From The Little Black Book - BoomBox Cafe

Review: RESTRO BAR CAFE

Gurgaon sector 29 is a hub of countless hip-hop cool eating joints. Every food joint tries to offer something different to win customer loyalty. The newly opened BoomBox Cafe has also joined the bandwagon and welcomed us for a food review meet. 

Boombox live upto its name with peppy foot tapping numbers and musical aesthetics on display. I loved the music. Atleast they don’t play the irritating Honey Singh numbers. You would be stunned with the superb ambiance, the moment you enter. Glowing BOOMBOX branding at the ceiling, cool retro musical artefacts, a beautiful large bar and variety of seating arrangement will leave you in awe. 

There were tall tables as well as lounge sofa seating. We chose the low table with four chair seating since our friends Mandira and Manoj had their two years old daughter with them. While the height of the table was perfect, I found the chairs a little uncomfortable. That’s the only area of improvement for Boombox. 

            

Guava Mary

 

Kiss of Kiwi

Chilly Paneer

We began our evening with Guava Mary and chilly paneer. Unfortunately the Guava Mary didn’t suit my taste buds. This mocktail is prepared on the likes of Bloody Mary with salt smeared on the glass rim. I don’t have a taste for bloody mary, so asked for another drink after few sips. The replacement – Kiss of Kiwi exceeded my expectations. Soothing, refreshing and filling it was!

Chilly Paneer was a surprise package. Usually I don’t find spice in pizza or rolls as they claim, so I happily ordered chilly paneer thinking it to be the same case. But the spicy punch inside paneer took me by surprise. It was well marinated and spices had seeped inside. Neither soggy nor hard, this dish was a killer!  

Dahi k kabab

Cranberry mocktail

Chef Deepak met us in person to tell about the menu selection. He personally recommended Dahi k kabab for starters. Sharing the secret of Dahi k sholay, he told us the correct proportion of curd that should go in its preparation. My apprehensions of cholesterol with deep fried stuff was resolved when he told Dahi k kabab were shallow fried. With a great presentation and tinge of tanginess, these soft dahi k kabab tasted heavenly. A good variety of chutney accompanied the dishes.

For another rounds drinks I ordered Cranberry mocktail which had subtle sweetness. Thankfully it did not have the taste of strawberry juice which usually is the case. Hubby tried Italian Smooch which was my second favourite after Kiss of Kiwi.

Veg platter

As the evening sky grew darker, the music tracks changed from one pop number to another groovy song. We swayed to the fantastic music as Chef Deepak curated a non-spicy bowl of veg noodles for Mandira’s daughter. The noodles kept her occupied as we ordered two platters. Non veg platter for husband and Mandira, veg platter for Manoj and me. They highly apprised non veg sampler. The veg platter had Dahi Kabab, Tofu Yakitori, Paneer Harrisa Tikka, Cottage cheese Spring Roll ,Tomato Bruschetta and Caesar Salad.

The cheesy spring rolls and Tofu Yakitori are things to die for! Every dish had the perfect balance of spices and salt. The spacious, beautifully decorated place won our hearts as we left with great memories and the promise to come again.

Highly recommend this place for office parties and large group of friends to chill and spend fun time. 

My rating- A good 3.5 on 5

The Ancient Barbeque

On the same concept of Barbeque Nation, The Ancient Barbeque too has similar live grills and unlimited buffet.  Our colleagues planned a day out for lunch at this newly discovered place at Good Earth Center, Sector 50, Gurgaon. 

As you enter the premises, the aesthetics with Gothic touch and pleasant lighting, instantly attract you. TAB (Read- The Ancient Barbeque) has good food and quick service. The staff is courteous and fast, who serves with a smile.

TAB is less spacious compared to Barbeque Nation. Seating arrangement seems a little crammed up which leaves less room to move around. It becomes uncomfortable for the staff to serves while pushing through the table gaps. Personalization hence becomes difficult. I am sure they can handle space issues better.

The live grill has the Barbeque Nation famed crispy corns, creamy cajun potatoes, corns kernel, pineapple, veggie cubes, chicken, fish and mutton. What looked like potatoes turned out to be juicy   pineapple, and I loved it! Roasted paneer is vegetarian’s delight, which wasn’t the case here, as paneer was too soft and not well marinated. I enjoyed the rest of the vegetarian grill with Virgin Mojito. The latter was well prepared with no fizz and the right balance of salt & sweet. I can hence righty claim that I had nice mojito after a long time!

The buffet menu had a large variety comprising dal makhni, noodles, veggie and black bean sauce, Kashmiri paneer, mix vegetables, steamed rice, veg pulao  in the vegetarian menu.

Since I prefer dal makhni with less cream/fat load, TAB’s Daal Makhni perfectly fitted the bill. The consistency wasn’t thick nor watery, and I loved the preparation! Veggie and black bean sauce

was another item I loved. This tasted better than preparations of Chinese cuisines. Kashmiri Paneer was a bit disappointing for me because of thin ginger grates. All I could taste was raw ginger that killed the dish.

  

Salad had a colourful spread of kimchi salad, green salad, aloo chaat, pasta salad, sprout salad, papad and lettuce mix. Pasta salad is something you must have. Very well made with a hint of sweet. I would suggest TAB to roast papad on stove. The microwave roast left papad half raw.

Since I am die hard dessert lover, the sweets’ spread had to be good! The attractive spread comprised ice cream, gulabjamun, fruit tart, hot choco brownie, moong dal halwa, kiwi cake, pastry and cup cake.

Obviously, one can’t dig into everything post a hearty meal, so I chose few item. Brownie gets a special brownie point! Soft, fluffy and warm it was. A bite off the Kiwi Cake felt refreshing!  Moong Daal Halwa was the usual. If only I had more space in my tummy, I might have tasted them all, but I was full to the core.

As we were a large group of 16 people, we were given group discount. On an average we paid around 500 per pax. Happy reasonable deal it was.  

Though it is unfair to compare TAB to Barbeque Nation, yet I cant help since the concecpt is the same and TAB scores a little less than BN. Still worth giving this place a try. A nice place recommended for big teams or families.