Hi foodies, today I’ll be doing a food review of a popular multicuisine restaurant located at Vikas Cine Mall, Indra Nagar. They are well known for their spacious seating, elaborate menu & eye-catching bar.
Come, let’s take a closer look!
Location
Vikas Cine Mall, 109, First Floor, Indra Nagar Colony, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001
The restaurant is located on the 1st floor of the mall, accessible by an escalator as well as by a staircase.
Finding a good parking spot should not be an issue here as there is ample parking space available around the mall for both two-wheelers and four-wheelers alike. The mall does indeed get somewhat crowded during the evenings and on the weekends but never crowded enough to cause any major issue regarding parking space.
Service Options
Dine-in – Takeaway – Delivery
Timings
Mon–Sun: 11:30AM – 10:30PM
Cuisines Offered
North Indian, Chinese, Sichuan & Beverages.
Average Cost For 2 (Exclusive of Taxes & Other Charges)
Rs.1100/- approx. (Alcohol Excluded)
Zomato Rating
Menu
Ambience
The ambiance of the restaurant was quite stylish and modern, and although the interiors looked good, personally, I felt they could’ve worked on it a bit more and tried to give it a much livelier appeal.
The overall area of the restaurant was quite spacious and looked reasonably well-maintained. Various wall designs, combined with aesthetic lighting options and popular peppy music playing in the background, only added to the vibrant vibe of the restaurant.
Moreover, the entire restaurant area itself was segregated into two sections with the help of a glass partition, with one section being used more as a traditional restaurant dining area for people preferring a more standard, family-style dining experience, whereas the other section was dedicated to the bar area for customers who were more into their wide range of beverages from their eye-catching bar.
Quality Of Food (Taste, Service & Presentation)
The Service of the restaurant was quick and efficient. All the dishes that I had ordered were presented well and prepared in good time.
The service staff was in their uniforms and looked quite professional. Moreover, they were super courteous and warm towards me, especially Mr. Kailash, who was always on hand to answer any of my queries regarding the dishes and the restaurant.
Dishes Ordered
For my starters, I ordered one of their highly recommended veg starters, the Veg Fire Balls.
For my main course, I ordered half a plate of one of their best non-veg dishes, the Pudina (Mint) Chicken Special. I ordered a Garlic Naan as well, to help compliment the dish better.
Veg Fire Balls
First up came one of their top veg starters, the Veg Fire Balls.
Six deep-fried balls, tossed in a glossy, thick red sauce, were served on a white, oval-shaped plate, and garnished with a generous amount of coriander (dhania) leaves.
The dish looked quite appetizing and wholesome in appearance, but in terms of taste and flavor, I found it to be lacking in any meaningful and distinct flavor.
Starting with the deep-fried veg balls, they were well fried from the outside but were quite dense on the inside, and although they tasted good, the chef could’ve definitely prepared them much better and softer. The balls were made by combining a few tasty ingredients like lots of breadcrumbs, some finely chopped green chillies, and a few small pieces of paneer too, to not only give the veg balls some texture but to add to their flavor as well.
Even though the filling of the veg balls had a combination of tasty ingredients in them, they were never truly able to impart the type of flavor they were intended to, as the excessive use of breadcrumbs in the filling made it quite dense, hence overshadowing their flavors immeasurably, ultimately giving the overall taste of the veg balls a not-so-pleasant, underwhelming flavor.
Another aspect that went against the fried veg balls was that due to them being quite dense in texture, they weren’t able to absorb the flavors of the red sauce very well, thereby becoming quite dry on the insides, which drastically affected their overall taste.
Moving on to the vibrant-looking red sauce that they had tossed the fried veg balls in, it was quite glossy and thick in texture, along with being sweet, sour, and spicy in flavor. Additionally, the sauce also had a few fresh ingredients added to it, like a generous amount of finely chopped garlic along with some finely diced onions, capsicum, and spring onions, which not only gave the sauce more texture and freshness but also helped in enhancing the overall flavor of the sauce as well.
Although the flavor of the sauce tasted quite decent, once again, I felt that it could’ve been prepared much tastier. I found the overall sweet, sour, and spicy flavors of the sauce to be slightly imbalanced, and I think the chef could’ve done a much better job in this department too.
Pudina Chicken Special with Garlic Naan
And finally came one of their best non-veg main course dishes, the pudina chicken special, along with the garlic naan.
The pudina chicken special was served full to the brim in a traditional brass coated serving bowl and was aesthetically garnished with a rich layer of Rogan tadka and a generous quantity of finely chopped juliennes of ginger too, to give the dish a more premium appeal, whereas the garlic naan was served in a stylish, perforated stainless-steel container, pre-portioned into 3 pieces.
Starting with the Pudina chicken special, it was extremely rich and creamy in texture, aromatic in flavor, and tasted quite good. The gravy of the dish was quite thick and creamy in consistency, largely thanks to the generous amount of cashew paste that they had used to prepare it, whereas various popular household spices like cardamom, cinnamon, star anise, black pepper, cloves, and more, were infused in it, which not only gave the dish its robust and aromatic flavor, but they also helped in enhancing the overall taste of the dish further.
Furthermore, 4 healthy chicken pieces were provided in the gravy as well, with each piece being cooked in the tandoor before being infused in the gravy, which only went on to add a more intense smokey flavor to the chicken pieces, which in turn gave the dish a more flavorful taste. While the chicken pieces were indeed cooked, I still found them to be slightly underdone in terms of cooking and flavor, and personally, I wish they could have cooked them in the gravy for a bit longer to not only give them a melt-in-mouth feel but would’ve also helped the chicken pieces to absorb the flavors of the gravy much better.
Moreover, although I found the overall flavor of the gravy to be reasonably tasty, unfortunately, I didn’t get enough of the distinct pudina (mint) flavor in it which I was really looking forward to tasting.
Moving on to the garlic naan, it was super flaky and crispy and tasted absolutely delicious. The naan was infused with a generous amount of finely chopped garlic and glazed with some butter too, which helped in giving it a truly delectable, garlicky flavor, which complemented the rich and creamy cashew-based gravy of the pudina chicken very well.
[More to follow…]
To Eat or Not?
To Eat, but only just.
With their well maintained, modern ambiance, elaborate menu, and courteous service, this restaurant acts as a good option for people living on this side of the city who are either looking for a decent place to spend some quality time with their families while enjoying a tasty meal or are just looking to hang-out with their friends and have few drinks from their eyes-catching bar.
Yes, this restaurant can definitely improve upon a couple of aspects like firstly and most importantly, massively improving the overall taste and quality of their dishes, as currently, I found their food to be underwhelming in terms of flavor, and secondly, also working on livening up the ambiance of the restaurant even more, to give the place a much better, vibrant feel.
Overall, I had a reasonably enjoyable visit to this restaurant but frankly, I was hoping for a much, much better experience. I will surely be looking forward to visiting them again in the future, but only if they can actually work towards improving upon a few glaring deficiencies that are currently holding the restaurant back.
Food Critic Anmol Rating
Ambience
Quality Of Food
Value For Money
And that’s it, folks! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again later with another amazing food review tailored just for you! If you have any feedback or suggestions regarding this review, feel free to contact me anytime!
Take care & Happy eating!