But then I realized that I had absolutely no Idea what a zomato meetup was! Of course I had previously recieved free meal vouchers from them & utilized them to the fullest :D. now it was my beloved google to the rescue. So basically I found out that meetups are regularly organized by zomato as a means of getting to know their users & treating them to a nice spread. Wow, I'd be meeting fellow foodies too! Next was what to expect from India Restaurant. They serve awesome biryanis. But then again I found out that they had recently renovated their upper floors & looking forward to introduce new menu.

Ground Floor

So upon visiting the place you find this restaurant which resembles most other eateries of yesteryears of kolkata. Seating arrangement is cramped & it feels you are in yet another cabin-styled eating house.

Kebabs & tandoor

Then you notice the entrance to the upper floors. The doorman opens the gate & voila! Its a completely different scenario from what you were seeing until now!


The gold- yellow colour & lighting scheme along with the carefully chosen chairs & sofas give you that royal mughal feeling. Of course I was impressed. This definitely was different from those regular outlets decorated with glass top tables or coffee coloured sofas!





The first floor also has a nice waiting lounge for about 12-15 people. Great place to take selfies & checking in on zomato. (oh they have free wifi too, but sadly we had some connectivity issues & could not log on to it)
Now coming to the meetup, I was already a bit late. I found the group of foodies in the second floor. Samriddhi, community manager from Zomato welcomed me & introduced me to the other zomans. She also introduced to us Mr. Vicky Chen, the manager who would be our host for the lunch.
Now was the time, I got my first look at the menu. Boy! it was a pretty lengthy one!

Rest of the group had already ordered their drinks, so I ordered mine too.One thing I learned, do not ever try a mock tail which is based on a cocktail minus the alcohol. I had ordered one virgin mary. I have had bloody mary before, but the tangy salty soupy thing called virgin mary is NOT what I prefer before my food. Anyway it was mistake on my part, & I rectified it by ordering two other mocktails from the menu, Shirley temple & Grappa. The First one was citrus & apple based & tasted good. But the grappa was mind blowing. Of course a tall glass filled with grape juice, syrup & topped up with vanila ice cream can hardly go wrong. But still all of us had liked it very much & each had ordered at least one of it. However note that the mocktails weren't part of the standard menu, & you may not find them right now. However they plan to introduce the new menu shortly.

Virgin Mary

Shirley's Temple

Virgin Mary

Shirley's Temple

Grappa

Grappa

Paneer Kurkure

Coming to the starters, we had Thai sashlik, Paneer kurkure, Pineapple tandoori in the veg. offering & Chicken cheese kebab, Chicken malai kebab & Fish Sarsonwali in the non-veg.
The Thai sashlik was good, nothing extra ordinary, the paneer kurkure was good, but the pineapple tandoori was definitely the best in the lot. It was chicken tandoori without the chicken. So all the vegetarians out there can find out what they are missing out by not having chicken tandoori ;).

Half served already

Pineapple Tandoori

Coming to the non veg starters, had a lot of expectation from the Chicken Cheese Kebab, unfortunately the meat was too dry & chewy than it was meant to be. When this was conveyed to the manager he promptly arranged to change the dish, this time it was much softer from the inside, however the malai kebab was far more juicier & tastier than it. I'd prefer the malai one over the cheese one anyday. The Fish sarsonwali was pretty decent too.

Fish Sarsonwali

Chicken cheese kebab

Chicken Malai Kebab

Now of course it was the time for the stars of the day, biryanis India Restaurant is known for. We had Daryabadi kacchhi Biryani, Awadhi biryani along with regular Chicken & Mutton Biryani in the menu while the vegetarian people had the choice of veg. biryani or Peas Pulao in the rice. Once we jumped into the biryanis we knew why they are known as among the best in Kolkata. The rice was well cooked & flavoured. The Daryabadi biryani is served in a sealed clay handi. As the rice is cooked along with raw pieces of meat, the flavour is infused in the rice as well. The Awadhi biryani is cooked with vegetables and is spicier than the regular biryani, but taste is in a different league altogether. The chicken & mutton pieces were adequately marinated, soft & juicy. Overall the Biryanis were surely among the finest in Kolkata.

Also in the menu was choice of various naans & rotis of which I tried the kesaria & butter ones. The butter naan was of regular taste, but this is the first time I tried Kesariya Naan. It has a much sweet note to it, which may not appeal to everyones' tastebuds. but matched with the right spicy side-dish, it can win hands down.

From the side dish I tried Mutton Dakbangla, Mutton Ra-Ra Punjabi & Chicken Afghani. The mutton dishes seemed fine, while I found the Chicken one better. The dal fry & Aloo dum too were rightly cooked as I heard from the others.

Raita

I also tasted their various raitas which were as accompaniments. The boondi & mix raitas were of standard taste, while I found the pineapple raita to stand out. definitely this restaurant knows how to prepare their pineapples :D

Gajar Ka Halwa

In the dessert menu they had Firni, Shahi Tukda & Gajar ka halwa, of which I tried all. No points for guessing I am a sweet loving bengali :P. The Firni was a bit tad sweeter than one would expect, while the shahi tukda was a bit grainy from inside. The gajar ka halwa was a bit overcooked & smelled a bit burnt. On asking they served a second plate which was better.

Firni

Shahi tukda

Overall the experience was memorable. The staff were courteous, the dishes much decorated & prepared with care. However I am not sure how much this was due to the 'Zomato meetup' tag. Hope to find their service as good when I visit them the next time.