2030 hours, June 13, 2016, Monday, Juhu:
The Prelude:
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Is it a hookah parlour? Is it a restropub? Is it a rooftop? Is it a dance club? Is it a Sportsbar? Nopes, it is R’Adda.
Welcome to the newbie night life hotspot in the location. A venture of RichBoyz Entertainment, the place is just a week old but is already drawing rave reviews. Located on the top floor of Raj Shetty’s Ramee Guestline, it has positioned itself very strategically in the city.
The Personality:
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I get to meet one of the four partners of the brand - the young and enthusiastic Gaurav Parikh. Their venture is known as RichBoyz, which believe it or faint, has been now for ten years in its operation. Pray when did they actually start - in their sophomore years?
“We have been mAnasultanging clubs in Mumbai(Hype, Squeeze, Enigma, Poison & Valhalla) ever since. We have also mAnasultanged clubs in other cities like Delhi, Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Surat”. MAnasultanging means? “PR. Crowd control, Setting up schedules, Planning events. And basically trouble shooting. So you can say that we are seasoned in the game."
The Platter:
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We were invited to a Blogger’s table by @Nikita Gogri, with all the delicacies of the STEAMPOTRESTAURANT at our command.
MUTTON CHOPS(4.5 / 5): One of the stellar dishes, these were four mutton chops with a strong marinade. The meat was cooked well and it didn’t take me a lot of labour to bite it off the bone. Sufficiently spiced up, and well chewy. The accompanying french fries were ornamental at best. Pleasant, but not really necessary.
WRAPED(?) PRAWNS(5 / 5): Large juicy gobs of prawns, cooked in a spicy marinade, and then wrapped in a wafer like embrace. The crunch added a lot of glamour to the already glorious juicy meat. So alluring that I rued when I had gobbled them all up. I was thankful that I was the sole carnivore on the table, and every bite was sufficiently savoured. Yet something tells me that I had bitten more than I could chew, that the memories of these delights are going to haunt me for a long long time.
CHEESE CORN NUGGETS(4 / 5): A cheese burst delight. Golden fritters holding oozing mozzarella in their womb. Deep fried true, but the contrast of textures is always winsome, and there was no complaining here as well.
PAV BHAJI FONDUE(3.5 / 5): Nice cheese-y Pav Bhaji fondue with crisp, butter laden pavs. The bhaji was not very heavy on the palate, it was not unnecessarily spicy, and the flavor reeked of authenticity. Always a delight to have.
DAL KHICHDI(3.5 / 5): Looking back, I happily feel that we had ordered the right things, this unusual item being one of them. Luscious dal khichdi, nicely flowing buttery texture, and served piping hot. Had with the following item, it is one of the best combinations I always cherish.
BHUNA GHOST(?) PARATHA(3.5 / 5): Super preparation - lamb meat slow cooked in an onion tomato ginger garlic thick gravy seemingly for a long period of time. Thankfully the green chilies were conspicuous by their presence, and the green bells by their absence - the former possess an inherent tendency to lend their strong winning aroma to meat, and the latter, more often than not, ruin the dish. Show me a man who loves bell pepper with meat, and I will show you a strong candidate for a shrink’s couch. The consistency and the rich flavour of the fare exhibited deft cooking - the meat was simmered in its own juice rather than water being added to it. The only thing I can fault on is the absence of minced meat in the mash - a combination of cubes and mince together would have raised the fare to an altogether different level. And I speak out of experience.
DESSERT / BEVERAGES:
ORANGE AND BASIL(2.5 / 5): Orange+ Basil+ Lime+ Sugar+ Soda. Unfortunately an adventure gone wrong. Perhaps I had very high expectations, perhaps the combination itself failed. This was just syrupy sweet lime juice in aerated water. Very unidimensional, very lacklustre, the twang was missing. What could’ve been done more here? A dash of rock salt? A green chili kick? Ginger? I don’t know.
BAKED CHEESE CAKE WITH GINGER ICE CREAM(4.5 / 5): The best for the last of course. The cheesecake was delightfully soft and creamy without being extra calorific, and the ginger ice cream came up tops. It was rightly gingery, mildly biting and superbly presented. The sliver of dark chocolate stuck atop added further oomph - a feather in the scoop, literally speaking. They could do well with increasing the scoop size though, it will add a few more oohs and aahs.
The Postlude:
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And with this we are touching merely the tip of the ice berg. The USP of the place is its range of cocktails, which is going to be its biggest draw. Who wouldn’t like to have a Kadak maal? Again one of the significant crowd pullers is the efficient pricing. The rates are so good, you would want to visit this place even as a matter of course, apart from any special occasions. And particularly on Thursdays, which is a cele_45brated as a Models’ Night. Whoa! The four partners seem to know their metiers well - socialITES_Company, collegians, corporates and operations - they seem to have divided their work amongst themselves after recognizing appropriate fortes. There cannot be any better recipe for success.
The Parameters:
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The Food Quotient: Food Quality: 4.5/5, Food Choices: 4.5/5, Food Portions: 4.5/5, Food Presentation: 4.5/5
The Other Determinants: Location: 5 / 5, Cleanliness: 5 / 5, Warmth: 5 / 5
The Hygiene Factors: Ambiance: 4.5 / 5, Space Quotient: 4 / 5, Delivery Time: 4 / 5
The Conclusives: Pricing: 4.5 / 5, Honesty: 5 / 5, Overall Experience: 4.5 / 5, Will I visit Again: 5 / 5.
The Ps:
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