Restaurant Review | Rocking Adda | Viman Nagar

Being a Bengali I can’t escape from two true passions, enjoying good food and chatting with friends. It seems tough to enjoy a good laugh with friends in today’s busy life but finding a good Bengali authentic restaurant in Pune seems way tougher than that at present days. After going through a thorough search finally I got few Bengali joints which are still active and Rocking Adda is one of them. Without wasting any precious time I went straight to the restaurant and here I’m penning down my experience there.

Ambiance:

The shop is too small to call it a restaurant; I’d rather call it a ‘food joint’. The faded color and smoke smudged walls and sticky floors are definitely not ideal for dine in. But the porch area with small sitting arrangement is good to enjoy the evening breeze.

Food:

Since Kolkata Biryani has become a extinct food in pune restaurants our main aim for our first visit to Rocking Adda was to taste Biryani. But Biryani was not available on that day. When fate betrays your heart you can’t do anything but accept the fact that they were sold out on Biryani and settle with the next available options.

I had visited the place few times and here is a list of what i have so far.

Fish Fry

The crispy outer layer promised so many things but the amount of fish disappointed us totally and the burnt smell just ruined half of the appetite.

Luchi Alur Dum

Luchi with Alur Dum/Mangsho are good to have there but not recommended on take away.

Alu Posto:

Simple home like Alu Posto with small potato cubes in poppy seed paste gravy with touch of bay leaf tasted good. Though the gravy was bit runny, may be the sky high price of poppy seed is solely responsible for it.

Rui macher er Jhal

A spicy Rohu fish curry with thick onion garlic and tomato gravy and fresh coriander leaves on top to enhance the flavor. This is just ideal for daily meal with steamed rice.

Pabda er Jhol

This simple curry of Pabda or catfish with loads of coriander leaves and fresh green chilli will not let you miss your home cooking.

Bhetki Paturi

Our expectation fell flat as we saw few boneless fish pieces floating in mustard yogurt gravy instead of wrapped in banana leaves. But the taste of the dish took us back to the high. The excess gravy was perfectly balanced to gulp down our steamed rice.

Chingri Malaikari

Jumbo sized prawns with rich gravy with floating oil on the top were the next best thing which we were expecting after the delicious fish preparation. The dish was a bit salty which I think can depend on day to day cooking. After all it’s all about home food not fine dining experience.

Kosha Mangsho

I was bit disappointed with the preparation. I was expecting super rich spicy mutton with oil based gravy and I what I got on my plate was simple mutton curry with a dash of extra spices. Mutton was tender, well-seasoned, cooked to the perfection. Undoubtedly this is best dish of the Rocking Adda’s kitchen.

Mutton Biryani

The most awaited preparation but it had failed to impress me like many other food joints of Pune. The taste is nowhere near Original Kolkata Biryani but this definitely is the closet one among the rest. The aroma is quite similar. I assume rice and meat were cooked separately which created the huge difference with the original.

Chingri er Chop

Large tiger prawns are coated in batter and deep fried. The soft tender flesh under the crisp skin tasted so yum with the tea that we somehow managed to forget our awkward condition with the prawn heads.

Chicken Pakoda

Probably this is the one and only item which I will never order again. First of all, large chicken pieces with bones were used instead of minced chicken. Secondly chicken pieces were coated with thick batter which was clearly undercooked and raw in the center.

Service:

As I had mentioned before, this place is small but the humble owner will be there to help you out anytime. Even he suggests his best on what to have on dine in or take away. Most importantly they never took more than 20 mins for any order I had placed.

Pros:

The one and only place to enjoy various Bengali preparations (at present),

Value for money.

Cons:

Inadequate dine in facility,

Kosha Mangsho and Biryani.

Cost:

Cost for two people 400-500 INR.

Verdict:

Rocking Adda may not serve authentic Bengali food but they definitely help us to enjoy some good Bengali food. And the way these days Bengali restaurants are closing, I don’t want to miss any possible weekends to miss this golden opportunity. So for me I’ll be there again and again until I find a better one!

Rating: 4.5/5

Eat, Love, Enjoy and Repeat!