BENNIGAN’S GRILL & TAVERN . Review on Best Eating Joints in India

FOOD REVIEW-

BENNIGAN’S GRILL & TAVERN

· By Rupali Dean

Bennigan’s –Grill and tavern, an international chain of restaurants has made its foray in India. The first outlet offering Irish –American food is located at the PVR-Saket complex. This 180-cover restaurant has a liberal usage of deep brown wood inlay and dark green leather for the furniture while the walls is adorned with Hollywood posters, assorted antiques and flags of Ireland and America.

The Beverage menu has a lot of interesting concoctions including wines and spirits. As for me I chose to go for a “Banana Berry Dream Shake”(Rs 150), which was yum…. Packed with real strawberries and bananas, blended to ice-creamy perfection and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Iam sure the “Cookie Blast”(Rs 150), which has a whole lot of Oreo cookies in it, would go amazingly well with the young and old alike.

Coming to the food, firstly I’d say that the menu is quite well made with a good balance of appetizers, soups, side salads, Main course that has been classified under chicken & lamb, Fajitas, Combinations, sea food and pasta, and of course there can’t be an American restaurant without Burgers and sandwiches on the menu. And the best part is there is a separate kids menu too which is priced at Rs 155 and includes an aerated drink, fries and a special cookie along with the main course like a “Bowl O’ Spaghetti”- Spaghetti in marinara sauce with garlic bread or may be a “Chicken –a-little”, that is Golden fried chicken strips /grilled chicken served with a side kick.

To start with I tried the “Kilkenny’s country chicken salad”(Rs 245), it was nice, crunchy and fresh and I quite liked the Smoky Honey Dijon dressing, though personally I would have liked my chicken grilled rather than fried but I guess that’s the recipe they follow internationally and it’s quite a hot seller. There are some interesting appetizers too like “Chicken wings”, “Irish Haystack”, “Mozzarella cheese sticks” etc on the menu and one has the choice to create one’s own sampler too, a choice of 3(Rs 355) and a choice of 2(Rs 255). Being an Irish- American restaurant it does have the famous “Irish Baked Potato soup”, a crock size(Rs 95) and a Bowl(Rs 125) apart from a soup of the day.

“For the main course Fajitas and the Big Irish Burger tops the list and the Burger also happens to be a Bennigan specialty”, shares Sanhita Agnihotri who’s floating this company here in India, Infact Sanhita was also nominated Indo-American Business Woman of the year in the year 2003 and is currently holding the position of joint treasurer of federation of Indo-Americans. Anyway back to the food I tried the Southwest chicken Fajita(Rs 325), which was a true American size portion, served with guacamole, Colby cheese and Pico de Gallo. From the sandwich section turkey, chicken ham and cheese lovers should go for the “Monte Cristo”(Rs 325 for a large and Rs 200 for a half portion) though a bit like our desi Besan Bread Pakora, but honestly I quite enjoyed it.

The dessert section is sinful with desserts like “Death by chocolate”, “ Brownie Bottom pie”, “Abbey’s Apple Sizzler” etc. I chose to go the fat-hater route and ordered a Frozen Yogurt(Rs 155) and am glad I had that for it was just the right balance of sweet goodness. A meal for two including alcoholic beverages would cost Rs 1, 000 to Rs1, 200 .The restaurant is open from 11 am until midnight all seven days. Service is pleasant .