Bombay Brasserie

 

     It is amazing to see how much the Kolkata scene has changed in a matter of 2 years especially where food is concerned. Earlier when my friends who lived outside of the city asked me about the places to go and see I would draw a complete blank after giving them the mandatory tourist spots. The question – “so like where do you hang out man? Where do you chill?” drew a face marked with question marks all over it from me. Not saying there weren’t any but seriously I couldn’t point out some that who please a wide range of tastes. But now I can proudly throw the names around of a couple of them without hesitation and sounding like a complete snobbish pro 😀 The establishment of Quest Mall bought in quite a few places to us and among them is Bombay Brasserie. 

Shikanji

 

Rosy Gulabi Sherbet

Crackling Tomato Soup

 

     I was looking forward to the event as it is one of the few places that I still had to try out at Quest. I knew they would serve Indian cuisine which I presumed to be primarily North Indian and was expecting the regular dal, paneer, etc. The interiors give a very elegant vibe with these huge globe like chandeliers hanging at intervals. There is a warm inviting feel to the place that I like. As we sat down for the meal we were served some mocktails which are an in-house specialty. They were presented in the cutest glass jars. I picked the Shikanji (lemonade) which was quite refreshing and had the right amount of spice-sweet combination to it. There were some pretty interesting mocktails available out of which I tried the Rosy Gulabi Sherbet (very interesting with dried rose petals in it), Watermelon Blossom (nice) and Rosy Vanilla Sherbet (tasted like rose/roohafza milk).

An assortment of papads (poppadums)

 

Paneer Ke Tukde

 

Gunpowder Potatoes

     The soup came in next and I got Crackling Tomato soup. Ok let me just start off by saying that I’m not a tomato soup fan at all and avoid it completely. I took this up coz I wanted to taste what they were offering and again I’m not a fan. There were what I assume to be bread pieces in the soup…well I’m still not really sure about that and since there was a lot of conversation flying about I forgot to confirm it. In appetizers I got to try Paneer Ke Tukde and Gunpowder Potatoes in the vegetarian selection. The potatoes were very unique and extremely tasty. The paneer (cottage cheese) dish was actually what is usually called paneer tikka and something that I love. Served with a dollop of chutney and onions made my inner Delhi-ite very very happy.

     The vegetarian segment of the main course had Paneer Sirka Pyaz, Tarkari Maseladar, Kali Dal, Ulta Tawa Paratha, Chur Chur Paratha, Roomali Roti, Hari Pyaaz Kulcha and Parda Subz Biriyani. The dal I was looking forward to but it was a disappointment as it lacked the authentic taste that I needed from it. The other sabzis were pretty good but the show was stolen by the paranthas. There was a Saffron parantha which didn’t look like much but was ah-ma-zing! And the chur-chur parantha was pretty neat. Though the pyaaz kulcha looked promising but it was ok in taste. Honestly was stuffed to the gills by now but am never one to pass on some biryani without atleast trying it a bit. The rice dish was good but my vote goes to the paranthas hands down.

Garlic Raita

 

Jalabi with Rabri

 

Chocolate Kurkure

     In desserts we got to try out the all time favorite Jalabi which was served with some rabri and Chocolate Kurkure which were chocolate cigars aka chocolate rolled in some crunchy pastry served with some vanilla icecream. I loved the cigars and they were wiped cleaned first by everyone. The rabri was really nice and the jalabis were decent. What I really liked about the food was that though I was stuffed but it didn’t make me feel heavy or bloated. Plus though there were traditional dishes of sorts but they had a distinct unique twist and flavor to them. I will keep going back to the place for the saffron parantha and the chocolate kurkure any day. I recommend that you try this place out sometime. Do let me know what you think of it. I will see you around – take care!