ITS THE TIMES THAT ARE A ' CHANGIN !. Review on Mocambo, Park Street, Kolkata

Mocambo is certainly one of the best restaurants on Park Street and adjoining areas.So goes for its Indian cousin Peter Cat,located 70 metres away. The restaurant serves a decent german white wine(Rhine Pride Reisling) and a decent Bourdeaux wine also(Tailan Bordeaux).Its chateaubriand beef steak(rare ,medium or well done)is the best in this part of the country(including the 5 star establishments). Its combo dishes like Surf & Turf,Chicken A La Kiev are sure shot winners.Its Bekti Bell Meuniere is the best bekti dish prepared in this part of the country(no kidding).However the retaurant inspite of its quaint old world ambience has not quite kept pace with the times.Its choice of cocktails is pathetic and excludes even the most basic ones available in any other reataurants. This includes Pina Colada,Margharitas,Daiquiris,Martinis et al.Many of the items Alcoholic beverages) on the menu are said to be out of stock throughout the year and for successive years.Notable among this being Cointreau,Campari bitters and others.In fact on a more recent visit, I found out to my dismay that the management had discontinued the "Rhine Pride Reisling and Tailen Bourdeoux wines and replaced them with some local brew which also is mostly out of stock There is one single Non-smoking Table(not Zone),literally rubbing shoulders with the smoking tables.A few of the captains are downright rude and discuss at length about the diners within their earshot and make no efforts to hide their observations. They are also very much non-co operative and 1/2 posses big attitudinal problems.When butter cubes (with bread rolls) were found to be absolutely frozen,a captain was politely asked to soften the cubes a little by warming them.He returned 3 successive times(being sent back) bringing the same butter cubes in the same condition frozen absolutely solid). The new manager, a certain Mr.Ashish Manik (a relative of the owner actually) is literally the rotten apple in Mocambo and it is his totally unprofessional(and sometimes foolish,with due apologies) management style and guest handling which is clearly the crux of the problem palguing Mocambo.The stewards are however quite efficient.Almost all the 2 & 3 family seater tables are rickety and the wine/beverage/plain water glasses always show dangers of toppling because of the above feature.It also suffers from parking problems. Overall an old place which is still decent value for money,serves perhaps the best continental cuisine in Kolkata but stands the risk of losing out to the other upcoming eateries like Oh!Calcutta,Mainland China. Marco Polo and to a lesser extent Saurav's(owned by the Indian cricket captain),i f it does not move ahead with the times keeping its old world charm intact. I visited Mocambo a few days earlier.This time the Manager was literally spitting venom at me.Through his conversations with his sub-ordinates (which he did at very loud voices ), I got the impresion that someone had actually told him about my review on their establishment on Mouthshut.Whenever a steward approached me(I am a familier face visiting the eatery for the past 2 decades),there were a number of captains who surrounded my table,literally to hear whether I was critisizing them .When a steward left my table they along with the Manager,surrounded him with questions like''Kya Bola,usne?''meaning literally ''What did he say?'', again in voices loud enough for me to hear.Well!So much for the honest consumer.Hats off to Mocambo for its myopic view of the cancerous attitudinal problem spreading through the organisation.Seems yet once again a MS member has Hit The Nail Right On The Head.