Adda, Pimple Saudagar

Besides restaurant reviews, we’ve begun pub reviews as we are serial pub hoppers. There has been a dearth of pubs/lounges in Pimple Saudagar until last year. Since then, two or three of them have popped out of nowhere, some with their exorbitant pricing, others with sheer lack of infrastructure. Adda, has a bit of history, though. It was previously named Elevate Lounge and was a mildly successful one. There has been a renovation, probably a change of management or even ownership and Elevate has been beautifully revamped into #Adda. Yes, the hashtag is present in neon beside the name and looks cool! The name signifies the establishment – Adda – a place for hangout of like minded people, for fun and frolic.

Did you know? The term ‘Pub’ originates from ‘Public House’ which traditionally sells beer, ale and other brewed alcoholic drinks. In Europe, pubs date back to the Medieval age.

The concept of pubs is relatively new in India and probably arrived with the British. I’ve read in historical fiction and other books about Seraikhanas along major highways in the Mughal era that served alcohol, food and even had lodging facilities for travellers. But pubs, solely meant for serving drinks were probably set up by the British officials, albeit for their folks only. ‘Native Indians’ were kept out of them by guards, who must have evolved into bouncers these days.

Here comes a snippet about Adda and everything about it.

Events at Adda

Address: Shop 1, Rainbow Plaza, Near Shivar Garden, Pimple Saudagar, Pune – 411027

Contact: 020 30189670

Check them out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

USP – Ladies Night, Offers/Discounts, Live band, Good pub food.

Decor

The entrance to Adda is led through a corridor that is strategically lit with a mirrored wall and is the smoking zone. You might encounter a lot of smoke if you’re a little late in joining the party. Once you go in, things get better though. The decor is quirky with a lot of brickbats carefully arranged on racks and graffiti that is eye catching, most of them is Hinglish.

There’s a huge black board that will remind you of school, but it’s filled with offers, discounts and events for the week from Monday to Friday. The toilet sign board reads शौचालय, and I’ve been wondering what happens to people who cannot read the Devnagari text.

There’s a wall redecorated with faux wooden doors and stained glass that gives a retro look of an old style mansion. The utensils for serving cocktails and snacks are done wackily in aluminium kettles, some of them inscribed with catchy taglines and hashtags. It looked pretty cool to me each time I’ve been there.

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Kimling Rush

The Menu

We love Chinese food. Well, who doesn’t! I think every ‘Chinese’ restaurant in India should add a disclaimer in their menu or decor that the food served there is unmistakably Indo-Chinese. Rather than a pungent and bland authentic Chinese fare, the food that has gained popularity in India has been influenced to an extent by local tastes. For instance, the Schezwan variety of spiced dishes served in Indian Chinese restaurants is quite a few notches fiery in hue and palate than native Sichuan food from China. Being a lover of the red hot Schezwan food, me and M had opted to try an authentic Chinese restaurant called Sichuan in London. As we sat ourselves and scanned the menu, the overwhelming odour of steamed greens and fish sauce from hot bowls served around killed our appetite. Not only was it very strong and organic in flavours, the items didn’t look very appetising either. We realised that Sichuan is not our cup of tea, but Schezwan definitely is.

Since then, each city where we have lived for a considerable period has gifted us a decent Chinese restaurant nearby. From Sizzling China and Shang Dynasty in Bombay, Shanghai Chef in Hyderabad, China Buffet in Belfast, The Golden Empire in Calcutta to Kimling Rush in Pune – we’ve found our calling and made these restaurants richer with frequent visits. Here’s a comprehensive account of Kimling Rush in Pimple Saudagar, Pune.

Address: Shop 1, Sai Ambience, Opposite NKGSB Bank, Pimple Saudagar, Pune – 411022

Contact: 020 30189828

Check their Website

Decor

Kimling Rush is a quaint little cosy place amidst huge residential complexes. Since it’s a Chinese & Thai restaurant, the decor has a lot of Buddha motifs, busts, Chinese symbols and lanterns. The wall paints and mosaic tables are done carefully and are soothing to the eye. I liked the coloured glass water bottles at each table. They added a little colour and vibrancy while you eat, chat and relax. There are wooden dividers around the corner tables.

decor_kr

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Mainland China

Mainland China came into existence in 1994, the first outlet being in erstwhile Bombay. It’s not surprising that this piece of news didn’t reach the majority of middle class people residing in Bengal. Why would they have bothered with accounts of some expensive Chinese restaurant opening in Bombay? I, as a child, was quite happy with our occasional Peping and Chung Wah stints while visits to Calcutta and the ketchup slathered ‘chowmein’ at street stalls. Eating out hadn’t gained popularity, nor had Chinese restaurants popped up like mushrooms all over the city. The China Town or Tangra area in Calcutta still ruled when it came to amazing food and liquor at modest rates. Years passed, Anjan Chatterjee made his mark with Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta, and finally inaugurated the first outlet in Calcutta in the last decade. It was still inaccessible to a student like me with its posh location and exorbitant prices. It was only when I left home ten years ago, the Western concept of eating out slowly imbibed into my being. Mainland China was still beyond my reach with its à-la-carte prices that could slash my wallet brutally. I’m not sure about the year of inception of a buffet or ‘set meal’ (as referred in the China buffets all around US & UK) in Mainland China, but I was over the moon that the bill could fit in my wallet in lieu of some great food. Summing up my experiences of over five years at Mainland China outlets in three Indian cities hitherto.

The Decor

One of the most attractive features of Mainland China (MC) is the decor. I’ve been to four different MC outlets and the decor is always soothing, oriental, calm and soft to the eyes. The entrance of every outlet has been a mishmash of designer wooden panels as dividers that impart a feeling of passing into a private space. The lights are dim and tables are very strategically placed, so that you don’t overhear conversations, get irritated by inane people nearby or stumble into someone else while filling your plate from the buffet counters. Seats are quite comfortable and tables are adequately spaced to fit in your satchel or purse. The decor at each outlet I’ve visited fetched a big thumbs up, and here’s a glimpse of my favourite piece at any eatery, the ceiling lamp.

At the South City Mall outlet, Calcutta

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Memories In March

Image Courtesy: BlogAdda

Memories are best served cold. They are created while you’re young, so you can carry them inside your head till it is alive. As you grow old, day by day, it’s time to ruminate on the memories, warm them up and have them served apiece within a mundane daily routine. There are some that don’t taste the same after days or years, and then there are others that sizzle up with time and fill your senses with longing for loved ones.

Watching young ones in the family grow up is a beautiful process that enriches one and makes for endless memories. I’ve had the scope to witness my young sister-in-laws (SIL) transit from school to college and transform into beautiful ladies from cranky teenagers. For a large part though, we’ve been living in radically different cities and corresponding through occasional phone calls, text messages and holidays. The moments spent there would be hurried and sporadic, in a frenzy over a few days to soak away the minutes slowly into our togetherness. We’d catch a movie, hop off to lunches, meet at their places, our place and any other relatives nearby, sneak away time for a chat on the terrace while mothers and aunts carried on their chitter-chatter. Each holiday would remain a collage of these moments, with images popping up in our minds months later, causing roars of laughter on either side over a call.

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From the Land of Usal, Misal and Pav

Thukpa at Shaolin in Pune

When we moved to Pune from Hyderabad, we were quite apprehensive about the food. While Mumbai and Hyderabad are considered food heavens with choices to die for, Pune was known to be low key without many options, and most of them vegetarian. While we’re strictly non-vegetarians and big foodies, we did eat in vegetarian restaurants (mostly when other options were sparse)!

After relocating to Pune, we began house hunting. It was a tedious job and we looked for places to eat in Pune after toiling whole day visiting apartments for rent. Since our areas of target were in the outskirts, it was more difficult to find restaurants of our choice. Hyderabad had literally spoilt us crazy with its food platter and spice buckets. Pune seemed more toned down and traditional. Though the traditional Maharashtrian food is far from bland, it’s spicy and blazing hot. While M loves the Misal Pav, I’m more for Pav Bhaji and Vada Pav. The idea of slathering dry sev into the spicy gravy and mopping it up with buns, somehow didn’t appeal me.

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You and Us

Image Courtesy: Indiblogger

“When being together is more important than what you do, you are with a friend.” – Connie McMartin

I’ve been friends with S for the last 11 years now. Now that’s a bloody long time to know someone, isn’t it? We had begun our acquaintance with peals of laughter on the University staircase, if you’d believe. Both of us are infamous for our laughters, which can easily be compared with flight take-offs. They start with a giggle in unison and end up after reaching a crescendo that has offended a mighty lot of people then and now. But we wouldn’t be us if we had actually cared about that!

After hanging out in University campus for almost three years, we had to part ways. While I flew off for academics, S continued hers in Calcutta. It’s been mostly social media and very occasional meetings for the next few years. We’d plan in advance and meet for a movie and lunch, blabbering away the happenings in our lives, mostly love lives. We had created the record of chatting hours at bus stops before heading for our homes, respectively. There seems to be a throttled river of words that comes to life and rushes along whenever we see each other.

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