Barring Food

depicting streets from around the world. By now it is evident to even the most obtuse observers that street food from around the world is the restaurant bar’s

central motif.

The wait staff is skeletal,comprising,for the duration of our afternoon visit,one server and one assistant manager,judging from her lack of uniform. The reasons for this could either be because the restaurant’s terrace floor is under renovation or because the staff is just so efficient. After having waited 17 minutes (yes,we timed them) to be noticed and then being offered the menu (after remarking we’ll probably be served tomorrow in strident tones),we decide it’s definitely not the latter reason.

The alcohol is extremely inexpensive,with a pint of Carlsberg setting you back 97 bucks,a pittance when compared to the prices of other dining establishments. Other alcohol is similarly priced. Think Mybar with better ambience,but distressingly similar music (comprising Pitbull and his other pop cohorts,played at a volume that would deafen the average infant).

Perhaps it’s culinary cowardice,but about 90 per cent of the non-vegetarian menu is chicken. The vegetarian options are similarly fowl,with paneer and potato (‘the other chicken’ as it were) ruling the roost. Resigned to our fates,we order the Tequila Chicken Tikka (how can one not) and Chicken Adobo with sweet Soya (er,they mean soy surely?). For our mains,we luckily espy a Mutton Seekh Wrap in a section marked Wrapped Up.

The tikka clearly believes greatly in the power of suggestion,as we cannot discern even a trace of tequila,or any other alcohol,making it a low-spirited dish to say the least. Perhaps the chefs forgot that alcohol dissipates when exposed to hot things like,say,fire. The Adobo,on the other hand,delivers what it promises,with enough soy(a) to stock a Chinese kitchen for a month. And then there’s the wrap,with an astounding lack of wrap,merely comprising seekhs kebabs. Upon enquiry,we are informed though we were expecting a normal wrap,with “seekhs wrapped in paper” (a verbatim explanation),this is actually a “wrapped up” dish. We take a cue and wrap up the “meal”.