Restaurant Review | Food N Snacks | Baner

I saw the name of this food joint few days ago on another website when I was searching for Bengali restaurants and without wasting any time I visited the place on next possible day and here I’m penning down my experience.

Ambiance:

The place is small but neat and clean. We visited the place at peak hours, place was full with hungry souls. They have single table on the ground floor in front of the kitchen and a table or two outside, just right in front of the entrance. As it was raining heavily outside we had to drop the idea of sitting outside and managed a seat in the mezzanine section. A single table with three chairs was available there in the whole place; right now they are using it as storage I guess. Hope they will add more tables to that place soon.

Food:

This was our unplanned visit and we had nothing specific in mind to order. So we scanned the menu and ordered for Fish Fry and Fish Finger as starter. Then we settled with Puri Bhaji and Chicken Kosha with Paratha.

Fish Fry

A perfect Fish Fry is all about the good bonding between crispy crunchy outer layer and soft delicate fish layer in between. I had tried so many places in Pune in the search of this heavenly fry (remember, it’s not just fried fish fillet) and the search was on until I has visited this place. Though their Fish fry is not typical Bengali style; the coriander-onion mixture layer on fish is somehow either missing or very thin. Other than that taste wise it is our perfect Bhetki Fish Fry with a large bhetki fillet and extreme crunch on breaded outer layer. The fish was cooked perfectly; neither burnt nor raw with the right amount of seasoning. It is a must try from their menu.

Fish Finger

Same words for Fish Finger too. Good amount of fish, great crunch and perfectly cooked delicate fish strips with correct seasoning. The only thing is if they serve Kasundi with it, I will be in 7^th heaven for sure!

Puri Bhaji:

First of all these are ‘puri’ not luchi as I expected. Luchis are made of maida and puris are made from atta. Honestly I was bit disappointed when I saw a plateful of puri coming towards me.

But then after taking first nibble I realized these puris were extremely soft and light; not oily or hard at all. Now I’m glad that I had tried these perfectly puffed up puris because this is the best puri I’ve tried so far. On the other hand bhaji was good alu sabzi (potato curry) with green peas but nothing great about it. They also provided pickle and raw onion which I enjoyed truly with the bhaji.

Chicken Kosha with Paratha

First of all the quality of chicken (with bone) was good and the Bengali Styles triangle parathas were made of atta not maida (sorry can’t escape from my bong nature). Chicken kosha didn’t taste like typical Bengali styled but it tasted good. Probably fragrant Bengali spices were missing in the dish.

The chicken was cooked well, spices were fried/roasted (not raw at all), gravy tasted well balanced. Since it is a good chicken curry so the ‘Bengali thing’ is completely forgivable to me. And the humble owner also provided us an extra bowl full of jhol and alu (curry with potato) which made my heart melt.

Service:

As I mentioned before, the place is small to call a restaurant; rather a happening (by looking at the crowd) food joint would be appropriate for it. The place was over flowing with people on a rainy night and few of them were sitting outside too. We waited about 15 mins to get our starters and another 5-6 mins to get the main. Honestly I didn’t find any problem with that as they provided everything freshly cooked.

Pros:

The one and only place (at present) to enjoy good Bengali fried snacks/appetizers and other dishes,

Value for money.

Cons:

Inadequate dine in facility.

Cost:

Cost for two people 350-400 INR.

Verdict:

As I mentioned before I had the best Bengali fried snacks here only, it is obvious I will keep visiting them in a loop. And even if I leave the authentic Bengali food criteria aside, there are plenty of other reasons to visit this place repeatedly. But next time I’ll be back to try some fish curry here.

Rating: 4/5

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Eat, Love, Enjoy and Repeat!