For the love of Kukkad

22:31:00 Unknown 0 Comments



When we were kids, the news of a new candy shop opening right next to where we stayed made us super excited. Well, we have the same excitement now as well. Only, candy shops got replaced with restaurants. So the news of a new place opening up in baner got us really stoked. The excitement was two fold because the place served avadhi cuisine which meant a hell lot of chicken.

We decided to order in a lot (more than what we could eat) to find if the excitement was worth while. We ordered tandoori murg, lehsuni murg tandari, galawati kebabs, murg dum puqt,murg karma, some garlic naam, some plain naam and shahi tukda. We know it isn't to much right?


The tandoori murg was very tender and juicy. Perfect to set you in the mood for a great chicken feast to come. The lehsooni murg had a very subtle taste of garlic which was not overpowering and the chicken was so tender that it was falling off the bones. The mutton gawalati kebabs again very super super tender. They got a bit cold buy the time they reached us but 1 min in the microwave did the job. The starters set our expectations pretty high for the mains.


The chicken korma was chicken with thick creamy gravy with two big big pieces of chicken. We are big fans of creamy gravy and just couldn't stop ourselves from devouring the dish. This dish just struck the chords God us. The murg puqt was a chefs special with red tomato gravy. We prefer the murg korma though. The breads got a bit stretchy by the time they came in probably because we ordered in.

We had a really pleasant experience over all with raqabdaar. We also got to know that are planning to start a dine in area as well which came as a great news to us after verifying the the good was really good.

We'd give it 8/10.


Raqabdaars Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Bubbly and Brulee: Social Clinic

01:38:00 Sudipti Singh 0 Comments



On a saturday afternoon I landed in the Social Clinic, Koregaon Park for an exclusive mixology session and a preview of the menu. I was characteristically late and missing a blogging partner (Mr.TKD was otherwise engaged). By the time I got there, the mixologist had already conducted most of the demonstration and my fellow food bloggers were already in the midst of a frenzied photo session of the delicious looking starters.

The in-house-mixologist was kind enough to give me a separate demo as well let me try my hand at mixing my own drink. It was fun especially since most of the work was done by him and I just helped in shoving ice in the glass. The good thing is you can always let the friendly guys at the bar know your exact preferences and they do a good job tweaking the drink to your taste.

I chose a drink suspiciously named Head Banger and it was loaded with Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Rum and sprite. It had a citrusy taste and was really strong. If you like your drinks potent, just get this one. Another popular drink in our table was the cool blue Donkey 69. I would have loved to ask what inspired the name of the drink but I was too busy sipping on this drink. The other one that I tried was more mellow mocktail, Over the moon. It had Kiwi, Litchi, ginger and lime flavors and went perfectly with the Indian dishes.


Head Banger

Donkey 69

The space is large and cosy. There is a bar to plant yourself if you are a



The specially conceptualized menu had 4 starters and 4 mains and 2 desserts. We started off with the starters fairly quickly. Either that or I was embarrassingly late. (Knowing me, it's the later) First on the table were the vegetarian appetizers, PANEER PESTO TIKKA and THAI CRISPY VEG.

PANEER PESTO TIKKA, as the name suggests, consisted of large chunky squares of cottage cheese, coated with delicious and light pesto chutney. Totally light and perfect to set your palate for all the good things to come.


Paneer Pesto Tikka

THAI CRISPY VEG was probably one of my favorites. I like asian flavors and I like crunch in my dish, so the crunchy vegetable slices doused in subtly tangy but spicy sauces was like my jam. I polished it off the plate in seconds.


Thai Crispy Veg

The Non-Veg appetizers consisted of LEMON GRASS CHICKEN TIKKA and the BASIL CHICKEN TIKKA. It was without a question the most loved dishes of the bloggers' table. Everyone couldn't stop at just one. The best part was that the chicken were very tender and juicy. The marination was on point. The LEMON GRASS TIKKA had a more citrusy taste as anticipated but it was very well balanced with all other spices. The BASIL TIKKA was surprisingly very tasty. I hadn't tasted a tikka with basil in it but this tikka had me wondering why I hadn't. It was delectable and the flavors got on really well with the meat.


Lomon Grass Chicken Tikka


Basil Chicken Tikka

The devouring of the starters was a long affair with us ordering in more portions of our favorites. However we were soon introduced to the main entrees of the day. There was BUTTER CHICKEN and VILAYTI TARKARI. The chicken had a tasty gravy with pieces of succulent meat in it. The gravy was very well-spiced and perfect to eat with piping hot naan.


butter Chicken

The VILAYTI TARKAARI was most like vegetable kadhai but with interesting vegetables as broccoli etc. It was a nice twist to the traditional dish however, being a major carnivore table the butter chicken was more in demand than the vegetables.


Vilayati Tarkaari

We also got to taste PINK SAUCE PASTA both in vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties. Personally I favor cheesy white sauce pasta more than the acidic tomatoey red sauce. But the pink sauce pasta here was perfectly balanced between both. It had the cheesy richness of the white as well as the tomato punch of the red. The pieces of chicken of course helped in its early and sudden disappearance from our plates.


Pink Sauce Pasta

When we were discussing how full we were and that there was no room for anything else, the chef sent in the most decadent looking desserts. Suddenly everyone had gotten their appetite back on track and we were tucking in to the sinful TIRAMISU and the GULAB JAMUN BRULEE.

TIRAMISU was my favorite out of the too though both came pretty close on indulgences. The tiramisu was not overtly sweet and had that bitter punch of coffee which was heaven. The chef later informed that they used the best quality coffee liquer to the tiramisu.


Tiramisu

The GULAB JAMUN BRULEE was much loved by all. It was a dish with a twist to another classic, the creme brulee. I however, missed the caramel or crispy burnt layer at the top that one so looks forward to cracking and digging in to their brulee but the taste of the custard and the gulab jamun was a treat as well.


Gulab Jamun Brulee

The service was warm and attentive. They take care of you and make sure you are well taken care of. The best part was they listen to you and make changes to your dish to suit your taste. So just let them know if you want the level of the spices in your dish adjusted or an ingredient avoided.

The area is great to unwind with friends and family. It's themed as a clinic and so you see wall decals of medical nature and chemistry symbols everywhere. We were told the waiters donned nurses' uniforms while they went about their duties but at that time they were gearing up for another themed festival and hence no sight of nurses.



We used the DINE-OUT app for booking our tables and paying for the meal and it was so easy. And to add to that you get cashbacks on the bills when you use dine-out for payment.

All credits for the happy time goes to the lovely Chandni for organizing such an amazing meet. She was graceful yet fun and we had a great time. Same goes for Avanish from Dine Out. He showed us a thing or two at the bar and evoked some great conversation at the table.



It is always fun to meet people and make new friends. To talk and share stories, share a laughs and desserts.... Social Clinic is one such fun place to do that. Drop in and judge for yourself. You might be in for a treat as well.

P.S: Be on a look out for themed events at Social Clinic. You might not want to miss one of those :)

Social Clinic Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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