Twenty Nine – All day dining

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 Salad

Salads

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!

 

 

Sirka Multicuisine, Baner

Nestled in the by-lanes of Baner-Pashan link road, Sirka multicuisine is a small cosy little restaurant, which boasts of some big flavors.

Sholey Kababs: This is probably one of the most popular items on their menu, with multiple recommendations. And for a reason. Succulent chicken, perfect marination, and a spicy coating, it serves as a great appetizer. The generous quantity of chicken is more than satisfactory

Sholay Kababs

Chicken Banjara Kababs: We wanted something non-spicy for my 2 year old Pihu, and this was the suggested by the captain. With a creamy exterior, and a hint of mint, the banjara kababs were deliciousness personified! My kid gobbled it down, leaving barely enough for me to get a taste!

Banjara Kabab

For mains, we ordered the Chicken Rara – this is the chef’s special and must not be missed. Chunks of tandoori chicken in a chicken kheema base, it is, as my friend very aptly described it, a “Chicken ka samandar”! Absolutely delicious, we lapped it up with the uber-soft laccha paratha and butter naan. Shout out to the Laccha Paratha – I am not much of a paratha fan, but the layered velvety fluffiness of the laccha parathas had me craving for more!

For dessert we had some beautiful melt-in-the-mouth warm globules a.k.a. Gulab Jamun – again, something I had to wrestle away from my kid to taste, and some oh-so-gooey-i-want-some-more Chocolate and Walnut Brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

I wanted to try out their mutton dishes, unfortunately they didn’t have any mutton in stock. Well, there’s always something for next time!

The personal attention of the owner to the food (he was in the kitchen for a majority of the service) is evident by the consistency of the dishes that were sent out. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Flanked by some strong competition like Flying Duck and Chutney Sauce Murabba, Sirka does more than enough to hold its own.

Restaurant reviews : Cafe Goodluck, Pune

This is one of those old awesome traditional food heritages that a city identifies with. Along with Vaishali, Roopali and wadeshwar, Cafe Goodluck is one of the favorite hangout spots for the students of FC College.

But don’t get me wrong here. This place is open from early morning till 1130 at night and every moment every day there is a line. You see people from all walks of life dining here.

Start off with the bun Omlet. Huge bun with tutti fruity with loads of butter makes the perfect snack or appetizer.

Moving on, the boiled chicken soup is a relatively new discovery of mine. It’s similar to a chicken shorba (stock) – mildly flavored and intensely healthy with a huge piece of chicken.

Another favorite of mine here is the mutton keema. Combined with the roomali roti, the keema is tasty yet not to spicy. The chicken biryani is also pretty great.

But the best item on the menu in my humble opinion, is the dal-gosht (dal with mutton). Simple dal infused with delicious tender bits of meat. Dal-gosht with roti or with jeera rice makes a beautiful fulfilling meal. Do not miss it.

End the meal with a mouth watering caramel custard or plain custard. The caramel custard is one of the best in town. Definitely worth a try.

Apart from the amazing food the icing on the proverbial cake is the fact that the prices are dirt cheap. Super value for money. One of the must visited place in pune

Average meal for two: 500/-

Map here