A tad disappointing!
When I got the invite for the 121 Kitchen : BarBQ, a
mutlicuisine restaurant located at Wakad Chowk, my main concern was the
distance as it is really far from the city and finding out the place at night
was a big task. But once you reach Dange Chowk, most of the people in the area
know the restaurant and finding the place was not that difficult.
121 Kitchen : BarBQ has an advantage as it is located at a
prime locale like Wakad Chowk, which is part of the IT hub. But this also means
that expectations are high. While the restaurant was launched in July 2012,
they launched a new menu on September 1. They also offer a Sunday brunch with
live performances and game stalls.
121 Kitchen : BarBQ has both indoor and outdoor sitting
areas. But the ambience needs to be made more visually appealing and welcoming.
It was a Bollywood night when I visited the place and it was impossible for
patrons to hold a conversation with the young singer loudly churning out
Bollywood numbers.
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| The outdoor area of 121 Kitchen |
Among the drinks, the Dirty Mary, which was a combination of
Bloody Mary with Dirty Martini didn’t look very appealing and lacked the right
flavour, besides being high on alcohol.
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| Dirty Mary |
The menu of the 121 Kitchen : BarBQ is big and it boasts of
a wide variety of dishes. The appetisers Flaming Chickpea Pellets which is
boiled Kabuli Channa seasoned with chat masala and garlic was good. The Corn
Crispy Chilli was really crispy and chatpata. It is a perfect accompaniment
with drinks.
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| Flaming Chickpea Pellets |
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| Corn Crispy Chilli |
However, the tangy onion rings were too oily. Also, the
mushroom tikka was average and a little sweet.
The Tandoori Chooza is the smaller version of Tandoori
Chicken and had smaller pieces of chicken. The Chooza was well marinated and
soft.
While the Green Mango Paneer Tikka was said to be marinated
in raw mango paste, the dish didn’t have the slightest flavour of raw mango.
They should marinate it for a longer period or just add raw mango slices to the
paneer chunks.
For starters, the Murg Sharabi Kebab were an instant hit and
was the best dish among all. They were well marinated in rum and served with a
rum shot, which added to the flavour.
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| Murg Sharabi |
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| Basa fish wrapped in banana leaves |
Then it was time for a basa fish wrapped in banana leaves.
The fish was marinated in paan leaves and other spices, which gives it a unique
paan flavour. The concept is innovative
and tasted good...
In the main course, Murg Adraki, as the name suggests, has a
strong flavour of adrak and tastes good.
 |
| Thai veg red curry ,Burnt garlic rice with oriental curry |
For the oriental cuisine, we tried the Burnt Garlic Rice
with Oriental Curry. The rice had very inviting flavour of burnt garlic and
tasted delicious, the oriental curry was good too.but the veg thai red curry was disappointing. Since Thai
Red Curry is a classic dish, it was important to get it right. But
unfortunately, it lacked most of the key ingredients such as basil leaves,
Galangal and Kafir lime. Instead, we just got the overwhelming taste of coconut
paste which overpowered all other flavours.
However, the broccoli with black bean sauce was rather good.
Though we were already full, the captain persuaded us to
taste the vegetarian biryani, but it was a little sweet compared to the regular
biryani.
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| Deserts:Mughal-e-Azam |
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| Nuts Over Chocolate |
Then it was time for a paan shot, which is a drink made from
fresh betel leaf paste. Though paan shots are supposed to be chilled, they were
served warm and lacked the strong flavour of paan.
After dinner, I had an interesting interaction with the
owner of the food joint, Anish Banawade, who is enthusiastic about the food.
Anish has personally set the new menu after many experiments and discussed it
with me. Anish was a good host and the service was good too.
Though the food trip wasn’t at par with what we expected, we
hope that the next visit to 121 kitchen will be more exciting!
121 Kitchen : BarbBQ
Where: Thergaon Road, next to Parkwayz Society, near
Hinjewadi flyover, Wakad.
Phone:020-4670 0121
Hours: 11:00 am –
3:30 pm, 7:00 – 11:30 pm
Rating: All in all, despite the hospitality of the staff,
taking into account the food and all other factors given above, the experience
of dining at 121 Kitchen :BarBQ was just average. I can only give a rating of
average at present. There is a lot of scope for improvement, which is within
reach. I certainly hope that my next
food trip there will be more satiating and exciting.
Rating: **
Key:
*:Bad
**: Average
***: Above Average
**** Good
*****: Excellent
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