Polka dots – bistro & bar, Westend mall, Aundh
A couple of days back Polka dots started their much awaited Bistro at Westend mall. Located next to Shoppers Stop in the GF section, this is a huge step up from their original site. Swanky, classy, high end are words that pop into your head as you walk into Polka Dots Bistro and Bar. Do not get mislead by the term ‘bar’ – they serve only mocktails for now.
While they have retained their ‘Polka Dots legends’ like the Gescnetzetes and Paprica Chicken, their expanded menu boasts some amazing sounding dishes.
We started off with a White Orchid, a guava and lime based mocktail and a lemon iced tea. Both were beautifully made, refreshing to the core.
Lemon Iced Tea
White Orchid
For starters, we ordered the Thai pork Balls – mince pork balls served with a light fish sauce. I wish the minced pork had been a tad more moist.
Thai Pork balls
Fish and chips were excellent as always, with the tarter sauce playing the perfect accompaniment. Pihu wiped it off.
Fish n Chips
Main course included the Bratwurst with Onion relish – delightful presentation, sticky sweet onion relish, classic as always
I ordered the Buffalo Tenderloin Steak. All i say is I am still looking for a chef in Pune who has the guts /talent to cook a medium rare steak. Here again the steak turned out slightly tough and medium well. I could possibly blame the quality of the meat though. Served with and onion jam, veggies and a cheese covered baked potato, the accompaniments were excellent.
Buffalo Tenderloin Steak
We ended the meal with the absolutely phenomenal Philadelphia Blueberry Cheese cake and a rather runny Red Velvet Lava Cake.
Philadelphia Blueberry Cheese CakeRed Velvet Lava Cake
While Polka dots has a new avatar, it retains its old charm,with familiar faces to take your order. Stick to the old favorites. The new items, while beautifully plated, are a hit n miss.
Club29 is a recent entrant in the growing list of restaurants in Wakad. This is a standalone building that houses an entire sports club, a roof top Indo-Persian restaurant, 3 halls, a hotel as well as an all day restaurant called Twenty-Nine
#FriendsOfTheBTeam had been invited for a food tasting at Twenty-Nine, as they have recently started off with a new buffet menu. I did not know about the existence of this restaurant cum clubhouse located in Wakad-Kalewadi area.
Coming to the food, lucky to get invited on Christmas day, we got to try the beautiful dessert spread designed especially for the festive day.
The buffet spread was huge and varied in both veg & non veg. We started off with salads and starters.
Started off with cream of broccoli soup (tasty, even people who do not quite like the vegetable, might end up relishing this).
We were also offered a glass of Fratelli wine as part of the buffet menu
Salads had 3-4 different kinds, out of which I found the Turkish Calamari salad pretty interesting and creative. Tasted great as well.
Calamari SaladSalads
Moving on to the starters:
Veg Shammi kebab- Were okay-ish. I found then a bit too dry.
Paneer Honey chilli- This was well made. Beautiful paneer pieces tossed in yummy honey chilli sauce.
Murgh angara – Succulent pieces of Chicken in a fiery coating of Indian masalas. Loved this one.
BBQ Chicken Wings – The BBQ sauce was superb , sweet & sticky,exactly how I like it. However, the Chicken were a bit under-cooked. Wish the Chicken was cooked to perfection, and this could be a cracker dish on their menu.
Starters done and dusted. Time for the main course.
Moroccon Lamb Stew: I have a love for stews, so I digged straight into this one. The stew itself tasted really good with all the meat and the veggies. However, I felt the lamb pieces needed a little bit more cooking, I found them slightly chewy.
Steamed fish Ala Greque: A very light soupy preparation with big chunky fishes and vegetables. Very mild continental flavors.
Butter Chicken : This was good, but could have been better.
Fish Santa Fe: A different kind of fish preparation, mildly flavored, decent taste wise.
Dal Makhani: This was really good. Licked the last spoon off my plate completely!
Veg Au Gratin : This dish, even though veg, is worth a mention. I personally relished this one. It was perfectly cooked veggies in a yummy cheesy sauce topped with a beautiful layer of cheese. Delicious.
Now it was time for the desserts. Since the time we had entered, my eyes were all on those yummy looking , super inviting dessert section.
So yes, I jumped like a kid towards them at this moment.
Mango saffron cheesecake: Looked so pretty. Tasted good too. Just that the cheesecake needed to set a little more for that perfect texture.
Plum cake: This was topped with a layer of whipped cream, could have done very well without it too. Decent taste wise, but I have had better.
Yule log: Lovely looking again and pretty decent tastewise. I have to give these guys full marks on the presentation for sure.
Indian desserts: Moong dal halwa and mini gulab jamuns dipped in rabdi kind of a rich milky base. Both tasted superb!
Last but not the least, most inviting looking section was their Christmas special dessert spread. They were soooo pretty I wanted to eat everything up. Yes, the kid in me said so! 😀
A variety of cookies, with colorful decorations on them, brownies,choco balls, apple pie, cupcakes, red velvet… I know I know, the list really is long..! Mini Apple pie was wow!
More or less, pretty much liked their spread as everyone will get their fair share to choose from.
The buffet is priced at 650/- plus taxes. I think it’s decently priced.
Also, the restaurant is just a very small section of this huge club. They have a beautifully done up roof top restaurant , with live music and middle eastern theme food.
Pub/lounge with bowling alley. Fun place to spend time with friends.
Lots of sports activity areas like squash, tennis, video game zone, shooting zone (yes, with real guns) ,swimming pool, gym, private party area, hall for rent and much more. Many of these facilities are for only members to avail. Anyone who is interested can take a tour and look at the club packages.
We enjoyed the hearty meal and came out happy
Thanks Club 29 for hosting us and for the amazing service. Good luck!
I’ve been visiting Effingut Brewerkz, Baner at least twice a week since it opened. My usual order? Strawberry cider and bacon wrapped prawns. And the jerk chicken, if I’m hungry. And, the chicken khow suey, if I’m super hungry!
Khow Suey
Bacon Wrapped Prawns and SausagesStrawberry Cider
Yesterday i tried the pork ribs and man it was mind blowing!
Meat falling off the bone. Sticky sweet spicy sauce. Mashed potatoes. Veggies. And the fat…
Oh the fat
Melts in the mouth, super soft, absolutely perfectly cooked. So well cooked, that you can cut it with a spoon!
All you pork lovers out there must have this! Arguably the best pork ribs in town!
The #FriendsOfTheBTeam were invited to the launch event of R’Adda, part of The Ramee Grand’s international chain of 5 star hotels. The decor here is similar to their outlets in Dubai and Mumbai, maintaining the same standards – including the uber-cool biker theme
R’ Adda specializes in some amazing, super-innovative cocktails. Designed by their 5* chefs, their line of signature cocktails and mocktails are an absolute #MustTry.
My personal favorite? The Maska Ferni – a melon flavored white-rum based cocktail. Extremely innovative, very pretty to look at and absolutely delicious!
Maska Ferni
Another favorite – something that must be ordered in a group is the #Kadak Maal – an orange ‘balti’ filled with dark rum and coke. Simple, effective and very very potent.
The list of cocktails/mocktails goes on – Safe Sex on the beach (cranberry, orange, peach, hazelnut), Mucchadwala Mojito (white rum, pan, green apple, mint) and the Lipstick (strawberry, mint, Orange) were definite crowd favorites.
The Telephone Booth LIIT and the baby nip of whisky (a quarter of neat whisky served in a baby bottle ftw!) were truly brilliant concepts (though I did need to spike up the iced tea to suit my taste)
The beauty of this place is the amazing food to go along with the mad range of cocktails. My personal favorites? The Onion rings (a rare non-oily onion rings platter) and the Adda Wings (chicken wings with a beautiful bbq sauce, served with potato wedges). The garlic pepper mushrooms were also really good.
Onion RingsAdda Wings
Their mains selection is simple but perfectly done. The Mutton Rogan Biryani was served with delicate, tender mutton pieces, perfectly cooked, falling of the bone – so delicious, that we had to order more! The Kheema Paratha was just as good – requiring just a squeeze of lime to take the taste over the top.
Kheema ParathaMutton Rogan Biryani
To end it all, we were served a classic chocolate+walnut brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream, as well as a cheesecake. The cheesecake was a tad grainy, but the brownie was warm, gooey and oozing with yummy-ness!
R’ Adda being part of a 5* hotel will remain open till 3:30 AM, a definite plus point for those post-post-party scenes! The pricing is pretty competitive for a 5* hotel (all prices are inclusive of all taxes)
All in all, this is a great addition to the Pune nightlife scene. Definitely one that deserves multiple visits!
Double Roti is a rather popular name in Gurgaon and Chennai, known for its wide offerings of “Awesomeness between breads” – sandwiches and burgers. Last Wednesday, they unveiled their ‘new avatar’ with the launch of their bar menu at their Viman Nagar, Pune outlet.
The place itself is designed beautifully, with al-fresco as well as closed seating. Wooden tables, colorful stools and a beautiful decor make up an excellent venue
Sporting some very interesting GoT themed cocktails like Wildfire,Winter is coming Kings landing and my personal favorite, Danaerys’ Charm, the restaurant is also introducing delicious bar snacks, that will complement the cocktails and other range of spirits, wine and beer offered.
Game of Thrones inspired cocktails!
As #FriendsOfTheBTeam were invited for an exclusive tasting, here are some of my favorites:
Chicken Meat Balls – Chicken mince with paprika,worcestershire,onion powder,oregano,thyme and pepper – These had a definite kick! Perfect for the spice-loving Puneri palette!
Bruschetta: The caramelized onion and feta bruschetta was my favorite vegetarian starter. The sweetness of the caramelized onions along with the tart feta cheese had me going back for more – extremely rare for a vegetarian starter to do that to the carnivore in me!
Caramelized onion and feta BruschettaTomato and Basil Bruschetta
Mushroom bites – deep fried battered mushrooms topped with a spicy mayo – another perfect vegetarian bar snack!
Mushroom Bites
Chicken tikkas coated with masala, served on a skewer – moist, tangy and easy to eat
Their specialty ‘Awesomeness with Bread’ items were also pretty damn good. I LOVED the Mobster pizza – loaded with bacon and pepperoni, on the perfect hand rolled thin crust base – I was in heaven!
Mobster pizza – pepperoni heaven!The Sicilian – chicken and basilCheesy Bacon Fries. Those 3 magic words. Sigh.Nachos!
Their Chipotle Chicken Burger – Juicy,spicy,flavorful chicken burger served with melted cheese,lettuce and mayonnaise was absolutely gorgeous!
And to round it all off, desserts included Blondies and Brownies served with Vanilla ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce. While the flavor of coffee in the blondies was top notch, I would have liked the blondies to be gooey-er. The brownies were pretty damn good, best eaten warm!
They’re also offering a 2 plus 1 on all drinks through the day and a special combo offer for lunch.
The outlet has live music on most evenings, paired with affordable prices, making it quite a destination for a lazy brunch or a chilled out evening with friends. Doors are open 9 AM – 11 PM on weekdays and 9 AM – 1 AM on weekends
baconbaba 