Jan 12, 2014 11:39 AM
9673 Views
(Updated Jan 12, 2014 11:40 AM)
I have been penning a review for a restaurant almost after 6 months in MS – that should not mean that I had stopped exploring new food joints in the city. My love for cars exceed the love for food but I continue to explore new eateries quite frequently.
My visit to Flame and Grill restaurant was on account of a project party. This restaurant is a part of the Specialty Group of Restaurants by the famous Anjan Chatterjee.
Well the concept of live grill is incorporated and conceptualized in other chain of restaurants also, but Barbecue Nation would always top my list any day. Since I had no preconceived notion about this restaurant in the first place, I did not regret much even after paying a hefty amount for 10 people for the not-so-good food!
No A-La-Carte!
Yes this restaurant does not have any A-La-Carte facility. So buffet was the only available option. In the non-veg buffet, they offered two choices: With Prawn and Without Prawn. We decided to go ahead with the* With Prawn* option and well it did make so little difference – Sigh!
The Place
The location of the restaurant is amidst a busy mall in the posh locale of Kolkata. The ambiance is simple, nothing loud; more of beige and touches of orange here and there, neat and clean – the place is well lit. Recently I have seen restaurants posing of rich decor but super low lights – the low lights can go well with the theme but it was tad difficult to tread through even the open space, add to the tables and chairs.
The Spread
Starters: We were served with Hariyali chicken and although they were not earthly succulent but they were decent. The fish starters were a mess – tasteless and bland. I was wondering what type of fish would taste so stale. The mutton starter(shaami) was uncooked and tasted more of spices than mutton. The vegetarian starters consisted of mushroom, paneer and potato. The mushroom deserved a special mention because of the tangy mustard taste it carried - it tasted new, fresh and well prepared. The prawn starters were well cooked but tasted quite normal and were in sync with the other siblings in the starter menu. As the custom goes, by the time, we were finished with the starters we were full. But sigh, the starters failed to leave a lasting experience that we were hoping. My Rating – 3/5
Main Course: The main course spread was a tad better than the starters. The tossed salad dressing was commendable. The boondi raita which can be customized for your tasted was a unique touch. The pulao and the biryani tasted good. The veg and non-veg side dishes had a plethora of tounge tingling, mouth melting taste that can match up to any A-La-Carte counterpart. The mutton pieces were soft and tender and the curry was home like and rich. The naans were soft and went well with chicken in pepper sauce. The fish again was very ordinary, only the name of the dish was geeky! My Rating – 4/5
Desserts: This is specifically where Specialty Group of Restaurant scores. The desserts consisted of fresh cut fruits, dahi vada, hot gazar halwa, brownies, brown fried sweet(langcha as we call it), rosgolla and 4 types of ice cream. The gazar ka halwa melted in my mouth and was a welcome dessert in the winter – my first in this winter actually. The dahi vada had the option to be customized with chutneys and spices. Eating ice-cream in winter has always been special. My Rating – 4/5
Overall a sumptuous buffet(but costly) to feed a hungry soul. At 750 INR per buffet, there was no welcome drink which was really bad if you compare with buffets of other competitors. Add two welcome drinks per person and the cost per head goes up to approx 1000 which is a tad pricey.
My Overall Rating for the place would be a 3.5/5
