RESTAURANT REVIEW: Baccara Club Lounge, Kolkata

It’s very infrequent that an eatery checks almost all the boxes, especially mine. So when i find a restaurant that does, it is obvously very satisfying. It was an early evening visit for me, i wanted to see for myself whether all the hoopla about 'BACCARA Club Lounge' was true of not.

What struck me as very insightful on the owners part was the application of a themed restaurant concept, or to be honest. A multi themed concept. The themes are well thought out and very well implemented. The location is is very convenient too.  Its at at very sweet spot bang on Ashutosh Mukherjee Road, walking distance from Exide more/ Netaji Bhawan Metro station, Forum Mall, and very easily locatable by cabs too.

THE THEMES/AREAS:
The ground floor is a modern, art, casual, family dining area, with warm and fresh appeal. The artwork on the walls make the area look contemporary and upbeat. The flight of stairs to the first floor feels like an emirates or qatar airways flight. It literally transports you to a mid-eastern desert cabana sans the sand and hot breeze. The cabanas themselves are pretty cozy and comfortable. The colour scheme is predominantly red based and coupled with the lighting and music and the hookahs, this floor gets one totally transfixed. The second floor has a more corporate vibe to it. It is a work in progress, and i am sure that it will be a blast once its ready.

THE FOOD

PERI PERI CHICKEN:
The meat was very well marinated, and the flavor was a mouthful. Our host mentioned that special care is taken so that meat kept its moisture and yet didn’t feel under seasoned. The reddish color of the meat highlighted the ravishing flavor of the dish.

JUJHE KEBAB:
Once again chunky pieces of meat cooked to perfection. Lime was the dominant flavor of this dish and the taste was very well balanced by the chutney. Super thumbs up.

CHEESY VEG RANGOON:
This once again was great, the wrapping was thin, the three cheese filling was sumptuous and they were fried to perfection. The downside however was the sauce served along with, its was too tangy and cut through the creamy after taste of the cheese.

PHILADELPHIA STUFFED MUSHROOM: 
One of the best mushroom dishes I have had till date. As with all their dishes, the seasoning and coking was spot on. The cheese was good and complemented the other flavors of the dish. 

 

CHICKEN MALAIWALA WITH NAAN:
Lived up to its name, it oozed malai from all corners. The flavours were delicate,t he bread was perfectly done, crispy brown on top, soft white on the inside. If we hadn’t ordered this last, i could have atleast 5 platefuls. The best part was the gravy, it was not over spiced, very finely balanced and very smooth too.

THE BEVERAGES:

KITKAT SHAKE:
It had a lot of kit kat and was really well shaken. It was literally loaded with kitkat, the flavor was predominantly chocolaty, i would have liked a hint of salted caramel, but that’s just me. In my opinion they should have added whipped cream instead of ice cream. It was an excellent cooler and pretty heavy to. Even when we drank it after a while, it didn’t feel mushy as wafer based shakes tend to feel.

PO RIVER BLUE:
This drink took me back to my college summer afternoons when our best companions were ice slurry drinks. The blue curacao flavor was sumptuously added, the sliced mandarin peel lent a nice contrast and there were finely diced cherries in the drink that gives one something to chew upon.

WATERMELON MOJITO:
This is one of the most common drinks around, yet they added a bit of their own flavor to it.  It was amazingly refreshing.

THE HOOKAS:

One word answer : GRAND.  They are beautiful and just ooze grandeur. There are some modern ones too with a touch of LED technology, but the traditional ones look the best. 

As I said in the beginning, its not very often that a restaurant checks most boxes, but I can assure you that BACCARA Club Lounge does. When you eat their food, you feel that effort and attention they have given to the what they serve you. The service was warm, the staff was very helpful and took care of every small request we had . It’s a 4.5 stars from my side. Overall it was a very good evening at BACCARA Club Lounge, do visit this place. The staff, the food and drinks and hookah are worth every penny, and the ambience was a great plus. I will be re-visiting soon….see you guys too.

AT A GLANCE:

RESTAURANT NAME: BACCARA Club Lounge

ADDRESS: 2, Dr. Rajendra Road, Bhawanipur, Kolkata
PHONE NUMBER: 033 30859062 (Table booking recommended)
OPENING HOURS: 12Noon to 11PM
AVERAGE COST: INR 1200 for two people (approx.) 

Lastly, we would like to thank Baccara Lounge and First Idea PR for having us over :)