Restaurant Review - Salsa At The Corinthians Resort & Club Pune
In the beginning of this year, I shifted to a new house which overlooks The Corinthians Resort & Club, a luxurious resort across 25 acres. I have been to their Brewery a couple of times before but always wanted to check out their restaurants but never managed to make it as I always end up going to my standard favorite restaurants in the other side of town. However, this desire of mine and my mom's was finally fulfilled when I was invited to Mughlai Magic - the Kebab and Biryani Festival at their restaurant Salsa a few days ago.
Salsa is a vibrant multi cuisine restaurant which offers delicious Mediterranean and Indian cuisine and I got to try a wide range of authentic Biryanis and feast on lots of delicious Kebabs.
To start with the vegetarian Kebabs, there was the Kaju Paneer Pudina Tikki (Cashew, Cottage Cheese & Mint Cutlet), Stuffed Soya Kebab and Shahi Kebab (Royal Kebab). All three were really good but what particularly stood out was the Stuffed Soya Kabab, the white one in the middle. It was perfectly tender and juicy and stuffed with what looked like a spinach paste. In spite of being a hardcore carnivore, I really liked all three.
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The Non Vegetarian fare consisted of the Murg Kalimiri Kebabs, Fish Chitra Kebab and Lamb Seekh Kebab. My favorite out of the three was the Murg Kalimiri as it was tender and flavorful and was an absolute delight to my taste buds. My mom preferred the Fish Chitra Kabab as she is a huge fish lover (Coincidentally her name is Chitra too haha)
When it comes to Biryani, there was a wide range of them. In the vegetarian section, I was surprised to see Kathal Ki Biryani ( Jackfruit Biryani) because I never thought that existed and knew that I had to try it. It was pretty good actually! Being a huge lamb lover, I also had the Kacche Gosht Ki Biryani was exactly how a good Biryani should be. However, the biggest winners which blew my mind away were the contents of the two bowls on my plate. One was Dal Makhani (black lentil soup), one of the best I've ever had in Pune and the other was Mirchi Ka Salan which took me back in time, straight to Hyderabad again. For those who don't know about it, Mirchi Ka Salan is a popular spicy curry in Hyderabadi cuisine and is served along with Biryanis and Hyderabad is a city famous for its Biryanis. Before I moved to Pune, I was living in Hyderabad for three years so I've eaten a lot of Biryani and Mirchi Ka Salan.
Okay, so here's another tid bit about me for all my international readers - I originally belong to a city called Kolkata which is in the East of India (but I've never lived there as my dad was in the army) and is famous for its sweets. There are sweet shops everywhere and we have lots of special varieties of Bengali sweets. In fact, I just went to Kolkata earlier this month for a family function. The strange part now - I can't tolerate Bengali sweets! I don't like most Indian sweets with a few exceptions, and one of them is Gulab Jamun. Oh my god, I love Gulab Jamun. When I was a kid, I'd make my mom buy a pack and make them at home and would devour like 10-15 in one go. I don't buy them anymore because my daily food intake is already enough to feed a family of four. So, moving on to desserts, you guessed it right, I had my favorite - Gulab Jamun. If you ever get a chance to try these, make sure you do, and you'll know what I'm talking about :)
Overall, I loved the food and service at Salsa and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new place to dine in Pune. And as I type this, I can see the Corinthians outside my window and can't wait to go back again and try more from their menu. Have any of you tried Indian food? What was your favorite?