Even a few years back eating out in Kolkata meant hitting the age old joints located in park street, ordering from the same old menu & reluctantly taking a yellow ambassador to return home (20 rs extra if you stayed beyond tollygunge, god save your home was in garia). It was a nightmare if you hit tangra, or park circus for some Chinese or biryani.
The city has surely come a long way from that (though you still have to pay 20 rs extra to the regular taxi if it's after 8 in the evening, irrespective of where you stay). Lots of national & international chains have set shop here. Not only MacDonald or KFC, brands from various corners of the world are opening up their stand alone restaurants here. One of the latest addition to the list is Barcelos. A South Africa based chain known for its Portuguese recipes & innovative burgers hit the food lovers in India with its first outlet in Delhi. Kolkata is the second city in the country to welcome Barcelos with open arms.
The chain derives its name from a folk legend of 'barcelos rooster', which originated in a Portuguese town of , no point for guessing, Barcelos. The same rooster can be found in the logo of the restaurant, in fact known as the 'Galo De Barcelos' this is one of the most common symbol of Portugal.
Coming to Barcelos, Kolkata, I was undoubtedly excited when they invited our group PanchPhoron for a food tasting session. However their recent event where they hosted some of the well known bloggers of the city had been a mess, & I was quite sceptical so as to what was awaiting us. Nonetheless it was an opportunity that shouldn't be let down, & we hit the joint with a mixed expectation.
Located in the top floor of Acropolis Mall, Kasba, it's easy to locate. As you approach the outlet, you'll find an outdoor seating arrangement outside the outlet itself, pretty uncommon. However we opted to sit inside, which to say the truth is quite huge going by Acropolis Mall standard. Wood-finished wall & floor, warm lights, colourful sofas all add to the perfection of the arrangement. The best thing to look at in my opinion was the illuminated world map on the wall with barcelos restaurant locations marked on it. Great backdrop for those gorgeous selfies for sure. There's even a bright red smoking booth fashioned after old British phonebooths inside if you feel the need for it. There's also the bar counter, to the left, which for now serves only non alcoholic drinks & molecular gastronomic cocktails.
We opted to seat at the tables on the farthest right, overlooking the geetanjali stadium. In my opinion if any good match is held there in the future, Barcelos would be the perfect place to enjoy it from.
Coming to the food, we were served a variety of molecular mocktails & some of their signature dishes. Molecular Gastronomy is a fancy name given to items where dry ice or liquid nitrogen is added for a novel presentation. In theory its actually about applying molecular concepts of quick freezing/heating of certain elements to cook any dish, which I don't think any of the eateries employ. Any way it's their call to call any dish whatever they want.
We tried the following items, a brief review of which is given below:

Drinks:

Berry Cucumber:
The first molecular drink to hit the tables was this drink prepared with cucumber juice, strawberry syrup, topped with a mix of orange juice & sprite, presented in a margarita glass & garnished with a slice of cucumber to the side. On top of it liquid nitrogen was poured which gave it a chilling temperature & a fuming look. Quite pretty to look at, & refreshing to drink.

Peachy Iced tea:
Freshly prepared iced tea mixed with pureed peach fruit served in a tall glass & garnished with cubes of peach. Not just Iced tea lovers, this can be the favourite among regular mocktail lovers too.


Tangy Mango:
Next item to come to the table was this amazing drink, again served in a tall glass. A perfect blend of ripe mangoes & select spices, topped up with sprite & ice cubes on the top, garnished with a slice of mango on the side. The addition of liquid nitrogen had in fact fused the ice cubes, thankfully the straw helped in getting the tangy mix from below the layer of ice. Another great drink.


Hey Rosey:
Next up was this frozen margarita, rose syrup mixed with cardamom & rose water, topped with sprite & garnished with crushed rose petal. Cool, sweet but extremely Rosey. A word of advice, wait for a few minutes, mix the crushed ice lightly with the syrup at the bottom, then drink it. That way it was a bit better for me.


Indian Classic Kala Khatta:
The last drink to arrive was this mix of pomegranate syrup, lemon juice & spices, topped up with coke. The classic kala Khatta flavour is retained well, the fuming nitrogen adding more to the charm & to the cold.


Food:
After all the amazing molecular mixes it was time for the foods that Barcelos had to offer.

Peri Peri Paneer:
A variation of paneer Kebab, two cubes of cottage cheese in each toothpick along with onion, yellow, green & red capsicum slices, lightly marinated in Peri peri sauce & served with a dip. The paneer felt a bit too salty, except which it was quite tasty.


Grilled Orange with Watermelon Salad:
Lightly grilled orange slices along with cubes of watermelon, served on a bed of lettuce & dressed with basil, honey sauce, this was a bit surprising fruit salad to find in their menu. However it's not as special as it appeared to be. May be I was looking for some more lemony flavour, while the whole dish seemed quite bland to me.

Arabic Mezze Platter:
Next dish to arrive was this cane basket containing small bowls of hummus, yogurt, peri hummus, baba ganoush & tabouli along with falafel & pita slices. Generally served to accompany alcoholic drinks or as an appetizer before the main course as it was in our case. The selection of dips were fine to have with the slices of pita, but the falafel itself was a bit too hard & dry for me. A little softer/spongier inside would have been great.

Chicken Espatada:
A typical Portuguese dish, this was chunks of boneless chicken breast (in place of usual beef), rubbed in garlic & salt, skewered in a long iron stick along with bell pepper & onions & cooked. The dish was even served on the skewer, which was hanging from a hook on a stand & some fries to go with it. Although the thing looked quite interesting, with a thick gravy coating all the pieces of chickens, taste wise it again seemed a bit too salty to me. Must be due to the marination process which is done a day in advance. In any case served hot & dipped in the Peri Peri sauce of your choice, it's a good dish of choice as a starter.

Mini Burgers:
Next up was this signature burger dish of Barcelos. This is the same dish you have been seeing pictures of in Instagram & Facebook. It consists of four chicken burgers, each having distinct taste & of course colours, stuffed generously with grilled chicken on peri peri sauce along with lettuce, tomato, peri mayo, pickled cucumber & jalapenos, served with perfectly cooked potato wedges as sides. The colour of the burgers are totally organic, the red one having the colour from tomato & chili powder while the black one having it from cocoa powder. The taste of these colours weren't overwhelming, and the burgers itself were quite tasty to have.

Peri Peri Grilled Chicken:
Well grilled chicken pieces marinated in their signature peri peri sauce & served with fries.However to add more to the taste it's advice able to have this one along with some more peri peri sauce , bottles of which are present on the table. The pieces of chicken were juicy & tasty, I stuck to the mild peri sauce, fearing the others will be to hot for me.

Desserts:
No meal is ever complete without some sweet desserts.So after the mains it was time for the desserts.

Chocolate fondant with ice cream:
Of course this one needs no introduction, the warm gooey chocolate sauce coming out from inside the small chocolate cake as you bite into it is popularly known as choco lava cake, makes an awesome combo with the scoop of vanilla ice cream which is served alongside

Choco Truffle Cake:
A slice of chocolate cake with alternating layers of milk chocolate & dark chocolate sauce underneath the gooey chocolate sauce on the top. Another great dessert.

Tiramisu:
A popular Italian dessert, made of ladyfinger biscuits dipped in coffee, layered with whipped egg mix, sugar cheese & flavoured with cocoa. The flavour of the coffee gave this one a great kick.

Baked Blueberry Cheesecake:
Lovely blueberry flavoured cheesecake topped with blueberry compote. The sweet & tangy blueberry tasted great, however the cheesecake tasted not that good. Maybe that was because I already had so many good desserts beforehand.

Overall it was a good experience. The molecular drinks, the tasty mains & sweet desserts all complemented each other. The burgers or 'worlds healthiest burgers' as they call it though looked great seemed a bit over hyped as per taste. The paneer & the Espatada could do with a little less salt, while the fruit salad could surely do with some extra tang. Hopefully they will be able to continue the taste & fame they bring with the name. Will surely visit again to try out their other delicacies.Until then,
Happy Eating,
Cheers!