Pune Calling....

Review – Deccan Harvest

It's Wednesday and Culinary Muse is back to give you a taste of her gastronomical discoveries. This time around, she managed to go further and discover what Pune has to offer.

Not the usual Koregaon Park fare, she managed to discover this new place, a little off Pune limits in the well planned township of MagarPatta, called Deccan Harvest. At the outset the restaurant is a huge canopy surrounded by sprawling lush lawns. On the way to the entrance a small pond of lotus flowers greets us. A breathtakingly beautiful sight. And one that you would never get to see in Mumbai due to the lack of space obviously.

On the inside, the place is well done with the glass walls giving you good view of lush greenery shining in the Deccan sun. A well stocked bar area to one the other side and another floor of cushion and bolster seatings. However, a mephitis smell emanated from somewhere, we couldn't figure out. Out of the umpteen amount of split ACs, only a few were working. So after a few shifts here & there we settled on a long table that accommodated a huge group like ours, right in front of a 'working' AC. Inspite of that, we were feeling hot and the notorious stench didn't seem to go away. Note to myself: Don't judge a restaurant by its cover!

We get down to ordering, the menu describes the place to be a 'fine dining and wine lounge' and offers quite a variety of Indian, Chinese & continental aliment. We start with Cream of Chicken Soup – a tasteless thick starchy broth, not very appealing to our tastebuds.

Cream of Chicken

We move on to the appetizers, the Chicken Tikka – flavourful succulent chunks of meat were good, a sigh of relief from the banal soup. The Chicken Salt & Pepper– crisp battered fried chicken flavoured with peppers and garlic was brilliant and left us wanting for more. The Veg Salt & Pepper too was a delight as was the Paneer Tikka.

Chicken Tikka

Moving on to the main course we ordered for Grilled Chicken in Red Wine Sauce – smoked chicken pieces served with French fries and sautéed vegetables. First of all, I would have preferred this with mashed potatoes instead of French Fries. The dish seemed like an incomplete version of the Marsala and even though the breast pieces of chicken were grilled to perfection and coated with a dark brown sort of Worchester Sauce, the dish lacked taste and flavor. The Indian Fare was much better – the Butter Chicken coupled with butter roti made for delectable combination.

Grilled Chicken in Red Wine

On the whole it seemed to be a pretty average place with a beautiful locale. The service however was pathetic with waiters passing rude comments. While placing the order we happened to say that we wanted Veg. Paneer Tikka. The waiter taking down our order, Smart Alec that he was, commented back saying, Paneer is veg only. Calling this behavior rude would be an understatement.

The place was also little pricey and a meal for two would cost anywhere between Rs 500-600. Think they wanted to keep up to the whole 'fine dining'promise. But as they say promises a meant to be broken!


 
Verdict

Food: Average

Service: Let's talk about Mimoh Chakravorty's acting instead

Ambience: Beautiful


 
QuickTip: If you are around the area, it would be worth going there just to absorb the nature. Stick to the Indian Food.


 
The Co-ordinates

Deccan Harvest
143 Magarpatta City, Opp Tower 1, Off Pune Solapur Road, Magarpatta, Hadapsar, Pune

Phone: 66491018

Timings: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM

Food Type: Indian, Continental, Chinese

Payment Methods: Visa, Master, Cash