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Friday 30 June 2017

The Clock Tower Gurgaon - Visit at your own risk

I don't know what so much fuss is all about. Yet another brewery feather in the cap of gurgaon. But this one is quite the disaster. I went to clock tower on a Saturday night and well it seemed we were not welcome there

Firstly I wanted to be seated on the first floor and the waiter told us there were no tables vacant there. I insisted I would like to see for myself. I realized there were a lot of free tables and because the floor was only occupied by expats may be the restaurant thought we were the odd ones out and wanted us to sit on the ground floor.

So since I was not in the mood to argue we sat on the ground floor. This is the first brewery where I realized they don't have rights of admission reserved. I realized families were visiting with small kids and the place got really noisy despite the loud music. That's the distraction you don't want when you are looking to de - stress over a couple of drinks.

The ambiance is nice like an old Irish or an English pub. Very retro , very Countryside English, decent music, decent service , quite the courteous staff but they fail to deliver on 2 important aspects - Food and beer. I tasted the wheat beer which was flatish without a proper beer fizz. So I stuck to ordering a cosmopolitan which to my shock was served in a brandy balloon. Well who serves a cocktail in a brandy balloon?

My cosmopolitan was bad. Plain bad... I couldn't taste a drop of cranberry juice in it. Thankfully the courteous server came to my rescue and offered to change my drink. The second one was much better if not perfect. We ordered jalapeno corn poppers and loaded cheese nachos.

I know restaurants are into cost cutting now a days and this place proved just that because we realised they had added green chilli instead of jalapeno in the poppers. Disgraceful! The loaded nachos were ok. With the sad experience of the appetizers I told my husband let's just try one item in the mains and then decide. Tha paneer tikka roll was above average so we decided to leave it at that & not order anymore.

Clock tower - One place I won't recommend. Try it at your own risk

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Johnny Rockets India - Disappointing

My very first experience with what I would call gourmet fast food at Johnny Rockets and it was completely disastrous. Had been wanting to visit them in the past 2 years and finally got a chance to visit them this weekend only to get disappointed.

Located just next to Jamies Pizzaria I had very high hopes from Johnny 's. The ambiance is typical American QSR / cafe style. The staff is dressed in crisp white uniforms and the menu is quite elaborate. I decided to order the unlimited meal and my husband stuck to ordering usual a la carte.

I ordered the meal with Paneer double cheddar + onion rings + cheese fries + veg totes + mocha shake + strawberry shake + Veg houston burger + house salad and my husband ordered a veg bacon cheddar of course minus the bacon and a peanut butter shake .

With the a la carte menu I expected the quantity of the shakes to be more. The size of the burger in a la carte is also as small as the unlimited meal. My paneer burger was absolutely bland with zero taste and flavor. The onion rings were flavorless. The fries were soggy. The lettuce of the house salad was wilty, brown, tasted absolutely stale and flavorless. The houston burger was the saving grace. But the highlight were the shakes having tried the Mocha, strawberry and peanut butter I would say Jhonny is a great place to come try the shakes but definitely not the burgers and food.

I am extremely disappointed with this experience and infer that the quality has gone down probably because of their mass sale of unlimited deal which is making them compromise on quality and taste. It breaks my heart when I say even the food at Mc Donald's tastes better flavour wise. But Jhonny's is definitely a no no for me.

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Fantom Bar Exchange - Another new place to party in Gurugram

What do you do when you are happy? Celebrate with food and drinks. Right ? And what does one do when ones sad? Sulk by hogging and drinking 😉😉 I was so sad my vacation got cancelled so I landed at fantom for a session of eating, drinking and sulking in depression.

Located in the south point mall of golf course road this place is a new entrant in the brewery segment on Golf course road. The ambiance is nice and peppy and they have a huge seating. They are almost packed at all times in the evenings owing to the fact that it's located very close to a lot of corporate offices. Of course since I landed on a Friday night I could barely manage a table for two.

The menu is the usual like most breweries with the same pizza, pasta, Chinese and Indian options and nothing unique or different. The alcohol is reasonable owing to the fact that they operate on a bar exchange model. So you can choose and take advantage of the fluctuating prices.

We chose to have some wheat beer and a red wine Sangria with some nachos with cheese and Duo of Paneer Tikka. The service is pretty swift even though they can be operating at full capacity and the servers are really helpful and courteous.

By the way the wheat beer is super awesome here and so is the Sangria. This is one of the very few places in Gurgaon that impressed me with a decent portion of Sangria and also in terms of flavor and aroma. The nachos come in a good portion but did not have a great guacamole like the menu description mentioned. A miss there I guess.

The paneer tikka was soft and mushy and come in two flavors marinated in a tandoori masala and with a mint masala. The Music is super awesome and reminds you of your childhood days.

All in all a great place to party

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Kaiser - The Moughlai Gem in the heart of Gurugram!

OMG!!What a fabulous meal. For 880/- bucks the food was superbly delightful.

Tucked away in DLF phase 4 near super mart 2 in Gurgaon Kaiser is a non vegetarians dream come true and quite under rated. They have very limited seating but it's just enough. This must probably be a 15 cover restaurant but the food is definitely something to talk about.

I am glad we decided to skip old Delhi in such heat and raided this place for Lunch post Bhai's movie tube light last Sunday for a pre Eid treat.

The menu has some great options at very reasonable prices. Any awadhi / North Indian dish you imagine is right here on the menu. What's even interesting is the array of breads being served including khamiri or shreemal which you would not find in most gurgaon restaurants.

Vegetarians do not have many options but the ones that are there are power packed and delicious. The passion of the owners for the food they serve clearly reflects in what comes to your table. Their passion reflects on your palate which is blown away by the delectable and delicious food that you eat here.

My husband ordered a Mutton Nihari and I had a Paneer Changezi with some superbly fluffy Khamiri Roti. I am a vegetarian by choice and not out of any religious compulsion so I taste the nihari gravy and a miniscule piece of meat. The Nihari was nice and spicy and tender; so tender that the mutton fell off the bone. Full marks there for the spiciness quotient too. You can compare this Nihari definitely with the best of the best being served in Old Delhi today.

My Paneer changezi was Rich; thick and spicy and delicious, unlike any paneer dish I have ever tasted. The semi gravy was spicy and oh so delicious, definitely one of the best paneer dishes I have ever tasted. I absolutely Loved it.

The Firni was delicious and they treated us to a Shahi tukda on the house which had just the perfect amount of sweetness.

The bill did not pinch our pockets, the food was delicious, the portion sizes absolutely perfect and service with a smile. This place is a complete package. What a perfect Lunch a day before Eid. Eid Mubarak guys. And I can't help raving about the soul satiating meal I had here. Thank God Gurgaon has Kaiser. I am definitely coming back with a bigger appetite very soon.

Just one tip - Carry Cash, their Card machine may not work.

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