Shikara - Kalyani Nagar, Pune

Time for the review of Shikara, probably one of the best restaurants when it comes to the authentic North Indian taste and flavours. Move over the Punjabi flavours, the restaurant boasts of amazing lip-smacking Kashmiri cuisines. Located in Kalyani Nagar opposite Gold Adlabs (Big Cinemas), it is an ideal place for a well planned dinner.

Locating the restaurant is easy since it is the sister resturant of Cassanova, an Italian restaurant. We shall discuss more about Cassanova in some other blog. Undoubtably, Shikara is the better one when it comes to some authentic lip-smacking food. Located at the top floor, the ambience is just fine. The architecture though it quite nicely planned. The shape of a boat (Shikara is a house boat found in kashmir) is quite evident. Since some of the corners tables are damp, you need to search for a good one. The rooftop restaurant is not air conditioned, so it is suggested that you choose the right weather while planning a visit. Both summers and winters with clear weather would suit as the place is adequately comfortable. The tables are large and spacious and the cushions are a real plus.

The restaurant offers both hookah and liquor(a must with some delicious chicken and lamb). To the menu card, the dishes have been named in peculiar kashmiri and hindi, so I would suggest you to either read the discription or confirm with the waitors before you order. The staff is well informed and cordial. We went about trying moctails which were, to be frank, average. Moving to the starters, Shahi Kumbh (Mushroom Kebabs) was awesome. The mushroom had been nicely marinated and the spices had sept so nicely inside the succulent mushroom that every bite into the juicy mushrooms was a treat. The spices were authentic North-Indian combination and the dish was absolutely perfect. I could hardly think of another place where I could find such amazingly done Mushroom kebabs in Pune. The expectations were rising with an absolute mind blowing treat of mushrooms. So right at the beginning, Shahi Kumbh is highly recommended. Next in line was some chicken. Although not the best but the taste was amazing and was very well marinated like the mushrooms.

For the main course, we went for Shahi Paneer, Dal Makhani, Lamb and Rajma. It took quite some time and two reminders for the main course to arrive though. So make sure you have a lot of free time whenever you plan to visit this place. The food finally arrived, and it gave an average look. But again the expectations were high after the amazing starters as far as the taste was concerned. The Rajma was the original Kashmiri Rajma and it was such a delight to find them in Pune. The Dal Makhani was above average, since it was quite bland as compared to the other preparations. The lamb was nicely garnished and the curry was smelling of cinnamon. The high point of the main course though was the shahi paneer, done amazingly with the slight taste of mint in the preparation. The roomali roti was a trun off and is not recommended, the Kulcha however was very good. Rice is something for which Kashmiris have a great liking and there were high expectations. The rice were long and looked amazing, but lacked the essential aroma.

Not much of a choice when it came to the desserts, so we decided to give it a miss. The liquor department was left untouched as the ones being served were the regular ones like any other restaurant. Hooka was an additional plus and can be enjoyed when you have ample time to spend.

Coming to another important part, the pricing, the restaurant is priced above average. The dinner for two could cost as much as 1500 without desserts. But the food is worth the price.

To end with, the restaurant is highly recommended on a leisurely evening when you want to dig those teeth into some tasty food.

Rating:

Food - 4.5/5

Ambience - 3/5

Copacabana - Wakad, Pune

Copacabana is a medium priced liquor serving restaurant located about 6 kilometers from Hinjewadi in Wakad. The nearest landmarks are the Cafe Coffee Day outlet and Hotel Khyber Pass which are located next to this restaurant. The restaurant is not difficult to locate as it is situated on the main road.

I walked into the restaurant with the esteemed company of 15-18 of my work-mates. Firstly, there was ample parking space in the restaurant and thats a plus point when compared to the nearby food joints where you have to park your vehicle on the road. The exterior ambiance was not superb but the joint was clean.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were glad to see the waiters dressed in Caribbean style shorts and shirts. Although the restaurant is into the expansion phase, yet it was nicely maintained. It took us a lot of time finding a suitable place for seating 15-18 people. Plus there is no scope to have any sort of amusement activity at the place as it is a typical restaurant. So waiting without some great company can be a task. So, if you are planning to come down, please ensure that you have a reservation done.

We finally found a suitable place, the menu was nicely written although it did not offer much variety in terms of vegetarian dishes. The non-veg section had some good choices though. We decided to dig our teeth into almost everything in the menu card which looked interesting.

Sparing liquor which holds the same taste everywhere, the mocktails were nicely made and served and they offered a lot of choice. Though the ones with mango pulp were bland and tasted like ice minus mango. I would recommend Virgin Mary as a suitable option for Mocktails.

The soups were rich although not many decided to try them but I did not want to miss out on reviewing the soup section. The tomato soup was rich and was perfect, but the chicken soup lacked consistency. The starters were served with quite some delay, so be prepared for the same while placing orders. When they finally arrived, they were wholesome in quantity. The chicken was nicely marinated, whereas the contents of the veg platter were poorly done and needed more marination and better cooking and was simply too bland. So was the case with cottage cheese, which was not marinated before cooking and hence lacked taste. For the vegetarians, honey-chilly-mushroom is a recommendation which should be tried out. In non-veg, prawns were a total disaster, and I strongly recommend against it. Chicken had limited choices but was nicely done.

The wait for the main course was lesser as compared to the starters, though here too, the non vegetarian dishes were much more nicely prepared as compared to the vegetarian dishes. There is a limited choice for vegetarian dishes and I recommend that one should go in for the less spicy varieties as the spicier vegetables were cooked in a lot of oil and were almost overflowing with it. The chicken dishes were again the best among the non-veg offerings. The rice, specially the pulav was really nice. among the bread, Naan was the best as the rumali rotis were crying for improvement.

Overall, the quantity of food was adequate and the quality was above average. The restaurant does not offer any kind of corporate discounts and has all standard payment methods available. The restaurant offers value for money.

Ratings:
Ambiance : 3/5
Food : 3/5