Every time I come to Bangalore, I try to find a hotel close to MG Road for ease of getting around. This time, I am trading that ease for the joy of discovering a new place. I am told The Oterra is a net-zero property, and quite lovely.
Let us see.
Not sure if I am the only one, but multiple trips to Bangalore have not quite helped orient me to the city. So when I learn that The Oterra is located in Electronic City, I am not sure how far or close I am to say, Indira Nagar. By and by I learn that the hotel sits in the thick of Bengaluru’s tech corridor, surrounded by the campuses of Infosys, Wipro, TCS and a dozen other giants.
As expected, the drive to the hotel is long (a good two hours), but I wouldn’t say it is exhausting. Maybe it helps that I am a writer, and watching the world through a window—even a cab window—is material for my books.
We drive in, and I step off the lift into my 8th-floor suite. The first thing I always do is part the curtains, and that pretty much decides if I am going to love my room or tolerate it. Here at The Oterra, it is love at first sight: a lush slice of the city blooms into view, with a rippling blue pool down below.
I inspect the rest of the space, and know that the next two days will keep drawing me back in here, though I have a ton of excitement lined up. (The city’s first-ever Crime Writers Festival, for which I have been invited, thanks to my recently published novel, Soft Kill (Penguin Random House India). Please take a moment to check it out!)
But for now, back to The Oterra Hotel and its multiple delights, which I am to savour at leisure over the next two days.
Krema: The Lobby Lounge
My undoing, each afternoon, is Krema — the hotel’s all-day lobby café. I can still taste that seasonal mango pastry, washed down with jaggery-sweetened filter coffee. They showed me how to make it, and it seemed pretty simple. I have the filter contraption at home and did try it, but some things are best left to the experts. That coffee is divine—you should try it sometime. They have curated a stunning variety of teas: the very interesting Sulaimani Malabar Chai, among about 75 other flavours.
Alloro: Italian Done With Conviction
Alloro is The Oterra’s Italian restaurant. A mandatory addition to complete the five-star brief, I supposed. How mistaken I was! It rivals the best, and I say this without exaggeration. Everything from the wine list to the tiramisu is outstanding. The burrata is exactly right — creamy, fresh, not over-dressed. The gnocchi has that yielding softness that only comes from someone who knows what they’re doing. The pasta is coated in pure lusciousness, and the pizza crust has the kind of char and crispness that seduces you to have another slice.
East: A Pan-Asian Room That Earns Its Aesthetics
The pan-Asian restaurant, East, transports you to the faraway isles. Handcrafted ceramic pots and bamboo furniture set the tone throughout. Paintings depicting cherry blossoms and Vietnamese culture adorn the walls. The endless glass window offers an equally endless view, making the space feel wide open. The problem I have with most ‘Chinese’ restaurants is their smell—eggy, fishy, soya-saucy. Here, all the aromas belonged firmly where they should: in the dishes.
After a hearty lunch at Alloro, I had vowed to eat light. That resolution flies out of those glass windows when the food arrives. I work my way through stir-fried green beans with pickled vegetables and black bean; Buddha’s delight — a stir-fry of mixed vegetables with glass noodles and warm spices; and perfectly calibrated Thai-style garlic vegetables. Then come the dumplings, delicate and precisely spiced, and I stop trying to be moderate.
Ahara: Indian Fine Dining in the Sky
Take the lift to the 14th floor and step into a different world entirely. A small library-lounge greets you at the entrance. It is the kind of thoughtful touch that signals what follows will not be rushed. Here again, the view is the star: a sweeping panorama of the entire garden city spread out below, best appreciated as the evening light shifts and Bengaluru begins to glow and sitar strings begin to strum. Ahara holds live instrumental music in the evenings too, and I can think of few more fitting backdrops for them.
The thali — and I say this as someone who has eaten a great many thalis across India — is a thing of beauty. Insta-worthy is an overused word, but here it earns its place. It is also genuinely, seriously delicious. I find myself wishing, not for the first time in my life, that I had two stomachs.
I thought I had tasted every possible variety of paneer, but the Pashmina Paneer still manages to surprise me. It arrives as rolled cottage cheese stuffed with raisins and nuts, simmered in a rich khoya gravy. And it is as delicious as it looks! The Bhuna Saag boasts a superb creative touch: fresh mustard and spinach greens with a yummy garlicky edge, finished with a touch of cream. Kathal lovers (I am not one) will love the Kathal Ki Khurchan — sliced and fried jackfruit with mustard seeds and a tomato-onion gravy. And the Dal Ahara: slow-cooked black lentils on a sigri, finished with the smoke of charcoal, spices and ghee. It is second to none.
My non-vegetarian companion is nodding his approval of everything he tries. By the time the Angoori Rabdi arrives — milk dumplings with saffron, pistachio and cardamom — we are wishing for a switch that transports you from table to bed.
24@43: All Day, Every Kind of Hunger
The breakfast café is called 24@43. Ask the staff why when you visit. There’s a story behind it. The café itself needs no explanation: it is all-day dining at its most generous. This is where you glimpse the guest profile. A host of international faces alongside domestic ones, locked in keen business conversation over dosa, Danish pastry and chai.
The spread covers Indian and Western cuisines with equal seriousness, running from breakfast through to late evening. There is, of course, a full cocktail menu. There is an à la carte option for those who know exactly what they want, buffets for those who don’t want to choose, and an expansive Sunday brunch that I suspect deserves a visit in its own right.
The dosas alone — from a classic Mysore masala to a millet version I hadn’t encountered before — are reason enough to linger. Add the rustic tea stall, the live chaat counter, and daily rotating specials that change before you’ve had a chance to work through the previous day’s, and you have a menu that will require the good part of a week to taste.
But what strikes me beyond the sheer range is the thoughtfulness around healthy eating. Executive Chef Durbar Basu Ray tells me that the corporate crowd that fills Electronics City is increasingly particular about what goes on the plate — and 24@43 has taken that seriously, with options that don’t read as afterthoughts or concessions.
The Spa: Good, But Could Go Further
The spa is pleasant and well equipped, offering aromatherapy, Thai massages and Ayurvedic treatments, with dedicated spaces for couples and access to a sauna and hot tub. It offers the perfect interlude between all that eating: a relaxed rubdown and a refreshing facial. But what would elevate it from good to memorable is a more personalised beginning — a proper consultation to understand your skin, your state, your specific needs before the treatment begins. The bones are there; the finishing touch is a conversation.
The Verdict
The Oterra is not a cookie-cutter business hotel that happens to have a nice restaurant. It has thought carefully about food, sustainability, comfort and aesthetics — and then executed well across all four. The location in Electronics City might give pause to those, like me, who default to central Bengaluru. But few hotels in the city match this one for the combination of genuine comfort, outstanding food and a green conscience.
The traffic between here and MG Road is real. But so is everything else I have said about this place. I would return without hesitation.
The Oterra: Green Credentials
Spread over 2.5 acres of landscaped greens, the property boasts a spaciousness that most city hotels surrender in the name of real estate efficiency.
There is a pillow menu: always a signal that a hotel is paying attention to the right things. What I notice more, though, is what is absent: plastic. The Oterra has eliminated single-use plastics from guest rooms, with toiletries dispensed from wall-mounted refillable fittings.
This is where The Oterra earns a different kind of admiration. The hotel has recently been awarded the IGBC Platinum Rating. It is the highest certification under the Indian Green Building Council’s Green Existing Buildings category.
The Oterra has been recognised as the highest-rated green existing building in India for 2025–26. Platinum certification requires a rigorous overhaul across energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management, eco-friendly commuting and industry innovation, all without compromising guest comfort.
The hotel has also received the IGBC Performance Challenge Award for Green Buildings and an Excellence Award for holistic leadership in the sector. The commitment runs deeper than the citations. Renewable energy powers the entire property. LED lighting, an in-house water bottling plant, electric kitchens, electric cars, eco-friendly packaging — the list is long and visible. As General Manager Srinivas Adiga puts it, true luxury does not have to come at a cost to the planet.
Check out our video review of the Oterra on the Travel Secrets YouTube channel.
The Oterra, Bengaluru | Electronics City | theoterra.com
