A Tree of fabulous Taste !

Rating – 4.5/5

Quick Facts
Ambience – Available across two levels, first level quiet and soothing, second level – loud music/lounge bar setting.
Parking – Valet is available.
Food – Pretty good South Indian food (Mangalorean Sea food/Non Veg) with a bonus of decent North Indian offerings.
Value for Money – Pretty decent for the quality of food and atmosphere (1000-1500 for two)
Verdict – A must visit if you like your South Indian Non vegetarian delicacies.

The Location & Ambience – From the same management of the ever popular Coconut Grove comes another offering  -Coconut Tree Bar & Kitchen opened on 25th February in Konark Icon building on the BG Shirke road is one Chic addition to this area. In case of any confusion just put Konark Icon in Google Maps and you will arrive safe and sound. Otherwise one will have to take a U-turn from Seasons Mall signal if coming from Kharadi and provided you’re able to reach unscathed after withstanding the horrific state of affairs on the Mundhwa bridge you’re definitely in for a gastronomical delight for your taste buds 🙂

The Ambience on the ground floor is more like a soothing setting with soft background music while the first floor was more of a party type atmosphere and a lounge/bar type setting. We chose to sit at the first level which has space for 80+ covers while the ground level has space for 48 covers. The first level had both a comfy sofa type setting as well as high chair based club/pub like seating and I liked the feel of the place.

The Service – Service part of things for a food tasting review took some time to take off but it picked up pretty good for the later part of the meal though the first 20-30 minutes it was a bit pedestrian to be honest but no real complaints in the end. Special shout out to Mr. Nikhil, Mr. Rajesh and their Executive Chef Mr.Bhoja for graciously hosting us and we had a real good time. The peculiar thing about Mr. Bhoja was despite having more than 20 years of experience it was amazing to see him being so keen about the feedback and on hearing it he was ready to customize as per our liking while maintaining a very easy going demeanour with a smile.

The Drinks – The cocktails part looked extremely promising to me based on some of the explanations of their cocktails menu by Mr. Nikhil. Though it felt like a sin when I told him that we don’t take alcoholic drinks 😉However even the Mocktails were definitely something to reckon about especially the MCG (Rs 249), Litchi based drink with Curry leaves – looked a strange combination initially but worked very well. We also happened to have a Virgin Sangria which smelled like the real thing thanks to fermented apple’s extracts, mix of orange juice and just about decent in taste.

From kids perspective a cream + hazelnut + chocolate syrup drink (Rs 149) was really awesome and I think more than my Daughter I sipped on this special drink and had a jolly good time.

The Food – The starters were pretty good with Kundapur Tawa Fish (Rs 550, Surmai – strongly recommended) ranking on the top followed by their famous Mangalorean ghee chicken roast (Rs 285, a must try) and Murgh shikasta (Rs 285, a typical malai kebab like preparation).

The Main Course – Coming to the main course because the biryani master can’t really live without a biryani, we ordered only one main course to save some appetite – Chicken Anardaana which in hindsight had these anardaanas in abundance which played a bit of spoilsport in an otherwise fine gravy preparation which went absolutely fine with Neer Dosa (Rs 70 just yummulicious). We also tried their offering of Sheermal which came across as a thin version of the authentic preparation where the end result is thick yet fluffy so they missed out on the texture however they were able to capture that subtle saffron infused slightly sweet taste of Shirmal and I still loved it for that !

Next arrived the Hero of the Day – Andhra Dum Mutton Biryani (Rs 325) and this is a different biryani in it’s own right where it uses a rather thick variant of rice, sufficiently spiced and comes with even a spicier saalan (very good quality) and raita to really lighten up your day. Mind you this is not like your typical Hyderabadi biryani but uses different set of spices to have a standing on it’s own – loved it 🙂 The Mutton biryani had a real Dum about it unlike so many Dumb biryanis available in Pune so it would be fair to say ki “BiryaniMaster definitely gives it a thumbs up”.

The Desserts – Our dinner was topped off with a nice offering of Gulab-jamun with Rabdi but the winner here was Kulfi stuffed with Magai Paan syrup, remember this was not a Pan kulfi but a Kulfi that was sandwiched with Betel syrup/extracts and came across as a unique offering to end our rather sumptuous dinner.

The Verdict – Go for it guys, it’s a must visit for once and if you liked what you had in Coconut Grove then all that is now available at a closer place right here in Kharadi/Magarpatta vicinity.