Bloggers meet over snacks & cocktails at Fuel-The Resto Bar, Pride Hotel

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The Pride Plaza Hotel, Rajarhat hardly requires any introduction to the people in and around New Town, Rajarhat. Located right in the business district, this hotel located at The Terminus, opposite Axis Mall is a boon to the corporate hubs located nearby. Seamless blend of modern comforts and traditional hospitality the hotel offers guests a great place of retreat. Not only as a hotel, the banquet also serves as a popular wedding & marriage reception venue.

However few (except the guests of course) know of the cafe & lounge bar, which is a part of the hotel yet ever ready to serve any visiting guests.

Recently Thinquisitive team headed by Vaibhab, Aishwarya & Ishita organised the 2nd TQ bloggers' meet at the Fuel Resto Bar, the in house bar of The Pride Hotel.

Although finding the hotel is not much of an issue, from New Town Bus stand go towards the Axis Mall/ Home town, cross the flyover, arrive at the crossing, take a left & you'll arrive at the hotel. However the Resto Bar itself is a bit tricky to find. Located in the sixth floor of the hotel, you'll need to navigate a maze of narrow lobbies & cross the rooms to arrive at the bar. Better ask the hotel staff.

However don't let the narrow lobby fool you, the bar itself is spacious, in fact it's like a open courtyard inside the hotel, taking up two floors, hence having pretty high ceilings. The lighting throughout is a bit dim, however there are an array of comfy sofas , chairs & high stools to select from.

Coming to the food, we were treated to a wide variety of mocktails, cocktails & snacks, short reviews of which can be found below.

Mocktails:

Sparkling Sunrise:

A refreshing summer cooler comprising of a perfect mix of grenadine syrup, orange juice, lemon juice, crushed ice topped up with soda & garnished with orange slice & served in a champagne flute. A refreshing orange is always a great welcome drink, & this one was no exception.

Hawaiian Khass:

Another cool refreshing drink prepared from khas/khus(vetiver extract) syrup, lemon juice, sugar syrup & crushed ice served in a highball glass & garnished with a lemon twist. A welcome change of taste after the orangy sunrise.

Pomegranate Cherry Revolution:

Looked sweet, but tasted tangy, prepared with crushed cherry mixed with honey, lemon juice & of course pomegranate juice, this one had a hint of black salt. Served in a old fashioned glass tumbler with a lemon slice by the side, this too was quite refreshing.

Pride Special Punch:

A house special mix, this one was less of a mocktail, more of a cold coffee. In fact served in a Irish Coffee glass, it was a mix of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, milk, fresh cream, sugar syrup & sprinkled with choco flakes. Somehow the mix didn't click & wasn't liked by most.

Blasson Ice:

Strawberry syrup & lemon juice mixed with crushed ice, strawberry & gondhoraj lemon, this had to be the best mocktail of the evening. It was tasty, it was fragrant & it was refreshing to the last sip.

Cocktails:

Tropical Island:

A rum based cocktail with mixed tropical fruit juices ( orange, pineapple, lime, cranberry ) & grenadine syrup with lots of ice cubes, this thing surely got that tropical taste. The sweet Lime & cherry on top added to the looks, however the tanginess prevailed all throughout the drink. Wish they made it a little bit strong.

Greek Sex:

Another tropical mix served in a hurricane glass, this one was vodka based. The pineapple juice & blue curacao blended perfectly, & topped up with fresh whipped cream. A pineapple wedge on the top, & a cherry on it, with the cocktail umbrella, this sure looked as if had been flown down straight from Hawaii. Curacao being one of my favourite flavours in drinks, quite liked it.

Grapefruit Mojito:

What's better than a virgin Mojito? Of course the addition of Bacardi to it. But how do you make it better still? Well add some crushed grapes! This tangy drink, made from grapes, mint leaves, lime juice & crushed ice, topped up with soda was an instant hit among all of us.

Silver Monk:

Generally I like to have tequila as a shooter, in as is condition. Tequila based drinks don't excite me much. This too was no exception. The mix of tequila, lime juice, sugar syrup, ice cubes didn't do the trick for me. People who like tequila based cocktails may like it, but I found it mostly watery.

Snacks:

The drinks were the stars of the evening, the snacks, well, were just finger foods.

Green Chilli Chicken:

The green was from the coriander sauce, the taste was average.

Abu Chilli Kebab:

A variation of the standard hariyali chicken Kebab , cooked in the traditional clay oven. Again of conventional taste. Incidentally this was served without any dip.

Mongolian Fish Ball:

Fish dumplings tossed in a sauce, this one was quite better in terms of taste cimpared to the first two. The fish was undeniably juicy, hiding inside the semi-crisp coating.

Cha Chu Akai:

Crispy fried chicken strips with generous amount of garlic. Recommended.

Roasted Chilli Paneer:

Umm, basically paneer Kebab. Some extra flavours & a bit of extra grilling may help.

Gondhoraj Paneer Satay:

The gondhoraj kick to the otherwise bland cottage cheese was a fine addition. This one was much flavourful compared to the previous one.

Buddha's Delight:

Veg dumplings tossed in chef's special sauce. This one was good too.

Gilheri Tawa Galouti:

'gilheri' generally refers to squirrels, I am not sure what that has to do with these mashed veg coins lightly grilled on Tawa. In any case this one was a surprise, it does melt in mouth, however Galouti to me is always minced mutton Kebab, hence couldn't enjoy this one much.

Overall the experience was fine. Some of the drinks really stood out. Some disappointed. Most of the snacks were, well , as I said only snacks. The staffs were prompt & polite, service appreciable. My guess is if you are nearby during the evening, looking for a quiet place to unwind, you can give this place a try. Surely this does not, & will not feature in the 'must visit happening bars of the city' . However it's not a bad place. Only negative is its location inside the hotel. I believe having this on the ground or first floor would have helped a lot regarding the volume of footfall. In any case will look forward to visiting them again, if I'm in the hotel.

Untill then

Happy Eating

Cheers!