Live Thai food counter at Crowne Plaza, Electronic City, Bengaluru

Complemented with carved fruits, fresh spices and earthen pottery, the Thai Food Festival will be spread over a scrumptious lunch buffet and an extensive a-la carte dinner menu. The choices will include a variety of authentic Thai dishes ranging from Pad Thai (claimed to be Thailand’s National Dish) all the way through soups, stir fries, curries and sweets.

Authentic Thai dish- Tao Hoo Phaad Medmamoung

Commenting on the launch of the Thai Food Festival, Shaun Langdon, General Manager – Crowne Plaza Bengaluru Electronics City and Regional General Manager for India, IHG said, “As part of our new food and beverage plans and initiatives, we would like to introduce cuisines from around the world leveraging our global reach and give our guests an opportunity to experience international cuisines. The Thai food festival is a new beginning in F&B at Crowne Plaza Bengaluru Electronics City and we look forward to taking dining, to a whole new level in Electronics City”

Chef Jumpa Promnok and Chef Darunee Loaarun, who have been instrumental in ensuring authenticity to the food festival, remarks, “We are very excited to be here and to be able to promote Thai food in India. Through our specialties Gai Phad Medmamoung and Pla sam Ros as well as ingredients such as Galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and straw mushrooms we hope to delight our guests and bring them back to the hotel again.”

Chef Jumpa Promnok and Chef Darunee Loaarun preparing for the Thai Food Fest

The newly launched Crowne Plaza Bengaluru Electronics City is located in Phase 1 of Electronics City. The 195-room upscale business hotel was recently converted from The Ottera Hotel. In addition to being Electronics City’s business solution, the hotel offers some of the finest dining and leisure options in Electronics City.

About the Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts

Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts is a dynamic hotel brand currently located in nearly 60 countries around the world. Truly international, Crowne Plaza offers premium accommodation, designed for the discerning business and leisure traveller who appreciates simplified elegance combined with the practicality of the latest features, as well as value for money. At Crowne Plaza, guests can enjoy a 24-hour business service, wireless high speed internet access in the lobby plus fitness and leisure facilities.

If you have any short stay accommodation needs / Room Requirements in South Bangalore, I would take this opportunity to introduce our Service Apartments to you.

LOCATION

Maple Suites Serviced Apartments is located off Bannerghatta Road in South Bangalore & approximately 15mins from the city center. Maple Suites is geographically an ideal option for those seeking a Service Apartment near Dairy Circle as well as for those wanting a Service Apartment near Hosur Road & Electronic city in Bangalore.
Situated in the hub of the South Bangalore business district within the 1km radius are – IBM Bangalore / IIM(Bangalore) / HSBC Bilekahalli / Wockhardt Hospital / Honeywell Bangalore. Electronic city is also in the approximate radius of 12kms.

FACILITIES

Currently we have 2 kinds of apartments at Maple Suites – Premium Suite & Deluxe Suite.

All our apartments offer: Separate living, Dining Area & Bedroom with a Comfortable King sized bed & a Fully functional kitchen.

We also have an in-house restaurant to assist you with your Lunch & Dinner requests.

Premium Suite Dining and Kitchen

• AC in all bedrooms.
• Plasma TV / Cable / WIFI / DVD player / Music System.
• Digital Security Safe / Microwave / Refrigerators

Bedroom

• 24 Hours Reception desk / 24 Hours Attendants / Daily maid service
• 24 Hours Security with CCTV surveillance in the common areas.
• Restaurant / Mini Gym / 12 Persons Conference Room
• Self Service washing machine
• Common Waiting Area (on each floor)
• Lift

TARIFFS

Daily Room Rate starts from Rs.3000 for the Deluxe Apartments, & Rs.4500 for the Premium Suites.
Above rates include Complimentary Breakfast – Indian & Continental, Daily Housekeeping, Daily Newspaper, Water, Basic Toiletries and the like.

We are committed to ensure a flexi stay for you & your guests & are ready to customize services as per your needs !

We look forward to tie up with your esteemed organizations on a long term basis in a mutually beneficial manner.
If you permit the time I would be happy to come across to take things forward.

We, at Maple Suites, look forward to hearing from you & Assuring you of our best services!

If you visited any resorts in Bangalore, you may like to send your experience review and pictures to be published on TalkBangalore.

Best time to visit Bangalore:

You can visit the city any time of the year and enjoy the pleasant climate. However, it is not advisable to to travel in the rainy season which mainly lasts between July and September. Also you would enjoy occassional showers while visiting Bangalore in the winter.

Bangalore Climate Chart

With explosion of IT industry, the bangalore city is growing into a concrete city and thereby inviting climate changes. Moderate to high temperature has been recorded in summer in recent years. The maximum temperature is summer has been 37 degree celcious while the minimum temperature dropped to 20°C. Maximum temperature in winter has been recorded as 27 degree celcious and the minimum as sub 17 degrees.

The monsoons begin in July and carry on till September. Bangalore receives rainfall from both the northeast and the southwest monsoons. August, September and October are the wettest months and hence carrying an umbrella would be a wise. Winter also experiences occasional rainfalls in Bangalore.

Overall, Bangalore city has a pleasant climate. The natural greenery and man-made parks of the city add to the attaction along with the climate.

Live Bangalore Weather Forecast:

Please refer to today’s realtime weather report of Bangalore and weather forecasts displayed on this website.

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Innovative Film City, Bangalore

We were a team of 15 people and travelled in a mini-bus. Travel was quite comfortable.

Cost of this visit to Innovative Film City: The package did cost Rs 900 per head which included Lunch and (so called) Hi-Tea (which was low by any standards). The package contained tickets for 15 attractions which we will review one by one in the following.

Route: Innovative Film City is 2 kilometers farther from Wonderla, while coming from Bangalore, on Bangalore Mysore- SH 17.

Concept: Please note that Innovative is not meant to be considered as an amusement park, its just a themed film city with some concept sets. The Film City is relatively new and many things are still under construction. It would not be fair compared with Wonderla (which is definitely an amusement park)

Parking facility: Good parking facility for two wheelers; but not for higher wheelers. Buses need to be parked on the roads. However, the management is working on a high-quality parking establishment.

Food: Outside food is not allowed in Innovative Film City ( There were 2 level of checks). But food won’t be a problem inside with lots of outlets and vatieries; Mc Donalds, Pizza Corner, Cafe Coffee Day, a food court with more than 20 options, covering all delicacies of India and most other parts of the world. So do not worry in food matters.

Necessities for the day-out:

a) Carry extra pair of synthetic clothes and polythene, if plan to go Aqua Kingdom (artificial beach).
b) Your own water bottle is a must. We only saw one water refilling tank, that too in the big food court. In rest all areas, you have to shell out Rs 30 for 1ltr water bottle. For cost-effectiveness, do carry your water bottle and re-fill it in the food court.
c) The park has poor locker facility, with few lockers only in Aqua kingdom. Luckily, we were first to come to park and were able to catch two lockers. So plan before you travel, on how you want to carry your luggage.

Attractions inside Innovative Film City:

In our package of Rs 900 we had following attractions.

a) Roller Skates: I named it first, since that was probably the best attraction of the park, I liked. It’s Rs 100, unlimited. Its actually skating on wooden floor. Good for learners. This was first skating experience for me and I fell so many hundreds of times, that I went out of count. Anyways, its good and highly recommended for people who want try something new, with fear of injuries. There are good chances of getting butt injuries.

b) Aqua Kingdom (Artificial Beach): Among all the attractions, this stand second in my ranking. Obviously, this is far from the thrill Wonderla’s Beach, but nice because of less population and good DJ music. We enjoyed it for over 2 hrs. There are changing rooms, lockers (limited), eating facility, beach volley ball facility, lots of family seating facility, and rest rooms facility. If I go for second time, may be I will straight head for this, after Rolling skaters.Price: Individual price Rs 100 I guess.

c) Velocity (Go Karting): Rs 100 for 4 rounds. This is quite on par with other Go Karting places in Bangalore. But I feel the track was small and safety is not upto the mark.

d) Roller Coaster: Hmm..my heart beat did not increase by 1 point even. It did increase by decimals; and by that time, the ride was over. So if you are expecting a thrill ride, you will surely be disappointed. Certainly worth a try for people with weak heart.

e) Mini Golf: Its good with varying levels of holes. In total, 18 holes are there.

f) Haunted Mansion: All I can say do not go by name. Not scary if you are not all alone. Moreover I have a problem, I have a strong heart, I know it.

g) Mirror Maze: It’s an attraction where you will be lost in reflections from thousands of mirrors, kept in a dark room and no one to guide how to come out (staff were there to guide, actually). Okay for an experiment.

h) Ripley’s Believe it or not Museum: Good if you have time to explore everything in it. Lot of new things to know. But if seen in details, it can eat up your whole day. All these information can be found on the internet, if searched for Ripley’s journey around the world. Recommended for Quiz lovers, and since I am not one, nor did I had time, its just OKAY for me.

i) Wild Wild West: Its a set, based on concept of a typical Mexican village; To be more specific on COW BOY Concept. There was a game, to try your hand on shooting (Beer bottles in Cow Boy style), but you can try in any Indian Melas. Good place to take few photographs, Quick Gun Murugan or Sholay Style.

j) 4D Show: It’s a 10 minutes 3D animated movie, which gives you a 4D feeling, 3D by picture and 4th by physical effect (water sprays, air and seat movements). Since I had seen much better ones than this, I did not like it. For first timers, it is definitely exciting. Grab first row seats for best experience.

k) Double Decker Carrousel: I donot know why Adults were allowed here. This is a circular horse ride, which we usually see in Kumbh melas of Hindi movies. Pure waste of Money as an adult.

l) Miniature City: PURE WASTE OF MONEY. Bad concept, so is bad realization of concept and so is bad maintainance.

m) Funplex: I felt, in fact, we all felt like being thugged. Half of machines are not working, half are erroneous and the rest(!) work for only a few minutes. No one to guide you. So my recommendation, avoid it. Children may press for it, but again its a waste of money. Well, lots of gaming machines are there, which work only when swiped with a card. Swipe card is obtained after payment and it works according to payments.

n) Madame Louis Tussaud’s Wax Museum: This was my third visit to such a wax museum and as usual I never liked it. But generally people like it and if you too will like it as a first timer. If you start posing with/photographing each celebrities’ statue, its gonna eat up your time.

Apart from the above ones, there are following few more attractions which we didn’t visit or were not part of our package:

1) Bungee Jumping: Its similar to one, that was there in Forum Mall of Koramangala for months.My suggestion avoid it; surely would be costly here.

2) Cricket Zone: Again it’s similar to the one that was there in Forum Mall of Koramangala and in many other malls. Price was Rs 60 for 4 overs. So if you are die hard friend, play it, otherwise avoid it.

3) Fossil Hunt: We did not go inside it, but here one has to dig sand and find out some bones (I am sure, it must be virtual ones). You can do much better and difficult search in any sea beach.

4) Cartoon City: No idea what’s in store.

5) Jurrassic Fossil Museum: Since we had been to two musuems earlier, we avoided this. Moreover, the subject is not of interest. So if you are interested in dinosaurs or want to give your child an insight on these extinct species, then it’s an OKOK place.

There are few more attractions, which I do not have an idea about. One can explore more, by clicking Innovative film city website:

http://www.innovativefilmcity.in/

Miscellaneous Items:

1) Lots of shopping outlets were available; like Bata, Loot Mart etc. But I am sure all must be costly, after buying 1 liter water bottle for Rs. 30.

2) Lots of mela-type games like Balloon Shooting, Bowling etc .

3) Entrance gates must be most photographed part of film city. So be sure you also capture one. Entrance is indeed off cut and inspired from Greek architecture ( I guess..I am no expert in this).

Comparisons with Wonderla:

First, it is wrong to compare the two, because both have way too different concepts. Wonderla is 100% amusement park, where as Innovative Film City is more on Film city and museum with only 1 or 2 items qualifying as a amusement ride. But still people tend to compare, because of proximity to each other and only options of entertainment parks for Bangloreans. Many get confused on which one to choose for corporate team outings. So let us compare:

a) Innovative has been designed only with Intelligence and not with Common sense, but Wonderla has been designed with both Intelligence and Common sense. And that is why I see completeness in Wonderla. In Innovatove film city, I felt very finer points, which directly affects customers, have been ignored. For example, locker facility, drinking water, maintainance, etc.

b) Aqua Kingdom of Wonderla is much better than that of Innovative, and both have similar concept; the reason being big waves generated in Wonderla.

c) Individual pricing of rides in Innovative film city is good and bad in itself. Good, it saves money for people, who really do not use everything. Bad, lot of time will be wasted in decision making whether to go for ride or not and one has to carry big cash or card everytime.

d) Unlimited rides available for all rides in Wonderla. This is a big plus over Innovative as per me.

e) Keeping tickets all the time is really painful in Innovative Film City, adding to the fact its so tiny and so need to be searched everytime.

f) Price wise and value for money, no doubt, Wonderla scores much better than Innovative.

g) Less crowd in Innovative is a plus point over Wonderla. But it can also be considered per the popularity of a place.

Final Verdict for a trip to Innovative Film City:

1) Go, if want fun with family and friends without much tiredness. It is less crowded than Wonderla.

2) Go, if it’s first time visit to a film city. It’s not bad as a starter. But if you have seen Ramoji film city, Hyderabad, you may get disappointed. I was not disappointed, since I had gone with least of expectations. That helps!

3) The place is costly, based on type of attractions and quality of maintainance. It’s not worth the price.

4) Score: 3/10. Again stressing it’s good, if visiting a film city for the first time.

Written By Omprakash

chemnitr @ Bangalore Forum