Monday, February 7, 2011

Barbecuing for an entire nation!

Thats what we felt as we entered this popular restaurant. Its located in bandra and the other end of pali hill in a nice and quiet area(compared to the rest of bandra). The people at BBQ nation advice you to reserve a table one day prior to going there, and now we know why. There is so much food to explore at that place that you can easily end up spending upwards of 2 hours over there. So people don't let go of their tables that fast. Well luck was not on our side and we couldn't get a reservation, but the manager told us to come anyways and try our luck. After waiting for almost an hour, we finally got a table. The first view we got as we went inside was that of the grill. It is located right in the center of the restaurant and is surrounded by almost 20-25 tables. The restaurant has a seating capacity of around 100 people(but don't let this make you think that you don't need to make reservations :p ).
  If service is an indicator of how good a place is, then BBQ nation would rest comfortably at the top. There is no A la carte over there(except for drinks), just the buffet. We sat down and had just barely started looking around when the first round of starters arrived. Shocking yes, but one of the people accompanying us was a regular, and he was acting as if it was no big deal. So we played along ;).
 The starters are comprised mostly of kebabs of various types. We had seekh kebabs, fish kebabs, prawns, drumsticks, broccoli(and it was awesome), mushrooms etc. Not one starter i had over there made me feel that there was something missing in it. And the amount of starters we had is a testament to that(we had a lot). To keep the starters from getting cold each table has a mini grill(!!!). After spending around 2 hours just feasting on the starters, we finally decided to try the main course. For the main course they had crabs in manchurian sauce, chicken hyderabadi, kheema and biryani. You also have rotis which you have to order. In addition to this, you also have a variety of soups(crab meat and chicken). The main course was simply great! In particular, the chicken hyderabadi and the crabs made me regret spending so much of my storage capacity on the starters.
 The thing about this place is that you lose track of time too easily. When we finally got the table it was 9. We thought we would be out of there by 11. When we got done with the starters it was almost 10.45. And you have to take it easy over there. Our main strategy was to let the food digest to make room for more. And it was being executed perfectly. After having so much of the starters and the main course, we still had room for desserts.
Please don't leave BBQ nation without having the desserts. They're really the fitting ending you deserve for having such great food. We had mango mousse, strawberry cheesecake, gulab jamun, ice cream with chocolate sauce, cake, rum brownies and firni! Nuff said ;)
 By the time we were done it was already 12.15, but we didn't care. Time is not a factor if the food is this good. And the more time you spend here, the more you'll be able to eat. So for once, being lazy is a good thing. Bodes pretty nicely for me ;). The funny thing is before entering the place we thought 600 per person for a buffet is too much. By the time we were leaving, it felt as if it was a discounted deal. I will not divide the review into parts rating each part individually; thats for places which aren't this good. I'm sure i must have left out some negative aspects. The strawberry cake, as good as it was, could have been better. The booze could have been cheaper. But as a complete package this easily trumps anything else out there. If you don't like one dish, you can just have something else without having any regrets since you payed for one unlimited meal, not just that one dish. And the menu is huge enough to discard one faulty dish. Not that i had the misfortune of having to eat one though. Thats the best thing about BBQ nation. Its just awesome!

-Mambo

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