I must say while walking out of the place I was so glad that I was invited here & even more glad that I did not heed to last minute requests from my cerebral matter to skip the meet.
This place is a new & definitely welcome addition at the InOrbit Mall. Its a virtual reality based sports entertainment place with a pretty good cafe & bar named Unforked.
Lets start with the entertainment & then move to the food:)
Here is what we tried:
1) Bowling: Bowling alley no less than any of the existing ones in the city.
2) Finger Coaster: Design the roller coaster yourself, using your finger on a screen, get your Occulus on & get seated. Finger Coaster will then drive you through the roller coaster that you had designed. One can make this to make it as complicated or as easy as one would like, so a customized roller coaster basically, depending on how adventurous one is.
3) Super Keeper: A simulated goalie is posted on the goal to stop your kicks from reaching the goal post. Was informed that seven successive goals will make you win a Harley Davidson bike & 3 people in Mumbai have actually won it! Get your football shoes on & get going! Or should I say goaling;)
4) Vertigo: This one is for both, people who are afraid of heights & the ones who aren’t. Ones who aren’t afraid of heights will get an amazing virtual feel of walking on a wooden plank placed between 2 buildings, the wooden plank is wide enough just to place both your feet & the virtual building look so high from the Occulus that its just amazing. For the ones who are afraid of heights, this is a nice one to start with conquering the fear. The wooden plank that you are walking on is actually soft pathway & there are bean bags on both sides to save you from getting hurt even if you fall.
5) Smaash Cricket: This was the star attraction for me & they themselves call it their flagship product. They have analyzed & simulated actions & bowling of at least 12 international bowlers & have strategically placed a bowling machine & a screen such that the batsmen will get a virtual feel of the bowlers bowling at them. This was a wonderful thought, whoever came up with it. It has multiple levels, Beginner, Amateur, County & International. Beginner & Amateur can be played by many people who claim to have played Cricket. County & International are for the pro ones who can handle ball speeds of 120-145kmph. Due to the speed of the bowling at this level, one is not allowed to play those levels without the protective gear on. Not just the bowlers bowling at you, the shot that you hit is also analyzed to award runs depending on how well it was hit. If you score a boundary a replay of how you played the ball is shown on the screen. This was the best among all the sports entertainment, just loved it to the core.
Ok, enough of games & entertainment now, lets move on to the food aspect.
Lighting at the entertainment area is rightly dim, just enough to enjoy what is offered. Similar lighting was implemented at Unforked as well which almost all of us at the meetup suggested should be changed to brighter lighting & boom, they honored our request/suggestion and implemented it pretty quickly.
Ambience is of a sports bar with TVs, large & larger ones at that, placed on the walls broadcasting one Star Sports channel on each of them, we enjoyed a few Ashes overs while having the food.
Here is what we were served in terms of food:
Khaukswe Chicken Soup:
I am not a soup person but I liked this. This Coconut Milk based preparation had nice flavor & the glass noodles in it were pretty good for a first times. You rarely should bother whether you order the chicken variant of this or the veg one as its the soup that makes all the difference & its nice.
Cheese Rekak:
Simply put these are spring rolls with cheese & peppers as the main filling, it just melt in the mouth after passing the crispy outsides.
Chicken Yakitori:
Amazing Japanese type chicken on skewers was served with Wasabi sauce which had the strongest ever wasabi kick I have experienced. These were amazing.
Grilled Chicken Saslik:
Well marinated chicken served on skewers, slightly different from Yakitori in terms of its flavor & the dip that was accompanying it was pretty good.
Bhut Jholokia Chicken Wings:
Extremely Spicy. Bhut Jholokia is considered to be the one of the hottest chilli pepper in the world & it lived up to its reputation. Chicken Wings which were spiced up using this were spicier than I had expected. I still feel that the chef was kind enough to use small quantity of the pepper otherwise the dish may become too difficult to handle, especially for the people who are not used to hot stuff. One batch of these was uncooked & was replaced with well cooked ones.Peri Peri Chicken Burger:
Huge burger served with french fried & sauce. Two super crispy patties served between two nice & soft buns with pretty healthy amounts of mayo placed on lettuce, this was a winner. Wasn’t too spicy considering it was Peri Peri.
Grilled Greek Style Chicken:
Two pieces of chicken breast grilled to perfection dipped in sauces. Did not like the sauce, it was too salty for my palate. Its served with hummus & pita, which I did not taste. Probably the only downer in the main meal.
Thai Green Curry Prawn:
Nice flavored Thai Green Curry except for the fact that I felt it was a little too dilute than what I would expect it to be. Prawns were well done & deveined properly. Steamed rice served with this was amazing, the aroma as soon as it was served onto the plate was so inviting, loved it.
Chicken Club Sandwich:
Though I did not have this item, it deserves a special mention in my review for its sheer size. Humongous slices of bread, doubly layered with loads of mayo & chicken in between. I did not want to try it after all I had had & after looking at its size:)
Dessert was an Ice Cream Sunday:
This was the downer of the meal. One scoop each of butterscotch, mango & strawberry placed in a bowl, no sauces. Except butterscotch which just about okay the other two were not in sync with the quality of the food served here.
Prices are a little on the higher side, but the portions of food are large as well, so I would not deduct too many points on the value for money front.
While we at this, I must admit that a lot of work seems to have been put in to get the menu ready. Names & Description of the sections of the menu are quirky & innovative. Two of the best ones were MYC-Mind Your Circumference & Indi Genous.
Service was slower to start with but it did pick up as the meal progressed & we were provided enough attention by the all-attentive staff & ever smiling staff.