METROWATCH

Mumbai - A never-ending feast
Prepare for a long meal at the Puro Bar & Kitchen. Their menu is a gastronomical delight.

In Bandra at the corner of the junction of Hill Road— known for street shopping—and Globus, a mall, Puro Bar & Kitchen sits with distinguished calm. While garish colours hurt the eye outside, the serene interiors are done up tastefully in white to match its Mediterranean cuisine.

The menu is very comprehensive and easy to navigate appetiser, where pan-fried crab is piped with cream friche, topped with black olives and garnished with chilli oil. The list of salads is long. You could opt for either the Puro Caesar salad, made with tossed lettuce and juliennes of chicken breast garnished with parmesan shavings, or the Asian greens salad, made with grilled goat cheese, and walnuts touched with vine reduction, which is truly divine.

Puro takes its ambience seriously, so no wonder the couches by the window are so much in demand at dinner time; it’s the best place to take a break from day-long consumerist exhaustion. A long bar runs the breadth of the restaurant as well as a part of the exclusive L-shaped lounge area. Puro is a large enough establishment so even though it plays host to several celebrities, they don’t distract you from the food.

The portions are large so if you have the appetite to match, ask for the Atlantic salmon with Asian noodles flavoured with honey soya and chilli dressing. Another worthy pick is the New Zealand lamb chops marinated with herbs and stuffed with spinach, feta cheese with curried sweet potato mash and rosemary. For dessert, try the baked cheese cake with orange compote. Even if a bar with only Indian alcoholic beverages is not to your liking, Puro will give you an experience you won’t forget for a long time.

ADDRESS: Puro Bar & Kitchen, Hotel Metro Palace, 355 Hill Road,
Bandra (west), Mumbai - 400050
Tel: 022-26431234/ 26431235/ 26442200
Timings: 12.30 p.m.-3.30 p.m.; 7.30 p.m.-12.30 a.m.
Meal for two: Rs 5,600 (excluding alcoholic beverages)
MUST TRY: Pan-fried crab cake, Puro Caesar salad, Atlantic salmon
with Asian noodles, New Zealand lamb chops

—Anamika Butalia

Delhi - Night and day
Unassuming yet inviting, Asia 7 is full of surprises that pack quite a punch.

ocated on the third floor of the expansive Ambience Mall, Asia 7 is a product of Lite Bite Foods and is ensconced between two other ventures of the chain serving entirely different cuisines. Co-owner Rohit Aggarwal insists the location demands aggressive and prompt service and great food at all times. "We’re in the middle of a mall and even the neighbouring McDonald’s is competition. But, what distinguishes us is the variety of dishes and great prices."

Varied it is. Ignore the usual trappings of red lanterns and Buddha artefacts, glance through the menu and you’ll know there’s plenty on offer. Celebrity Chef Nikhil Chib, famous for supplying Burmese and East-Asian delicacies to Bombay’s swish set, is the brains behind it. And he doesn’t disappoint with delicacies from as many as seven Asian countries. Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea are represented as is, of course, Chinese cuisine.

I would definitely recommend the Kauk Swe, a Burmese special curry with noodles, served with an assortment of condiments to suit your palate, the Indonedsian Gado Gado salad—a mix of stir-fried vegetables, peanut sauce and tofu, and Bibimbap, a Korean favourite, with assorted sautéed vegetables or chicken placed on a bed of sticky rice.

There are some great cocktails, too, especially the Sake bomb and Geisha. Asia 7 has separate buffet and à la carte counters as well. Just the right address, after some serious retail therapy.

ADDRESS: Asia 7, Food Court, Ambience Mall, Gurgaon.
Contact: 0124-4665571
Open: 12 afternoon-11.30 p.m.
Meal for two: Rs 1,200 (without drinks)
MUST TRY: Kauk Swe, Gado Gado salad, Bulgogi (Tenderloin)

—Anumeha Chaturvedi

Bangalore - SMART CASUAL
Contemporary European cuisine comes alive at the Graze, at the Taj Residency.

For a place that serves food this good, it was surprising that the indoors section of Graze was so empty. Then again, it was a Wednesday night. The Taj Group has always been on top of the game when it comes to Indian and Oriental food, but its European restaurants are few and far between. The Orient Express at the Taj Palace, New Delhi, is the only one of note, and while it still warms the cockles of the purists. But its interior and décor are, well, a bit old-fashioned.

Graze on the other hand looks and feels more contemporary— new Europe rather than old. The food reflects this. However, in attempting to make it more “modern” the place has sacrificed the old-world, colonial charm that The Orient Express boasts of. The food, though, makes up for the few inconsistencies in décor and ambience. I ordered the three-course tasting menu, alongside a nice Chilean Malbec. Graze does have an excellent wine selection with an extensive choice of even of the lesserknown varietals. That said, I think I should have gone for a Chianti instead. And this is where possibly you have to mark down Graze. While the wait staff were extremely helpful and courteous, they could have had a slightly better knowledge of wine. When you’re paying top dollar, you expect nothing less.

The tasting menu started with an excellent Fig and Cheese Salad, with wonderfully fresh figs and was followed up by a “tasting size” Tenderloin. The meat was just right, served with a couple of nice sauces, but it was disappointingly small. I had the artisanal cheese selection for dessert, and I must admit, the cheese was amazing. Though my friend sitting with me had the Baclava, it had to be the best Baclava we have ever had.

So, on the scale of things, the food was great though portions were anemic, the décor indifferent, the wine selection excellent and the service good. If you happen to be in the middle of Bangalore and want to try something different, do swing by.

ADDRESS: 41/3, Mahatma Gandhi Road,
Sivanchetti Gardens, Bangalore, Karnataka
Contact: 080-66604444
Open: 12.30 p.m.-3.00 p.m. (lunch); 7.00 p.m.-12.00 midnight (dinner).
Meal for Two (with a glass of wine each): Rs 4,500-5,500
MUST TRY: Fig and Cheese Salad, Tenderloin, Baclava

—Kushan Mitra