chocolate was absolutely delicous, rich and creamy. The wrap was filling and subtle spices.herbs, and very filling.. Had paneer, capsicum, onion and tomato wrapped in something like a frankie wrap or roti, served with coleslaw on the side!!

They have quite an extensive coffee menu- hot, cold and something called Shakeroos, and Iced Tea as well. Apart from this, plenty of eats to choose from- French  fries,sandwiches, bites, wraps- veg & non veg!!

[Pic: Burrp]

In an hour or so, we were ready for another round of Coffee, and this time when we asked about Coffee of the day- we grinned hearing Filter Coffee.. Ordered one grande and a tall one, with milk on the side.. It was hot, divine and totally worth it.. 

Time wore on, and there was not a moment silence between us, nor were there awkward pauses. We realised we had way too many things in common and hit it off on so many levels..!! Amazing to think i'd come across her just a  few days ago...   

We spoke in length about our blogs, writing, the various writing clubs that we were part of and good/bad things that happened out there. :-) Mind blowing discussions.... 

As our conversation flowed, we grooved to the music playing [every single track had us humming the tune and smiling ].. Went to a point, i couldnt resist, and asked the waiter about the CD, for which he brought along not the list,but the manager..:)

Alas, the clock stuck 8, and she had to go somewhere, on the other end of town, so with heavy heart, we settled the bill [thanks girl for the treat].. and saw the Manager once again.. He enquired about where we were from and promised to make us a copy of the music playing!!! Till we go again... Enjoy your cuppa!!

Ambience *****

Choice of drinks and eats -****

Service - ***** [absolutely prompt and polite]

Crowd -**** [wasn't very crowded , and the place is so spacious that it can never get crammed]

Price - **  [bit expensive, but worth it considering you are getting a comfy wonderful experience]

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Indibloggers met..

March 20th seemed to have come faster than i thought. Was in Blore when i got the news of the Univercell Chennai Indiblogger meet, decided i shall attend it, and thereon registered, bla bla... And then life went on as usual... 

And finally, the D Day came, what a morning it had been- was so crazy busy, just on a rampage to finish errands and work before 2pm.. only focus!! 


As i reached the venue- GRT Convention center, silence was all i heard outside the hall, but the minute i opened the doors, ta da... welcome to the Blogworld it seemed to scream..

Once again, had to register [discovered i was among last few..pffut..sheepish grin].. found some seats in the front [thanks to indiblogger team] and got set for the evening to take off... 

A Time to Meet and a Time to Greet
What began as 30secs of fame became 5mins for some,while others took less than 2secs... Amidst a flurry of tweets and bloggies sharing their thoughts, came to know there was so many interesting bloggers out there .. A HR , A content writer had my radar perking up, paying attention!! 

There wasnt any fixed agenda, and so post the introductions, there was a mini networking session... we were each given a chart paper to wear on our backs, walk around, collect comments, urls and info about others we meet/greet... i called this the "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" :) It was a good opportunity for us to meet other bloggers, and connect with those who intrigued us... 

I err, umm had quite a few complimenting me on my tattoo, and giving memore of the "Oh, my god, wasnt   it painful? why would you wanna do that to yourself? and the infamous -Is it Real? " Aaargghhh!! 


Thoughts run haywire
Then came the discussion on New media... which was quite interesting, except that at some point it became more of a one on one debate.. hunger pangs started hitting a few, and we could see tweets flowing free.

The minute the session ended., all we saw were hungry souls rushing towards the buffet... and Coffee/tea tables!! :)
Phones and bait
Ramesh from Univercell took the mike to brief us on their motive behind hosting the Indibloggere event and thanks to them, we got to fidgit with some cool new phones.. An interesting offer awaited gizmo junkies as well... Write reviews, and win the post of becoming Univercell's blogger!! :) 

Time wore on... and it was nearly 6.30 when like kids waiting for the school bell, we heard the announcement - OK, pls go grab your Tshirts from the Registration desk .... poof...instant vanish from the seats...Hahaha... what fun it was....

The evening was good fun .........
  • Meeting new and familiar faces -- Rumjhum, @preethikag @narayananh @Soumya Ray @itosuckysucky  @SoravJain and sooo many others............... 
  • Discovering the varied topics blogged about... 
  • Interacting with some cool bloggers
  • Spending a few mins talking about phones [with Ramesh from Univercell ]
  • Receiving a surprise greet from @shilparathnam from way behind [ and it was the 1st time i was meeting her.. he he]
  • Having my Tattoo photographed... commented on...complimented...[works as a good conversation opener as well]  ;-))
New kind fun experience, enjoyed more than i thought i would ....

Looking fwd to next meet..!!Beautifully organised... way to go Indiblogger team!!