Perch restaurant in Bengaluru lets you indulge without guilt

The all day wine and coffe bar, Perch, in Bengaluru’s Phoenix Mall Of Asia serves a menu that comes with the right punch

Phoenix Mall Of Asia has put North Bengaluru on the map for some good and bad reasons. While localities point fingers at the mall for causing traffic jams and unnecessary vehicular honking, they are also pleased to have a mall within their residential vicinity as we north Bangaloreans need not travel all the way to south or central Bengaluru for entertainment or shopping.

The mall has dedicated the third floor exclusively for the food court and restaurants. Yet, Perch, the newly-opened all-day wine and coffee bar chooses to place itself on the ground floor, spilling out a section of seating onto the atrium, surrounded by lush greenery and trees with bar stools and wooden tables and chairs. A blessing in disguise for lazy walkers like yours faithfully and those who only plan an errand that takes you to the ground floor and refuse to explore the rest of the mall.

Right in front of the atrium is a glass wall, with a pretty carved wooden board that announces the name — Perch. Inside, the seating arrangements are a wee bit different. The wooden walls are lined on three sides of the dining area with a running blue fabric sofa and tables, while wooden tables and chairs take centrestage.

The live coffee and wine bar counter occupies the fourth wall, with a beautiful display of in-house desserts and breads below the working counter table, while the shelves proudly display a large selection of wine and coffee brews and stylish wine and cocktail and wine glasses. Hanging pots add a comforting dash of green to the ambience and the mood.

Perch serves 25 varieties of wine, both Indian and international (French, Italian and Spanish). There are reds such as Ti Amo Prosecco, Shiraz Fratelli, and Gracha Vina Temprana. Whites include Sauvignon Blanc Fratelli, Macabeo, Vina Temprana and Chardonnay. The coffee includes espresso, Americano, matcha latte, cold brew, cafe mocha, cold coffee and charcoal latte. We did not want plain coffee or just wine, so we opted for their range of cocktails.

Deepender Thapa, General Manager, Operations- Perch, says: “We started in 2015 in Khan Market (Delhi) and later in Vasanth Vihar. After that we opened in Mumbai. Perch in Bengaluru is our fifth outlet. And our range of sangria are popular. Since we are close to Manyata tech park and the Bharatiya City, we get a huge crowd of IT professionals, who use our dining area for meetings and as their working space. Hence, the sangrias as they are light and also come with a fruity flavour with a blend of our coffees and wine.”

Thapa recommends starting with a range of sangria. The first to land on our table is the coffee sangria, a blend of coffee syrup, red wine and a pulpy orange juice, which gets one slightly heady and in the right frame of mind for the bite-sized dishes from their vast menu.