This review first appeared in the Mail Today edition dated 13/12/2013. Please go to Page 23 after clicking on http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=13122013. Copyright: Mail Today Newspapers.
MUST KNOW
WHERE: Commercial Centre, C 6 & 7, Vasant Kunj (Adjacent to Kotak Mahindra Bank
and Mini Cooper showroom)
WHEN: 12 noon to 12 midnight
DIAL: (011) 41095155
MEAL FOR TWO (WITHOUT
ALCOHOL): Rs
1,200+++ (vegetarian) / Rs 1,800 (non-vegetarian)
By Sourish
Bhattacharyya
 |
| A cosy nook at the city's most anticipated new bar, which has been designed for conversations over soul food and alcohol with new friends |
MONKEY BAR couldn't have a more appropriate name. It makes a monkey
out of the idea of stuffy dining, which is ironic because its lead chef and
co-owner, Manu Chandra, is a Culinary Institute of America graduate who earned
his spurs at Olive Bar & Kitchen in Bangalore. It makes a monkey out of
hierarchies, what Delhiites revel in, because its gastro-pub seating promotes
the practice of strangers becoming friends after an evening well spent in the
company of good food, one's favourite poison and people you'd like to know.
And it makes a monkey out of the mindset of the city's bar
owners, who believe, and it's impossible to stir their conviction, that a
watering hole can rock only if it gets under-aged drinkers drooling at the thought
of popping their alcoholic cherry in the company of loud teenagers who puke as
much as they imbibe. It is a bar for grown-ups who believe in food and alcohol
being the lubricants of intelligent conversation (in the afternoons, it doubles
as a restaurant for families). The deejay does pump up the volume as the
evening progresses, but the music is just what a particular generation likes to
hear, or shake a leg to, and it allows you to hear yourself.
After garnering awards and accolades in its first year in
Bangalore, Monkey Bar has opened at the glass pyramid in the C-6 & 7 Commercial Centre, Vasant Kunj, where the famed Ministry of Sound arrived from London and opened
in a blaze of hype and expectations some seven years ago. It didn't survive after
upsetting the residents in the neighbourhood, who complained about having to
see young men and women totter out of the club at a time when elderly people
would be taking their morning walks.
The RWA got into the act and got Ministry of Sound out, and
people started whispering about the vaastu
of the place not being right. I was talking about the place with a restaurateur
friend a couple of days back and even he complained about the bad vaastu, but the problem was the Ministry
of Sound formula (overcrowded weekends, under-age clientele and extended
hours), not vaastu. Monkey Bar is all
that Ministry of Sound wasn't -- it's the new watering hole of the generation
that has had its share of binge drinking and snogging in public places, and is now
seeking out a place where like-minded people gather to exchange ideas or just
have fun, and go back home before the Cinderella Hour.
Wholesome comfort food is what really sets apart Monkey Bar, which is to be expected from a chef who loves to get his hands dirty in the kitchen, and from his mentor, AD Singh, who believes it's good food that draws people to restaurants, especially in a discerning city such as Delhi. Monkey Bar raises everyday food to a brilliant new level. I started my evening with Tiger Steak, silken fillets of Bangalore steak wok-tossed with pok choy in a South-East Asian spice mix that's impossible to forget much after the meal.
After the flying start (literally, because I had a drop of Blair's Original Death Sauce with bhoot jolokia), the rest of the meal was a procession of food that touches a heart: bacon-wrapped tandoori sausage dog; jumbo wings with sour cream and blue cheese dip; MoBar Bork, or double-cooked crispy pork belly that just melts in the mouth; Liver on Toast, where the toast also comes slathered with chicken liver pate; Chilli Brain -- minimal and memorable; Bang Bang Prawns -- simple yet sexy; and the addictive sticky date pudding with toffee sauce. In the spirit of Monkey Bar, our table had become a congregation of people I'd never met before, but we just connected over food. You'd expect it at your friendly neighbourhood bar, wouldn't you?
Wholesome comfort food is what really sets apart Monkey Bar, which is to be expected from a chef who loves to get his hands dirty in the kitchen, and from his mentor, AD Singh, who believes it's good food that draws people to restaurants, especially in a discerning city such as Delhi. Monkey Bar raises everyday food to a brilliant new level. I started my evening with Tiger Steak, silken fillets of Bangalore steak wok-tossed with pok choy in a South-East Asian spice mix that's impossible to forget much after the meal.
After the flying start (literally, because I had a drop of Blair's Original Death Sauce with bhoot jolokia), the rest of the meal was a procession of food that touches a heart: bacon-wrapped tandoori sausage dog; jumbo wings with sour cream and blue cheese dip; MoBar Bork, or double-cooked crispy pork belly that just melts in the mouth; Liver on Toast, where the toast also comes slathered with chicken liver pate; Chilli Brain -- minimal and memorable; Bang Bang Prawns -- simple yet sexy; and the addictive sticky date pudding with toffee sauce. In the spirit of Monkey Bar, our table had become a congregation of people I'd never met before, but we just connected over food. You'd expect it at your friendly neighbourhood bar, wouldn't you?
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