Windsor Pub @ Vasanth Nagar

Windsor Pub
Kodava Samaja Building, 71st Main Road, 
Vasanthnagar
How much? Rs1,000 (for two)
Rating: ***1/2

A good pub is hard to come by. The ideal pub, of course, doesn’t exist. And it’s a few Bangalore landmarks that still remind us what to ask for when it comes to a relaxed evening with a pint, but not necessarily with a mate. That one can be deemed optional, because a good pub always has the kind of pub grub that makes conversations superfluous.

The Windsor Pub on Millers Road offers all that and possibly, a little bit more. Now, if you want cocktails or even the microbrewery kind of the experience this one will not work for you - there’s beer and there’s shandy, and that’s about it. But if you’re looking at an honest evening after a day of hard work, with a pint in hand, some soul food and good music that does not drown the conversation (if you’re so inclined), then look no further.

But in the vein of honest and forthright journalism, let’s start with what Windsor Pub does not have. Despite being a pub, it does not have a liquor menu so to say. All they offer is good old Peco’s style beer. Take it or leave it. It also does not have ear-piercing music, brain-shattering conversations between drunk PYTs-veering-towards-the-haggish-end, dim lights, awkward furniture, people saying “like, ya’ know” 17 times in one sentence and several such staples seen in many other drinking joints these days.

What it does have is a fairly mid-sized room that looks like somebody’s drawing room with tables set around in clusters, a shelf full of rock music cassettes, an old-fashioned bartender playing the cassette jockey, one very large yet unobtrusive (volume-wise, especially) television set over the bar, old jazz and rock posters all around, people who just want a quiet evening feeling safe and comfortable in their own corner of the local, and very affordable prices. And then, it also has the food.

No fuss, no pretensions and doing justice to the idea of pub grub, the food at Windsor Pub is meant mostly for those who do not live by strict dietary rules. The food is fresh, filling and extremely well-made. The fried squids were flavourful and crunchy instead of being deep-fried rubber rings, the pandhi fry was just the way it is meant to be, spicy and piquant without being overpowering, the fish and chips crisp, fresh and well-cooked. With Continental and Kerala-style food to choose from, this is the kind of grub that can make you quietly make up your mind to eat through the menu in a few weeks. And for Rs1,000, two people can eat and drink to disgrace.

The whole evening and that experience made me think about the opening line from George Orwell’s article (written in 1946) for the Evening Standard: My favourite public-house, the Moon Under Water, is only two minutes from a bus stop, but it is on a side-street, and drunks and rowdies never seem to find their way there, even on Saturday nights.

It’s an article where he wrote about a pub, that didn’t exist. In talking about the pub, he tried to list the qualities of a good public-house. I came home and read the whole essay. I’d recommend you do the same, and I recommend that you visit Windsor Pub too, if you haven’t already. You’d see what I am talking about.