The right KICK

Posters of Manchester United player Wayne Rooney,Real Madrid Christiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi,all clinically striking the football,adorn the walls of the Whatt! Sports Bar,located off the busy Ahmednagar highway,near Viman Nagar. Another wall is adorned with pictures of Jimi Hendrix,bands like Metallica,Rage against the Machine,Iron Maiden amongst others. The ambiance appears to be a cross over between a football stadium and a rock band concert,with a pool table,bar stools wooden furniture and low lighting completing the settings. Whatt! Sports Bar aims to merge the common love for these factors,with football occupying the top priority. Launched in August,the brainchild of Tarun Gunjal,the place currently hosts all English and Spanish Premier League games on weekends to,more often than not,packed crowds.

The entrance to the sports bar is a delight for any football lover with flags of teams like Manchester United,Real Madrid and Liverpool FC adoring the staircase entrance to the place and metal plates of the same clubs on the stairs. Of course the ambiance itself is the highlight of the place. While Gunjal who is of the opinion that both cricket and football have a huge fan following in the city,he also mentions that there is a niche audience that demands games like Basketball and Baseball to be screened. Also instead of using a giant screen the place boasts of three separate screens.

The place also boasts of a full-fledged Continental,Chinese and Indian menu to go along with the games. The menu has a regular range of tandoori chicken and kebabs,the chinese appetisers and main course dishes. The Continental menu is a limited affair with the occasional American Chopsuey thrown in to provide the far western zing into the same. The bar is limited to the regular cocktails,shots,mocktails,which are available at most places in the city. There is limited scope for innovation but given the fact that they have branded themselves as a full-fledged sports bar,it would have been a nice touch to see dishes or even drinks named after the famous sportsmen or rockstars,whose posters and flags adorn the walls of the place.

In the coming future,the sports bar plans to introduce various shot glasses branded with the logos of the various football teams for fans to pledge their alliance with. Although a change in the very predictable menu would do wonders to whet the appetite of a fanatic football fans amidst the maddening excitement of the game.