Village Rooftop Lounge and Dining Reviewed! - Old wine in a new bottle!

The Village Rooftop Lounge and Dining - name which is known to localities in Kondhwa. A quite old yet renovated and reopened in April 2015 has not lost its shine. Bakher and Farzin are the people behind this place. Located on the top floor of a complex in NIBM Road, Kondhwa. This place came to our notice when we got an invite from Trishla to review. As usual, me, Bhavesh, Baka, Magnet and Warrior were there to put our views forward for this much crowded place.

We reached early and had a tough time finding a car parking. Though nearby area is a residential area, parking here is a challenge. We saw underground parking but security people were confused and rather told us to park anywhere on the sides of the road. Luckily, after finding a place, we moved to the destination via lift.

Don't get confused with the name 'Village' you will be greeted with green carpet and funky ambience as soon as you step in this place. At the entrance, service desk is there to help and you can see two sections-one is lounge where you can just sit back and relax, watch match on screen, or have conversation with friends over a drink and other section is dining with chairs and tables beautifully decorated with veils. Bar is longest in that area with huge stock of alcohol. Very creative use of empty bottles. They also serves hookahs of different flavours.

After getting introduced with this place, it was the time for food tasting. A long list of Veg and Non-Veg Menu was waiting to be served. Farzin was the one ensuring the dishes were served properly and were warm enough to eat..and Bakher was choosing the cocktails n mocktails to be served

The cuisine is set by Farzin and he is one who looks into the food department: quality check, maintaining hygiene and checking with the preparation of the food items personally. And Bakher is the one behind the cocktail and mocktail drinks' combinations. Village Pot is Bakher 's innovation and it became a instant hit. Being a vegetarian, I am reviewing only veg portions and giving an idea of preparations for Non-veg ones. Our Menu at a glance...

Drinks-Cocktails::

• Ice Ice Baby-Baileys, blue curacao, lots of crushed ice 
• Village Pot (Most popular)-Peach, green apple, bacardi, gin, whisky, vodka, tequila, beer. 
• Fcuk Me Up-Guava juice, Vodka, salt and chilly powder at the rim
• Caprina-Brown sugar muddled with bacardi, lots of ice cubes, lemon slices

Mocktails 

• Peach Me Up- 3 layered mocktail with Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice and Peach crush in Sprite. 
• Berry Sweetheart- A perfect balance of Pomegranate Juice, Cranberry Juice, Passion fruit syrup(shake), Ice cubes. Liked it!

FOOD:

Non-Veg Starters :: 

• Murgh Afghani Kebab- Stuff minced chicken in breast pieces and roast it on the tandoor untill it becomes golden brown. Grated cheese for garnishing and for marination: Yogurt, cashew paste, spices, green chilly, spices, elaichi powder, secret spice powder are used.

• Kubedeh Kebab (Persian)- Minced lamb marinated in black pepper and salt with grated onion. This is put on seekhs and roasted on tandoor for 10 to 15 minutes.

• Chicken Joojeh Kebab (Persian)- Chicken Breast pieces(without bone) marinated in lemon juice, salad oil, black pepper, salt and turmeric powder. Roasted on the tandoor with butter.

• March Nawabi Seekh- Minced chicken marinated with ginger/garlic/mint/coriander/green chilly paste, elaichi powder, jeers powder, salt and secret spice mix. Roasted on tandoor for 5 minutes. This is removed on a plate and grated cheese & cashew nut powder is added to the hot minced chicken to ensure that the cheese is melted into it. Then put on seekhs and roasted again without butter or oil.

Thaichi (South Asian)- Chicken leg piece(boneless) marinated in ginger/garlic paste, chopped chilly/onion, celery leaves, yellow and red peppers and some spinach paste with salt & pepper. Dip these pieces in egg & salt mixture and then roll them in cornflour, maida and deep fry.

Veg Starters –

Show Paneer- Sliced Paneer coated with cornflour and deep fried sauted in ginger, garlic paste, chopped onion, celery leaves. Sauces had chilly paste, oyster sauce , salt and pepper. I am highly surprised how is oyster sauce used in veg preparation!! It was served with crispy items which was spring roll dough cut into pieces(long and thin)and deep fried. Paneer was fresh and soft with generous amount of marination. I preferred this over the other starter.

2-in-1 Veg- Paneer cubes coated with cornflour and deep fried. Served with sauces. This dish did not suited my taste buds and I was having a hard time finishing it. Average taste! I was a bit dissatisfied with the starters and was looking upto main course to fulfill my expectations.

MAINS:

Mutton Rogan Josh-Mutton marinated in yoghurt, chilly powder, mint paste, secret spice mix, jeera powder, mutton masala, coriander seeds powder, salt and paste of ingredients in ghee tadka (Chopped Onion/tomato/green chilly, garlic, ginger paste fried in Ghee) followed by sauting in ginger/ garlic/ onion paste, cashew nut paste, salt, turmeric powder.

Sabzi Lajavab-Mixed vegetables: onion, tomato, capsicum, mushroom, Paneer, sweet corn pellets fried in ghee with chopped garlic, ginger, cashew nut paste, tomato paste,chilly powder, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, coriander seeds powder, garam masala and salt. Taste was good however, I did not had that much appetite to finish it!

Chicken Burnt Garlic Fried Rice- Scrambled Egg is added to the fried chicken along with flavoursome spices.

Prawns in butter garlic sauce- Marinated prawns with egg, salt & pepper mixture rolled in cornflour/ maida to deep fry.

Assorted basket of Indian bread with Cheese garlic naan, Laccha paratha. It was soft and cooked to perfection.

Desserts:: Lastly, basic Vanilla Icecream with drizzled chocolate sauce was served!

SERVICE:
Owners, bartenders and waiters were always happy to help. Service was good. Overall a decent experience with few choices for vegetarians.