If you have read my previous post, you will know that Chef Victor Scargle from the Napa Valley, California, is in town and is creating a special Farm to Fork event at the Ritz-Carlton Bangalore

Well today, Gargi and Chef Anupam of the Ritz, pulled off a Fork to Farm 😀 when they invited the chef and a few of us to visit an actual organic farm.

First Agro farms by the brothers Nameet and Naveen, is well known in Bangalore as a  space dedicated to growing fresh, clean and nutritious produce that is pesticide free and I had been trying to accept naveen’s invitation for over 2 years 😀 Thanks to team Ritz-Carlton, I finally made it there.

This 120 acre farm is 120 km from Bangalore and takes about 3 hours to reach.

The place can be accessed via Kanakapura Road or Mysore Road and one can choose the route based on the state of the traffic.

Leaving Bangalore sharp at 7 am from the Ritz-Carlton, we chose the former route to reach Kanakapura 50 km away at 8.30 am. A tea and pee stop was made at the reasonably clean Mandarathi Gardenia, following which we proceeded towards Malavalli and then Talakad in the Mandya district of Karnataka state, where the farm is located.

The roads were good throughout, other than the last stretch of a couple of kms of dirt track, where Nameet met us and led us to the farm which we reached at 10 am, where of course we had tea and snacks right away because we have our priorities right 😀

Nameet took us around the farm which was a veritable visual treat, with rows upon rows of daikon radish, chives, leeks, golden swiss chard, red chard, fennel, rocket lettuce, romaine, lollo rosso, lavender, Japanese mint, kale, Japanese lemons, carambola, chikoos and a seemingly endless range of colorful and flavorful organic vegetables.

Even the brilliant yellow flowers of the Rocket lettuce were sharp with the flavor of the leaf, as we nibbled on the tiny petals.

Nameet also treated us to a tasting of the various types of honey that they produce, with exotic flavors like berry, jamun, litchi and even ajwain.

We also sampled a dash of Dashi, as he brought out several flavors of the Japanese savory broth for us to taste.

Nameet’s passion shone through as he explained his ideals and plans over a hearty ‘Farm to Finger’ meal, as all cutlery was cast aside and everyone including the visiting American chef, dug into with bare hands … just as a rustic meal should be eaten !!!

We left the place at 2 pm, laden with the gorgeous vegetables from the packaging section, that Nameet generously bestowed on us.

Returning via Mysore road this time, we quite managed to beat the evening traffic and made it back to the hotel by 5 pm.

A day well spent and much knowledge gained, thanks to the Ritz-Carlton and First Agro.

Pl Note – while the farm does not really have regular facilities for an overnight stay and just has a dormitory type guest room, there are nearby homestays that Nameet recommends where one can camp and then visit the farm.

For more pictures see My Facebook-First Agro farm with Ritz-Carlton Bangalore

Nov 27th, 2017