Restaurant Review - Lord Of The Drinks Pune
Lord Of The Drinks is a Delhi based resto-lounge which opened up in Kalyani Nagar, Pune a couple of months ago. I recently dined there so here's my review of the place. Just like their other outlets in Delhi and Mumbai, the Pune LOTD also boasts of an ambiance that takes you to a medieval era with it's classy wooden interiors and elegant lighting and chandeliers. Besides the closed indoor section, you can take the curved stairwell that leads to the open air terrace level which has more of a casual vibe and offers multi-level seating and bar of course!
After looking at the extensive menu which offers soups, salads, starters, dimsums, tandoori tapas, square meals, pizzas, pasta, burgers, sandwiches (which they call samiches), bento boxes, full square meals and desserts, I think they should be called Lord Of Food and Drinks! Since it is a Delhi based chain, there is a lot of North Indian influence in the menu along with fusion dishes which are inspired by global and Indian cuisines. The bar menu has a wide range of unique and interesting cocktails along with the usual bar favorites like beers, IMFLs, scotches, single malts and select wines.
I started with the Asian Cooler which was a refreshing blend of white rum, cucumber juice, basil leaves, lime juice, syrup, bitters and rose water. This was delicious and absolutely perfect to beat the heat.
My friend tried the Harry Potter inspired Butter beer which consisted of vanilla vodka, beer, tennessee honey, whiskey, caramel syrup, egg white and apple juice. The coolest part was the bubbling froth which actually made the drink quite interesting to look at besides it's taste! All the Potterheads out there should try this out!
And now for the food, we started off with the Kalonji Mutton kebabs which were a lot like seekh kebabs but were different in color.
We also had the Malabar style char grilled prawns which had a coconut cream type marinade and was absolutely heavenly.
For those you love Bengali Mustard fish, make sure you try their version of this tikka which has sole fish marinated in coriander and mustard.
Another interesting dish we tried were the Butter Chicken Croquettes which consisted of crispy crumbed butter chicken but this one was a tad disappointing as the butter chicken lacked the same taste as what we get in the north so I don't recommend this dish.
I washed these down with the Cucumber Sour - an interesting variation of a whiskey sour which has rum, gin, lime juice, cucumber syrup, egg white and thyme. I loved this one too as it was really refreshing and unique. I'm not a fan of sweet stuff so this was perfect for me.
Moving on to the main heroes of the meal, we first ordered the Bhori Keema Pav which was just pefect and the way authentic keema pav should be. We nailed it in no time. I totally recommend you to try it out.
We also had Pepper Pistachio Mutton Korma with Malabar Parota. This rich gravy was really flavorful and the star of my meal. I am definitely going back for this. Absolute favorite!
Last but not the least we tried the Bull Fire made of vodka, rum, gin, tequila, blue curacao, red bull, passion fruit, red wine! This was a potent LIIT and was served in a majestic manner too.
Overall, we had a great time at Lord of the Drinks and were horribly stuffed with all that yum food! Give this place a try!
