The new restopub in town - Bodega Cantina Y Bar at Park Street

Bodega Cantina Y Bar

Bodega Cantina Y Bar is the newest restopub in the heart of the city - Park Street. Located right opposite Allen Park, the restaurant impresses you by its interiors. A brainchild of Urvika Kanoi and Akash Jaiswal, the interiors are beautifully curated and hand picked during their trips all over the world.

The place is done up with quirky elements like the red container sheet which doubles up as a wall, the graffiti, the interesting cans, books and posters that adorn the wall shelves. Overall it adds a personal touch to the place.

The Bright and Quirky decor at Bodega

Interestingly, its the first place to introduce the community seating concept in Kolkata. Spread across an expansive area of 2700 sq feet, Bodega is divided into two levels- the ground floor houses the bar and instantly creates a fun and groovy setting. The furniture cannot go unnoticed with an interesting collection of warehouse chairs, décor tiles from Lebanon, Morocco and Turkey, and even the crockery is customized and unique. Exposed brick walls form a canvas showcasing the work of various Indian artists that are picturesque and meaningful.

Interesting coasters

The best part is that the place has a personal touch to it and all the little things tell a story, which adds to the charm of the place. If you happen to meet Urvika or Akash during one of your visits to the place, try asking them about the tiny showpieces on the wall shelves and you might just come across a great story.

Ground floor area of Bodega

The food spread is a modern take on all cuisines with special emphasis on Italian, Mexican and Asian Cuisine. From fritters to crostinis, you get a lot of variety here to satisfy all your cravings, The drinks are served in an interesting way, I especially liked the Bengal Mary and the Great Gatsby. The chicken crostinis and the veg spring rolls were quite good. The glass potatoes were also interesting ! But of course, there is scope for improvement when it comes to food. It will be unfair on my part to write too much on food because we sampled only a few items from their menu. Probably, will write more on that once I sample more from their menu.

Chicken Crostini

The Great Gatsby

Fritters (Pic courtesy: Indrajit Lahiri of  https://mohamushkil.wordpress.com/ )

What impressed me most was the thoughtfully designed invite. Very rarely do you find restaurants putting so much thought into invites and return gifts.Like the restaurant, the invites were something very warm :)

A lovely evening with fellow bloggers : Debjani, Devpurna and Indrajit

This is a good place if you are looking spend some quality time interacting with your friends. You might probably find yourself in an interesting discussion on food and travel. I had a lovely evening with fellow bloggers - Debjani di of kitchenofdebjani.com, Indrajit Da of https://mohamushkil.wordpress.com/ and Devpurna of https://bitechompgulp.com/ - full of gossip, laughter and of course food :)

P.S : I was invited to the launch party; honest views :)

Chili's is now open at Acropolis mall

Chili's - The American style Grill and Bar Restaurant has opened its 3rd outlet in the city at Acropolis Mall after Quest Mall and South City Mall. Though Chili's has been here in Kolkata since December 2013, I hadn't got a chance to visit any of the outlets.

I had heard great reviews about the food and ambience of Chili's from my friends who have visited the place and I had great expectations from the place. So, when I was invited to the new outlet launch, I was excited to try the place.

Chili's at Acropolis Mall, Kolkata

The new outlet is on the 4th floor of the mall and is spread over two floors. The decor is elegant and the ambiance is cozy and vibrant. They also have an outdoor seating arrangement where you can enjoy the lazy winter afternoon sun.The staff of the outlet are also extremely warm and forthcoming.

We got to sample some of the new offerings of the Chili's menu. There are items like the Cilantro Rice Fresh Mex Bowl, Southwestern Chicken Pasta  to name a few, which are on the new menu along with the popular old ones.

As I always like to highlight the healthy picks of the menu, so that you can enjoy a guilt free meal, I asked the Chef about the low calorie options you will get at Chili's. I was surprised to find out that they have quite a lot of options like the Blackened Fish, Grilled Half Chicken, Grilled chicken platter, BBQ Chicken salad, which will definitely appeal to you. The best part is that the portion size of the meals, which will easily suffice for two people.

Grilled Half Chicken at Chili's

I loved the Grilled  Half Chicken. Perfectly done, they were juicy and was served along with some veggies and a dip. The Southwestern Chicken Pasta is also one of my favorites. It was a personal recommendation by Payel of Chili's. You can go easy on the cheese if you want to make it healthier and the Chef will be happy to do that for you. The Fajita Trio is also a good bet and is enough to keep you full for a long time.

This place is a must visit. The food is great and the ambiance is addictive. I am looking forward to visit Chili's again. :) :)

Take a look at some of favorites at Chili's:

Review of the newest Pan Asian gallery in town - Stud!o at Novotel Kolkata Hotel & Residences

Novotel Kolkata Hotel & Residences, has recently come up with yet another interesting offering - Its Pan Asian Gallery - Stud!o. Yes, that's how they choose to describe it ! Because it offers much more than just food.

The newest Pan Asian Restaurant in town offers live music, art exhibitions and so much more while serving the best of Pan Asian Cuisine to the guests. The best part is the chic decor of the place. The outlet plays with natural and artificial lights in the most efficient way, with light reflecting through the steel sheets in the ceilings and the prismatic kitchen. The prismatic kitchen offers a sneak peak of all the action in the kitchen. Overlooking the beautiful poolside of the property, the Stud!o is elegant in its own unique way.

Stud!o offers a lot more than just the regular dumplings, Thai curries and noodles.You will start seeing the Pan Asian cuisines in a new light once you go through their menu. This time, I sampled the vegetarian offerings of Stud!o. A hardcore non-vegetarian since childhood and a fussy eater than I am, I have always been extremely picky with vegetables. However, Chef  Neelabh assured us that we will love it :P

What was on the menu?

Thai Spiced vegetables

We started our meal with Thai Spiced vegetables and kakiage tempura(a deep fried Japanese delicacy) . I loved the appetizers. With the right amount of flavour and spice, they were just perfect. Further, we moved on to the vegetable baoji and the water chestnut and chive dumpling. Baoji's outer coating had an interesting mix of flour and sesame seeds but the dumpling emerged as the winner. I had never thought that a dumpling with no meat in it could taste so good :D

Vegetable Baoji ; Water Chestnut and chive dumplings

From the sushis, there was the cucumber and pickled radish maki after which came the Udon noodle broth with sesame seeds.Udon is wheat noodles and is the Japnese noodle soup. It was too sour for my taste though.

Cucumber and pickled radish maki

Udon Noodle Broth

As for the main course spread, I loved the jasmine rice and the Thai green curry, both rich in their own distinct flavours. The chilli garlic noodles too was quite a favourite.

Chilli Garlic Noodles

Jasmine Rice and Thai green curry

The dessert offerings at Novotel Kolkata is something that I always look forward to whenever I am eating at Novotel and they impress me every single time with their unique offerings. This time I had Tab Tim Samsee, a coconut flavoured dessert with water chestnuts. Next on offer was a sweet dish made with poached pears with galangal(thai ginger), mascarpone cream and chocolate soil. This one was a surprise for me as the usage of pear for this was new to me.

Galangal Poached pears, mascarpone cream, chocolate soil

Overall, the food was good. The ambiance of the place is the best thing about Stud!o and is something to look out for. The experience of dining at Stud!o is sure to remain with you for a long time.