The famed Lord of the Drinks - LOTD has come to Pune. How does this make me feel completely glad, sad or total rad?
Lets start from the starting ... this happening place is located at the busy Kalyani Nagar main junction - Fortaleza opposite Gold Adlabs. The place is situated such that you get beautiful view as you look down sipping on your favorite drink. Spread over two floors, the ambience is lit and I love the bar. Its so pretty with all those fancy light chandeliers that you are drawn to it automatically. The seating is comfortable with plush sofas. They also have a terrace seating with another bar which has got a nice white casual vibe.
The evening was beautiful, was it delicious as well is the question ?
Started with a Melon twist cocktail.
Let the drama unfold with Vodka, fresh watermelon, basil, coriander, passion fruit syrup and sweet and sour mix flamed with cinnamon stick. This came in a horn kinda thing with some lovely drama unfolding with pouring of fumes of cinammon. This was quite ordinary nothing to remember or order again.
Apple Foamtini
This looked too pretty to be true with loads of drama and presentation in style.
A vodka based drink with Green Apple and mint foam to be the main bases. I found this drink too minty. As I said it looked pretty as a daisy but definitely lacked any punch.
Cucumber Sour
This definitely needed some tweak it really tasted like fresh cucumber water and thats not what I expect from my cocktail or have a cocktail in the first place for. May be its just my thing.
Chicken and Bhutta Quenelle
Rs 235
An amazing soup I had in a long time, so creamy, perfect consistency, light and subtle flavours and comforting which came with steamed grilled corn and chicken Quenelle. To be eaten as you wish. I had a mouthful of everything together and it was wonderful. The balance of each element on that plate, the sweetness of corn coupled with comforting creamy soup and bite of tender well cooked flavourful chicken - yum. The presentation was so good.
Recommended.
Tandoori Chicken Nicoise Salad.
Rs 395
Its a meal in itself with a generous amount of spicy pulled tandoori chicken, eggs, potatoes, olives, jalapenos, onions, herbs to add to that wholesome taste and mango vinaigrette. I would be happy just munching on this. So filling, healthy and tasty as hell.
Recommended
Veg Five Spice Dumplings
Rs 355
Must try for the dimsum lovers.
A mixture of veg filling so beautifully balanced and steamed with a five spice mix and chilli. The dips were so neat and went amazingly the dark red was the spiciest, where as the green one had hints of mayo and was the most subtle amongst the three and creamy. Where as my heart was on the last one. A peanutty one with a corse texture and medium heat which went with the dumplings superbly. .
Recommended.
Malabari Prawns
Rs 495
Prawns in malabari masala dressing chargrilled to perfection drizzled with coconut malai sauce or dip. those crunchy flavourful curry leaves, pungent mustard seeds ka tadka on the well done sweet prawns. The flavour was crazy.
I devoured 4 of those babies and was still finding it difficult to stop myself.
Recommended.
Butter Chicken Croquettes
Rs 425
Perfect crispy croquettes but definitely missed the butter chicken filling taste.
I will give this a miss.
Chettinad Chicken Pizza
Rs 455
The chettinad chicken is love and pizza is bae so was in real anticipation to try this out. The base was lovely thin and loaded with enough cheese. The chicken flavourful with the masala the sour pickled onions tasted nice. However it didnt come out perfectly well balanced. The masala or toppings were tad less which decreased the flavour. It was difficult to eat the complete or huge onions. It would be nice if they could perhaps slice them. This has potential.
Black Dal
Rs 355
So creamy, so flavourful, mashed nicely with all the spices which were really subtle which added to the taste of the core ingredients and the slow cooking gave it such amazing taste and then there was their secret boozy ingredient as well.
Recommended.
Tadka Paneer Masala
Rs 395
This was served with a kulcha and I just took one bite cause I was waiting for my mutton. That one bite was enough to state this was better than the non veg curry. This was creamy, rich paneer flavour, soft melt in your mouth paneer and that makhani ka swad with paratha.
Recommended
Pepper Pistachio Mutton Korma
Rs 525
This was served with malabar paratha. Nothing like a korma I tasted ever. Very rich and creamy. Was'nt spicy at all, you could get a wiff of pistachio and taste it as well in every bite. The korma was very subtle and hardly any heat from the pepper. It was nice. The mutton was cooked well.
Goan Prawn curry.
Rs 595
Now here was a lovely flavoured curry with lots of coconut flavour and juicy prawns. I wish it was a little thinned. I found it too thick for a curry. Otherwise it was yum. It was served with lemon rice. Now the lemon rice on its own was nice but with the prawn curry I prefer plain boiled rice. I thought they both lost their individual taste after pairing them together. Now thats just my view.
Desserts
Red Velvet cake.
Rs 275
I truly never was nor am a fan of red velvet cake so cant say much.
Classic jar of Tiramisu
Rs 275
Firstly it wasnt set in a jar. It came like a slab or a piece of cake.
It was moist, soft, juicy and it was very good. I have had tiramisus at lots of places, i wont say it was the best but definitely was very good. If not the first comes in the second category.
Recommended.
Nutella Chocolate Panacotta
Rs 275
I dont know why its called panacotta here, it was nothing like panacotta firstly. It didnt have that texture neither the wobble nor that softness or the taste.
It was good as something like a cheese cake on its own but it was'nt panacotta.
All in all I have mixed feeling about this place. I expected the drinks to be in their league just going by their name. The drama, the presentation is all there but the punch, the core is missing. They really need to up their drink game situated bang in the middle of such noteworthy watering holes.
The food is really good and flavourful, few tweaks here and there no complaints on that front. The desserts are ok. The ambience and comfort is really good, you can sit here for hours but you need a reason to do that.
The service was not upto the mark and slacked a bit. All these may be teething problems. The place has tremendous potential and stands at a prime place. What needs to be seen is will they pull up their socks and deliver to the expectations.
Hope you find this post helpful.
Until next time, next post.
xoxo
Bhakti
Lets start from the starting ... this happening place is located at the busy Kalyani Nagar main junction - Fortaleza opposite Gold Adlabs. The place is situated such that you get beautiful view as you look down sipping on your favorite drink. Spread over two floors, the ambience is lit and I love the bar. Its so pretty with all those fancy light chandeliers that you are drawn to it automatically. The seating is comfortable with plush sofas. They also have a terrace seating with another bar which has got a nice white casual vibe.
The evening was beautiful, was it delicious as well is the question ?
Started with a Melon twist cocktail.
Melon Twist Cocktail
Rs 450
Apple Foamtini
This looked too pretty to be true with loads of drama and presentation in style.
A vodka based drink with Green Apple and mint foam to be the main bases. I found this drink too minty. As I said it looked pretty as a daisy but definitely lacked any punch.
Cucumber Sour
This definitely needed some tweak it really tasted like fresh cucumber water and thats not what I expect from my cocktail or have a cocktail in the first place for. May be its just my thing.
Chicken and Bhutta Quenelle
Rs 235
An amazing soup I had in a long time, so creamy, perfect consistency, light and subtle flavours and comforting which came with steamed grilled corn and chicken Quenelle. To be eaten as you wish. I had a mouthful of everything together and it was wonderful. The balance of each element on that plate, the sweetness of corn coupled with comforting creamy soup and bite of tender well cooked flavourful chicken - yum. The presentation was so good.
Recommended.
Tandoori Chicken Nicoise Salad.
Rs 395
Its a meal in itself with a generous amount of spicy pulled tandoori chicken, eggs, potatoes, olives, jalapenos, onions, herbs to add to that wholesome taste and mango vinaigrette. I would be happy just munching on this. So filling, healthy and tasty as hell.
Recommended
Veg Five Spice Dumplings
Rs 355
Must try for the dimsum lovers.
A mixture of veg filling so beautifully balanced and steamed with a five spice mix and chilli. The dips were so neat and went amazingly the dark red was the spiciest, where as the green one had hints of mayo and was the most subtle amongst the three and creamy. Where as my heart was on the last one. A peanutty one with a corse texture and medium heat which went with the dumplings superbly. .
Recommended.
Rs 495
Prawns in malabari masala dressing chargrilled to perfection drizzled with coconut malai sauce or dip. those crunchy flavourful curry leaves, pungent mustard seeds ka tadka on the well done sweet prawns. The flavour was crazy.
I devoured 4 of those babies and was still finding it difficult to stop myself.
Recommended.
Butter Chicken Croquettes
Rs 425
Perfect crispy croquettes but definitely missed the butter chicken filling taste.
I will give this a miss.
Chettinad Chicken Pizza
Rs 455
The chettinad chicken is love and pizza is bae so was in real anticipation to try this out. The base was lovely thin and loaded with enough cheese. The chicken flavourful with the masala the sour pickled onions tasted nice. However it didnt come out perfectly well balanced. The masala or toppings were tad less which decreased the flavour. It was difficult to eat the complete or huge onions. It would be nice if they could perhaps slice them. This has potential.
Black Dal
Rs 355
So creamy, so flavourful, mashed nicely with all the spices which were really subtle which added to the taste of the core ingredients and the slow cooking gave it such amazing taste and then there was their secret boozy ingredient as well.
Recommended.
Tadka Paneer Masala
Rs 395
This was served with a kulcha and I just took one bite cause I was waiting for my mutton. That one bite was enough to state this was better than the non veg curry. This was creamy, rich paneer flavour, soft melt in your mouth paneer and that makhani ka swad with paratha.
Recommended
Pepper Pistachio Mutton Korma
Rs 525
This was served with malabar paratha. Nothing like a korma I tasted ever. Very rich and creamy. Was'nt spicy at all, you could get a wiff of pistachio and taste it as well in every bite. The korma was very subtle and hardly any heat from the pepper. It was nice. The mutton was cooked well.
Goan Prawn curry.
Rs 595
Now here was a lovely flavoured curry with lots of coconut flavour and juicy prawns. I wish it was a little thinned. I found it too thick for a curry. Otherwise it was yum. It was served with lemon rice. Now the lemon rice on its own was nice but with the prawn curry I prefer plain boiled rice. I thought they both lost their individual taste after pairing them together. Now thats just my view.
Desserts
Red Velvet cake.
Rs 275
I truly never was nor am a fan of red velvet cake so cant say much.
Classic jar of Tiramisu
Rs 275
Firstly it wasnt set in a jar. It came like a slab or a piece of cake.
It was moist, soft, juicy and it was very good. I have had tiramisus at lots of places, i wont say it was the best but definitely was very good. If not the first comes in the second category.
Recommended.
Nutella Chocolate Panacotta
Rs 275
I dont know why its called panacotta here, it was nothing like panacotta firstly. It didnt have that texture neither the wobble nor that softness or the taste.
It was good as something like a cheese cake on its own but it was'nt panacotta.
All in all I have mixed feeling about this place. I expected the drinks to be in their league just going by their name. The drama, the presentation is all there but the punch, the core is missing. They really need to up their drink game situated bang in the middle of such noteworthy watering holes.
The food is really good and flavourful, few tweaks here and there no complaints on that front. The desserts are ok. The ambience and comfort is really good, you can sit here for hours but you need a reason to do that.
The service was not upto the mark and slacked a bit. All these may be teething problems. The place has tremendous potential and stands at a prime place. What needs to be seen is will they pull up their socks and deliver to the expectations.
Hope you find this post helpful.
Until next time, next post.
xoxo
Bhakti
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