XII Zodiac - The Fern Residency is gearing up for the upcoming season with a selection of Gujarati dishes. PanchPhoron was invited for a food tasting of the items from this new menu. This was my second visit to XII Zodiac, the last time was when they launched their poila boishakh special menu.Located near China Park, Rajarhat, The Fern is a medium size business hotel with special care toward environment. Their in house restaurant XII Zodiac is a first of its kind sun sign based multi cuisine restaurant, where food is served according to one's Zodiac sign.

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.

There was a time when the chitchats & addas used to take place at the para'r roak/ some restaurant 'cabins' munching on some 'aat anaar dalmut' while sipping from a 'maatir bharer chaa'. That's quite a thing of the past now. In fact so distant that many from the younger generations don't have a clue so as to what 'roak/cabins' mean.

Had been hearing about this cafe for quite a long time. So when one of my friends decided to give a treat for her new job, & name of this cafe sprang up during the discussion regarding the venue, I was one of the very first to vote for it.

“Kitne aadmi they?”

Who can forget this iconic dialogue of one of the most iconic villains from one of the most iconic films of Bollywood? I guess no-one. In a similar fashion one cannot just forget the inimitable tastes of the dishes after having food from the Bollywood themed restaurant of Kolkata- Gabbar’s Bar & Kitchen. Maybe that has something to do with the quirky names given to the dishes, or may be because of using ‘molecular gastronomy’ principles to the traditional methods of serving. How much the outlet fares in quality of the food let’s find out.

Recently team PanchPhoron was invited over for a dinner at Gabbar’s. Finding the restaurant was pretty easy. Located on Russel street, it’s situated where the erstwhile Mexican joint ‘amigos’ used to be. From the outside it seems a bit small, specially the waiting area is too congested to let you even imagine what sort of things wait for you inside. Nonetheless the waiting area also houses the bar, & has some quirky one liners written on small placards which you can use for those group selfies as you wait for your turn at the tables. As we entered the main dining area we were quite surprised by the size of it. It truly is spacious. The walls are adorned with graffiti’s & quotes from Bollywood films. Looked quite good. Great for a family dinner or lunch, or even hanging out with friends. The tables & chairs were quite formal though. We were welcomed by Harsh, the owner who gave us a brief intro about how the concept of Bolly-theme came, & how the idea of serving molecular gastronomy emerged. Finally the food started arriving at the tables. The brief review of items that were served is given below.

Drinks:

Litchi & kaffir lime Mojito:

The scent of the lime mixed with the sweetness of litchi made this combination a refreshing welcome drink. Even the idea of serving it in pouch packs with straws was quite unfamiliar.

Watermelon Basil Mojito:

Fresh watermelon puree mixed with crushed basil leaves. Another great drink to have in the summer.

Both the mojitos were served in alcoholic & non-alcoholic versions. The virgin mojitos were good, but no point for guessing that they tasted better with alcohol.

Curry Apple Foamtini:

The drink with a twist in the presentation. The glass of apple juice & blended curry leaves were placed inside a bowl containing dry ice. Fuming & looking like smoking hot, this was a chilled refresher.

Lambi Race ka Ghoda:

One of their innovative cocktails. A mix of White Rum, Vodka, Gin, Cointreau & Thums up this one was served in a one litre measuring cylinder you find in chemistry labs.Just imagine so many types of alcohol in a singles serving, that too in such a huge quantity. The long vessel looked intimidating & inviting , the concoction quite strong. Actually ended up liking it & drinking half of it in one go!

Raspberry & Kala Khatta Daiquiri:

These two rum & lime based cocktails with ample crushed ice were good too. But well, after having Lambi Race ka Ghoda , surely any other drink feels pale.

Appetisers:

Rome Ali Pizza:

Giving a subcontinental twist to the Italian delicacy, this one was basically a super thin crust pizza (rumali roti) , with chunks of chicken & loads of cheese. Not too much of non-sensical veggies, this one was a no-nonsense bang on point meal starter.

Chicken Potli Kebab:

A double dose of chicken, minced chicken or keema stuffed inside chicken drumsticks, this one was well appreciated by all. Although the keema was a bit bland compared to the outer drumstick, all in all it was another great starter.

Tandoori Momos:

This one is fairly common nowadays. The familiar dumplings instead of being steamed/fried are being coated with marinade & roasted in a tandoor. Looks like a Kebab, tastes more than momos is all I can say.

Balam Puchkari:

This thing (can't call it a dish, really), when arrived at the table, it was a total attention grabber. Eight pieces of crisp phuchka/golgsppa lying inside their own spoon, resting on a bed of artificial grass in a tray which looked like a small English garden complete with a set of miniature table & chair. It was a sheer delight to look at the presentation. Also present was a bowl of fuming vapours which housed test tubes of Pudina & Imli water. Can give a 10/5 for this unique presentation. Sadly the pudina & Imli water were a bit dilute & lacked the punch one would normally expect.

Inverted Pav (keema/Vada):

The name says it all. Instead of slicing the Pav & stuffing it with the filling, it's done the other way round. The Pav here was covered with the 'filling' (which should now be called coating to be precise) & batter fried. A twist to a much loved dish, yet maintaining great taste.

The visual treat here were the condiments & sauces being served in mini hawkins pressure-cookers no more than small cups in size. They looked so much in place & perfect for the Indian theme of gabbars.

Highway de Dhaabe di Shaan: Amritsari Kulche served Gabbar's style:

To honour the Amritsari flavour infusion, the high way ki shaan kulchas actually arrived in jeeps. Actually toy jeeps, but those looked cute as hell. Palm sized fluffy kulchas, preloaded with chole ke bhature. Beside the jeeps were small steel pails which contained the salads.

Another interesting presentation . Taste great as well.

Main Course:

Gabbar ki maa ki daal:

Fancy name aside this would be daal makhani, I.e. Black lentils cooked with select spices. Served in aluminium sauce pan, this was quite average in taste.

Paneer Tikka Masala:

Thank God that this one did not come with a weird name. This too was served in an aluminium sauce pan. The flavour was good.

Lasooni Palak:

Spinach puree cooked with lots of garlic, this was a bit better tasting dish, blame it on my partiality to garlics, be it garlic bread or lasooni naan!

Makhan Singh Butter Chicken:

Grilled Chicken tikka simmered in rich tomato butter gravy. This one was a perfect dish among the side dishes of the evening. The lightly grilled kebabs were soft while the gravy rich in taste as well texture. It was a pleasure to have these with the parathas.

Kochi pathar jhol:

No. Don't. Just please don't. Although I'm not a huge lover of pathar jhol, as a Bengali I know how that tastes. The rich aroma of the pathar jhol is a quintessential part of Bengali cuisine along with sorshe ilish & murighontos. When you try to twist it in whatever way you try, if you fail, you come crashing bad, real bad. This was an disappointment to say the least. The gravy was watery, the spices were missing. Even the perfectly cooked muttons couldn't save the show.

Accompaniments:

Warqi Parathas:

Crisp flakey parathas best enjoyed with the butter chicken. This one was the best of the parathas served.

Garlic nan:

As I said earlier, this one I loved too, specially the extra dose of garlic.

Masala kulchas:

Minced vegetables stuffed into soft flour dough baked in tandoor. Soft & tasty.

Steamed rice:

The rice was a bit dry, may be because of being prepared in bulk & reheated as per order. Could be looked after.

Desserts:

Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi:

Order this, & they'll hand you a clay pot with a green sapling. Dig into the 'mud' & you'll find its actually a mix of crumbled choco brownie topped with a mix of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce & Oreo biscuit. Each ingredient is great by itself. & It can't go wrong when you have all of them at once. This one was just amazing. & Extra marks for the presentation.

Golmaal:

Again a deceiving item, initially it will look like a dark coloured cricket ball, obviously which it isn't. It's actually made of dark chocolate, which gradually melted off as hot chocolate sauce was poured over it revealing the inner ball of chocolate ice cream. Chocolate , chocolate & chocolate. Actually it was an overdose of chocolate. I for one would like to have the same dish, but the chocolate ice cream replaced with some crunchy non-chocoltey ice cream.

Jalabi Bai:

Jalabi caviar soaked in saffron sugar syrup, topped with chopped pistachios served with rabdi foam. The description seemed interesting, even the recipe too. But I've had better jalabi & rabdi at other places.

Mango Cigars:

This too arrived in a great getup. Smoking light coloured cigars placed in an ashtray . The cigars were actually very thin cream rolls. Where the usual cream had been replaced with a blend of macaroons cheese & mango pulp. The outer dry flakey texture hid the soft tangy yet sweet filling inside. Delightful to look at & also to eat.

Molecular paan:

Here the twist was that the traditional betel leaves were replaced with edible potato starch sheets, with a mix of pan masala & shredded betel leaves on top. Well the presentation was a bit innovative , specially anyone will confuse the starch sheet for thin plastic, but in reality those are edible, & the whole thing tasted as good as a normal masala paan.

To say the truth this was as much a gastronomic delights as much it was a visual delight. The Bollywood themed ambience were equally complemented by the quirkily named dishes. The innovative style of servings came as another treat to the eyes. The drinks , sides & desserts get full scores from me, though some of the mains do need attention.

The service was great, staff polite. Mr. Harsh, the manager was ever present to look after us & explaining to us various details of the dishes that were being served.

Surely our group had a gala time tasting the dishes, taking pics & doing what not.

If not for the mains & sides I'm surely going back for the drinks & desserts. They were just too good.

Till then

Happy eating

Cheers!

First thing first, I was really surprised to find the average rating of this place so low. I've been to many places be it fine dining restaurants, be it small roadside stalls, it seemed really odd that a place like this is rated so low, more so after we had a great time here. something was amiss, something was really not right. Hence started going through the reviews, all 130 of them. Only then could I get it. Its not always about the food, nor about the service. The place is frequented by three categories of people. One, the ones who try out restaurants irrespective of ratings. Two, people who come with groupon/nearbuy meal vouchers. Three, office goers from nearby corporations who attended team lunch here. Most of the negative reviews came from people who were utterly disappointed as the management did not honour their agreements. The outrage is justified, if you cant deliver, don't make promises. The other people who gave average reviews who had team lunch here from the buffet spread, which again is justifiable as they may have not got what they expected. Surprisingly the people who had ordered a la carte have talked quite highly of it. I belong to this category.

So you can take this as my disclaimer: the following review is based upon my personal experience when I visited upon being invited for their new menu launch.

Aura is the All-Day-Dining Restaurant of The Sonnet, a Four Star Business Hotel situated near City Center 1, Salt Lake, Kolkata. The All day dining concept has its uniqueness in the fact that it is open Twenty Four hours a day all throughout the week. Be it breakfast, be it brunch/lunch/dinner or a midnight craving for some delicious food, Aura is there for you all the time. Add to the fact its a multi cuisine restaurant serving Bengali, Hyderabadi dishes along with Italian, Pan-Asian & other popular flavors.

Recently Team PanchPhoron was invited over for a food audit of their new menu launch. Finding the outlet was easy. & we were quite awed by the dining area. Overlooking the road, yet guarded by a front lawn, this restaurant by the main lobby of the hotel was warmly lit, spacious & welcoming to the guests. At one end of the dining area was the buffet spread, adjacent to it the live counter where made to order dishes are prepared by the chef. Conveniently located opposite to the restaurant is  'Unwine' the bar.

Coming to the food, we had a spread of select items from the revamped menu. Brief description & review of each item is given below.

STARTERS:

Stuffed Fish Goujons:

A variation of fish finger, where the fish fingers stuffed with mint chutney were coated with roasted papad in place of standard breadcrumbs & served with homemade tartar sauce. Amazing in taste to say the least. The crunchiness of the papad just took it to another level.

Gai Sai Takrai:

A Thai delicacy , Gai Sai Takrai roughly translates into Lemongrass Chicken. Lemongrass preparations are some of my favorite dishes, & the Thai herbs made the crisply fried coated chicken pieces all the more delicious.

Paneer Aamras ki Kebab:

From Thai Chicken to Indian Cottage cheese, the choice of dish did surprise me momentarily, but that was until I had tasted it. The sweetness of the coated mango pulp had properly seeped into the soft paneer, making it all the more tasty to vegetarian & non vegetarian foodies alike. Recommended.

Badshahi Kumb:

Tandoor cooked mushrooms stuffed with cheese & nuts. Aptly named,loved by all, surely a royal treat for the taste buds.

Chilly Cheese Cigar:

Mozarella, Garlic & Jalapeno sticks coated with crumbs & deep fried looked like fish fingers at first. But that was before we had tried it. After the first bite, I for one did ask for a second serving. The BBQ sauce added to the taste all the more.

MAINS:

Spinach Cheese Timbale with Tangy BBQSauce:

Minced spinach blended with Ricotta cheese, made into a patty & grilled to perfection. I think that sums up the next piece of veg delicacy we tried. Nothing generally goes wrong with cheese, & this one was no exception.

Basa with sizzled Garlic, Ginger & Tomatoes:

All the above ingredients & my favorite among veggies, Broccoli. Looked colorful, tasted all the more better. The fish was soft & fresh, just the right taste.

Stir Fried Noodles with Coriander Pesto:

Most probably my favorite from the day's menu. Noodles tossed in green coriander paste, maybe my love for this had to do something with the broccoli chunks. In any case the lightly fried noodles tasted great complemented by the green colour & flavour.

Kalo Bhuna Mangsho:

Next up was the traditional lamb preparation from Bangladesh cooked with brown onions & celery seeds. Undoubtedly prepared really well. I am sure every time I have Luchi-mangsho in the future I am gonna remember this perfectly cooked lamb.

Makhmali Moti Mahal:

Balls of cottage cheese, or malai kofta as its known through out India, cooked in a rich Cashew nut gravy, although great in taste didn't impress me much. & that's because although I like sweetmeats somehow I don't like malai kofta that much. For those who love it, go for it, you'll love it for sure.

Bhatti nu Dal:

Bringing Punjab to the table was the famous kaali daal. Really well prepared & great in taste.

Chelow Kebab:

Chelow doesn't need any introduction, atleast to a Kolkatan who has heard the name of Peter cat. However be advised that's not the only way to prepare it. infact the chelow from Peter Cat has seemed overhyped to me everytime I try it & expect to like it. Anyway Aura's Chelow is done a bit different. served on a shining rock plate was this lightly yellowed butter rice surrounded by kebabs, grilled tomato & condiments. The icing on the cake had to be the egg poached inside an onion ring. Looked cute, tasted great. However found the kebabs a bit on the drier side. Still a great dish nonetheless.

DESSERT:

Cream Caramel with Waffle Jalebi:

Caramel pudding topped with whipped cream & crunchy pieces of jalebi. Love pudding, love cream, love jalebi. There was no room to not like this sweet dish.

Melting Chocolate Mud Pie:

Chocolate pie stuffed with hot molten chocolate & served with vanilla ice cream. Again nothing can go wrong with hot chocolate, mud pie & vanilla ice cream. Really.

Kiwi Marquise:

Layers of  vanilla & kiwi cheesecake topped with kiwi slice & kiwi compote. Attractive in looks, but needed a bit more sweetness as per my taste.

To say this one was a gastronomic delight would be an understatement & gross misjudgement on my part. To taste so many varied dishes in one meal, was nothing short of impossible both for us & the chef. Each & every dish had its unique flavour & most of them did impress us. Two or three items did not quite suit me, but that's strictly a personal opinion. & if you have made it to this line, I would definitely suggest this restaurant & ask you to overlook the overall rating. Surely Aura won't disappoint.

They are also going to introduce a Bengali thali shortly, which I'm eager to taste.

Surely visit again,

Until then

Happy eating

Cheers!

It was a tanwyee's treat & was supposed to be somewhere else.However the first one being yet not open for the day she proposed to kill the time at this one. Had already heard about their innovative experimental dosas, & me being an out & out dosa lover immediately agreed to the idea.

Location wise it was quite easy to find. From Deshapriya park crossing walk towards southern avenue, right beside 'Zeeshan' you'll find this outlet. A repurposed old residential building, if I'm not wrong, this seems a bit out of place that a south indian restaurant operates from some of the rooms. The air conditioned seating area seats around twenty five people.

Coming to the food we ordered the following items. Tried to order their mutton delicacies, which unfortunately weren't available.

1. Button Idli Chicken Curry:

We started the meal with this one. Small mini idlis & chunks of chicken immersed in a bowl of what seemed to be a variation of sambar Dal. However on tasting we found out although the curry leaves dominated the curry, it's far more spicier & oilier & undoubtedly tastier than regular saambar. The chicken pieces were bland to one of our friend's taste, I however found them quite soft & juicy & the curry gravy quite enjoyable with the button idlis.

2. Chicken Cheese Masala Dosa:

The next item to arrive at the table was a Chicken Cheese Masala Dosa. Well it was not as super sized as some south indian restaurants usually serve, but still was adequate for a single person. The filling comprised of mashed potato , veggies & minced chicken meat blended together along with generous amount of cheese. Generally other joints use grated cheese between the dosa & the filling, but here we found thin  noodles of cheese inside, & it was quite fun trying to bite the dosa in a pizza style.

3. Egg Mushroom Cheese Butter Masala Dosa:

To say the truth I didn't have anything in mind & ordered the highest priced dosa under the 'egg dosa' section , & thank God that I did. Coz unanimously this one was declared best of the lot. The button mushrooms covered in semi fried gooey eggs, the melting cheese all wrapped in a masala dosa which was fried in butter, it just had to be delicious. All of us liked this finger licking good item.

All in all this has to be the best south indian food I had lately. Of course that has something to do with my love for poultry, egg , mushroom & cheese. Really loved the idea of giving this non veg twist to the usual veg items. One more thing the dosas were so tasty, we just didn't touch the accompanying sambars & chutneys.

Will definitely visit again & recommend to my friends.

Till then happy eating,

Cheers,

Deep.

PS. The total bill came to be 390 rs which is quite pocket friendly if not dirt cheap. Surely another good reason to pay them a visit.

I have been to this outlet before & had their kachhi biryani, which I didn't find exceptional, & service a tad bit slow.

However looking for a restaurant which would deliver to my place, came across this one again. Also they were having this promotion of 20% discount on online payment, this couldn't possible be missed. Fired up the Zomato app & ordered the following items:

1. Veg Pulao:

Ample amount of rice for one person with chunks of cottage cheese, carrots & peas. However could have been a bit sweeter.

2. Handi Biryani:

At 350 rs this at first seemed a bit over priced to order for two persons. But trust me the amount of rice they put in the clay pot can easily feed four. The no. Of chicken pieces are only two though, so should have ordered a side dish to go with it. Chicken pieces were soft, rice flavourful & the potato well cooked. However the chicken moti kebabs present along were not upto the mark & could have been much much tastier.

3. Boondi & mixed Raita:

Although the quantity was much much more than expected for the price of rs 35, however quality was not upto the mark. Boondi one could have done with a bit more spices. While the mixed one had far too less veggies overall.

4. Firni:

This one has to be the best firni available in behala. Surely. Soft creamy & definitely value for money when you get it for rs 35! Surely will order this again!

All in all a mixed experience. Definitely value for money meal. However the Raita spoiled the show.Delivery time was fine, considering the outlet is located nearly 5kms from my home.

Will surely order from them again,

Till then,

Happy eating,

Cheers!

Deep