GRAPPA GARDEN

Grappa Garden could best be described in my book as a bistro, which usually is a small restaurant serving continental food accompanied by wine and coffee. It definitely serves the typical bistro cuisine. The table set-up encourages you to try an interesting mix of their domestic and international brand selection, in an open yet classy ambience. The mood here, is perfect for a chilly afternoon brunch or even a cozy evening dinner. The food menu here is seasonal and as mentioned, changes accordingly. Also going by the theme, the preparations are made from fresh, local produce — that’s why you’ll find lots of winter vegetables used inpreparations around this time of the year. Typical to bistro cuisine, there are quite a few interesting preparations on the list. Apart from the soups, salads, pizzas and pastas, some preparations that caught my eye include the Devils on Horseback (prunes wrapped in bacon) and the Brazilian Rib Eye Steak to name a few. Also, as a diehard whiskey man, I always wondered why it’s not used regularly in restaurants for culinary sauces, as it tends to give an excellent flavour and zing to the dish, especially with meat. Here, you can get several such items, such as their Whiskey Pork Ribs, Orange Whiskey Ham and Chicken Bit-o-Whiskey. This season’s menu is quite flavourful. The Roasted Vegetables and Pasta soup, Barbecue Chicken Wings, Homemade Cannelloni stuffed with Garden Fresh Veggies are all musttries. The stuff here breaks the myth related to continental preparations — that the use of herbs, coloured peppers and thick sauces qualifies as a ‘continental preparation’, which is sadly, yet unintentionally practised and copied just about everywhere. It is good to know that here, they differentiate themselves as soon as you take the first bite. The roasted vegetables have that balanced smoky taste with the optimum use of herbs. The Barbecue Chicken Wings have this extra meaty chunk over the bone and the Homemade Cannelloni promises a wholesome meal. The Tiramisu or the Black Forest Bavarios are both equally delicious to top it all. This place breaks another myth as well — that every restaurant in that vicinity (Koregaon Park) can be assumed to be exorbitant.A four-course, shared, filling meal for two, would be less than Rs 1,000, something that is worth every penny for the quality of ingredients used, service, ambience and rather satisfying taste. Of course the wine list per bottle starts from the mentioned amount and it does not encourage wine served by glass. Nevertheless, this bistro’s food is absolutely fantastic!

Grappa Garden

Above Post 91,

Lane No 7,

Koregaon Park, Pune

FOODLINK

I had spoken earlier about how hard it is to find good lounge experiences in the east side of Pune. I guess my complaint was heard by one more authorities. This time it wasby the Foodlink restaurant at the ICC Trade Centre B Wing. Don’t confuse the place for the one that was previously well-known here. Foodlink is in the new wing. Giving you a complete bird’s eye view of Pune, the ambience scores very high. Foodlink also has a well stocked Sky bar and grills. There is a party deck area overlooking it with a DJ console, where already a party was in full swing. For walk-in guests, there are two restaurants — one serving Indian and the other Italian cuisine. We chose to check out the latter.

Though the menu is limited, it promises variety. The cream of asparagus soup was really good as they were extremely generous with the quantity of this exotic vegetable in the soup. Minestrone also lived up to our expectations. Pizza Mama Mia (cottage cheese with spicy tomato sauce, Italian herb, onion, capsicum, coriander topped with mozzarella) was also good. But again, I found the base very crispy and hard. The toppings and quantity though, were sufficient. Pasta Farfalle Fresco and Lasagne Bolognaise were both perfect, and very close to the authentic. Grilled Salmon Steak with asparagus and cherry tomato in a saffron white wine sauce, seemed perfect for the chilly atmosphere. For desserts, we tried Choclate Budino (pudding in Italian) and

vanilla Crème Brule. The latter was better, while the budino reminded

us of a brownie.

The service is courteous and attentive. The guest relations themselves escort you to your place, thus putting the service standards at high. Having pampered us with this hospitality it would be not a good idea to grouch on looking at the left side of the menu. But once again, the location and the ambience have scored upon. One can’t argue about the feeling you get when you dine-in here. Strongly recommended for couples. If you are going on first time date, you have

won half the battle!

MY OVERALL RATING: 8/10

The Foodlink Court

‘T’ Floor, B Wing, ICC Trade Tower,

Senapati Bapat Road, Pune 411016

Contact: 66239999 / 01

TRIKAYA

I had mentioned in an earlier review how the west-side Puneities, like me, hate to travel to the east for a fine dining experience. I feel my detestation was being heard by Trikaya. The ambience itself is so spectacular, even normal water would be enjoyable. I felt great positive energy when I entered the place. Maybe, it’s for the mystic Buddha statues. Both the outdoor and the indoor sections are magnificent! Coming to the food part, Trikaya serves flavours from the East. They have incorporated some Indian preparation too! The bar is well stocked with international brands of both spirits and beers. The menu reflects artistic compilations very well thought of and presented. The preparation is familiar, but I thought the quality of seafood, and the meat used is distinctive. It is impossible to comment on the preparations at one go, but the stir-fries seem to be good. What I enjoyed the most are the starters, and that too prawns! Wrapped chilli prawns, crab claw lollipops are juicy, crispy and tasty as well. The vegetables and glass noodles stuffed spring rolls are different, as they have used readymade sheets for the covering, which actually make the difference. Having got stuffed with the starters, I ordered what an average diner would in an Oriental restaurant – stir-fried noodles. Though being over-cooked, they had the best possible accessories added to it making it crunchier and tastier. Also the manchow soup had excessive cornflour, but we made it palatable by adding some sauces. To end on a sweet note, corn pudding with cinnamon kulfi and fruit skewers were the winner of the day. Wish I knew why they were so miserly with fruit skewers (only one piece)! Make use of the seafood the most; the pricing is above average but satisfying.

MY OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10

Trikaya

Aditya Shagun Mall,

NDA Pashan road, Pune-21