Stepping in Boveda for the Sunday brunch was probably the best decision of having a foodilicious Sunday. While I had heard good things about it, nothing can beat it when you experience it first hand.
Ambience:
Dimly lit indoors and the unpainted walls are what define this place. Tables are arranged in rows but some of them are just too close to the buffet counters. A small stage is made available for the live performances. While they have a couple of couches too, they are kept only for the large groups. What I loved were the high tables lined up along the wall and this is where we decided to perch ourselves. The overall ambience was soothing on a sunny afternoon.
Food and experience:
The menu for the brunch seemed very exciting and the best part about it was most of it would be served on the table. We took the salads and cold cults from the spread laid across. To accompany the food, we also had a couple of mocktails, Romela and Masala tini. In an attempt to diverge from the usual favorites, I went for the Mala Tini which was a refreshing drink with coriander, ginger, lemon grass, lime and green apple syrup.
Once you have warmed up, you begin with the heavy duty stuff and there we had the grills. Paneer, fish, chicken done on the grill and served on wooden sticks instead of skewers….nice touch. The interesting part was the portion sizes, enough for you to get the tasteful morsel but not large enough to hold you from enjoying the other varieties. However, the grills were not well done to our liking. The paneer was undercooked and chicken overcooked. The fish was a saving grace and I devoured another round of it. Seldom do I not repeat live grills and this was one of those few times.
Quite honestly, there were so many good options to choose from, it was getting really difficult to get a hang of it. We decided to go for a veg burger and a pulled pork burger. We were also encouraged to get the feast pizza with toppings of onions, zucchini, bell peppers and olives. The burgers were regular size. The veg patty was average but the pulled pork stuffing was marvelous. The filling was well done with the right mix of sweet and spice. The thin crust pizza was a delight as we gobbled up the tasteful slices with no guilt. It really had me tempted to order one of the chicken pizzas too but I settled for a sandwich instead. I had checked their chicken, fish and pork preparations. So it was time to taste some lamb in the braised lamb sandwich. Shredded lamb tossed in BBQ sauce and mayonnaise, dressed with lettuce, onions and cheddar cheese in regular sized sandwich bread was like the best way to end the mains.
From the time I had checked the menu for the brunch, I had laid my eyes on the freshly made waffles they could serve. Needless to say, we had the waffles topped with oodles of chocolate sauce. The waffles were warm and moist when served and it was heavenly when you wiped them off with the chocolate sauce.
Service:
Oh my god, I wish I did not have write about the service. The one reason why I would think twice before coming here is this department. From the time to getting us seated till the time we left, they must have messed it up on multiple instances. The grills were brought to us so late, they were almost cold. When we ordered a second round, it almost seemed like they did not want to serve us because we go it only after reminding them thrice. That is when we decided to order most of the stuff in one go. What was interesting was they served the sandwich after we were half done with the waffles. My concepts of a five course meal were shaken to the core when I had to grab a sandwich after almost finishing my dessert. Frantically moving servers were a common sight during the entire visit here.
Verdict:
The food was good and the variety is what separates Boveda from the usual brunches. What was noteworthy is they get most of your food on the table unlike brunches where you would line up at the counters and get cold food most of the times. I was very happy with the mocktails as well. What worked in our favor was getting in early and being seated at a table away from the bar. That kept us away from the occasional chaotic situations. The service was very disappointing though. Overall, I was happy because I left with many tastes lingering on my tongue. That is how you get a foodie happy, I guess.
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