Nana Chowk’s witching hour hub shape shifts into a lounge for a chilled-out ’90s scene
Chicken ghee roast on khari bruschetta.
Remember strutting into Baroke, the nightclub at Krishna Palace Hotel at Nana Chowk that was open until the wee hours of the morning, ensuring our dancing feet didn’t need to end the party? This week, second-generation owner Saurabh Shetty gave it a new avatar as B-Lounge Cuisines & Cocktails, offering an old-school lounge format in new-age packaging.
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Amid commercial shops, an emerald green door next to the hotel leads up to the lounge that is done up to cater to casual dinner-and-drinks catch-ups as well as late-night shenanigans. Different design nooks have been created for Insta-worthy photographs. A neon sign reads ‘A little party never killed nobody’, a zebra head pops out of the wall at the far end of the space, and a private area has artsy frames. There is a hint of an old-world charm in this new-world space.
Guacamole tostadas
At the age of 15, Krishna Shetty came to Mumbai from Mangalore in 1959. After working in the industry and gaining sufficient knowhow, he opened Krishna Hotel Palace at Grant Road. “In 2000, we bought this 115-year-old building and rebuilt it. Our first restaurant, Sudama, sold the best palak khichdi,” the first-generation Shetty says. His son Saurabh joined him in 2005, and opened up the existing restaurant Flute in a 24-hour coffee-shop format. “It brought the party crowd in to satiate their hunger pangs. We were open till 3 am,” says Saurabh, who then went on to open Baroke in 2012.
Not your basic schezwan chicken
From 7 pm to 10 pm, B-Lounge runs the B’Ours offer where patrons can enjoy special rates on premium alcohol. At 10.30 pm every night, a B Switch! performance takes place on the bar top. Bartenders break into a jig, the lights go glitzy and we think it is our cue to reign on the dance floor. A filter coffee martini (Rs 522) sets the tone for our visit. The kick of caffeine and vodka works in our flavour (pun intended). We like the touch of citrus from the orange peel. Cari fumo secco (Rs 522), a whisky-and-apple-juice cocktail, is smoked with a curry leaf smoke, and that gives us a tasteful reminder of the bhaji gali in the lounge’s backyard. Both the cocktails are a tad sweet and we request the server to reduce the generosity of sugar.
Filter coffee martini
While the food order comes to the table, we’re started off with the desi chakna of fryums, soya sticks and spiced makhanas. This, with the in-house Schezwan sauce, is the OG bar snack. The naan bombs (Rs 249) come looking like dimsums but are really their version of garlic bread. The guacamole tostadas (Rs 299) are topped with quinoa and make for a chaat-style modern bite. The hilltop paneer (Rs 395) is an ode to the chefs who mostly come from the hilly areas of North India like Garhwal and Himachal Pradesh.
The interiors of B-Lounge Cuisines & Cocktails
The Schezwan chicken, which is usually red, is green here sans additive colours. They come on a bed of boiled and then fried noodles which give us a Chindian throwback. Our favourite is the ghee roast on khari bruschetta (Rs 449) in chicken and paneer options. The roast is tangy, spicy and the fragrant presence of ghee that is heavy on our palate is a direct entry to food heaven. The charcoal four-cheese kulcha naan (Rs 249) is a no-pretense indulgent dish, which is worth the calories for its side of anjeer and date chutney.
Krishna and Saurabh Shetty. Pics/Ashish Raje
Our dessert, the filter coffee tiramisu (Rs 249), isn’t the best tiramisu we have had, and the set is too dense and the use of sponge instead of lady fingers or savoiardi makes it forgettable. But overall, the menu is a simple execution of comfort food at its best. And yes, for those asking the million-dollar question, the last half an hour entails Bollywood tracks.
At: Krishna Palace Hotel, Nana Chowk, Grant Road
Time: 7 pm to 12 am
Call: 66293333
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