Cool Ambience & Decent Food !
Rating – 3.5/5
Sheesha is a recent addition to the ever growing Ishanya Mall’s happening restaurants & bars. Highlights of the place include a good Ambience coupled with decent offerings of food and drinks. This is an extension to the famous Sheesha chain from Mumbai and is a venture of renowned Chef Kadaar Khan something which I looked forward for some nice Mughlai / Awadhi cuisine.
Ambience – They offer a pretty ambience with a Cabana kind of setting and also the usual round tables, one of which was setup for our blogger’s meet. They don’t have a provision for Air conditioning in this covered kind of setup however the Mist fans did their job and we didn’t really feel too much of heat.
To further help the matters we had a crackling session of rain and the Ambience was further accentuated and is tailor made for the rainy season.
Food & Drinks – The Drinks (Virgin Colada) and starters (in brief later) ranged from being average to Okayish however the Main course really provided a much needed boost to an average beginning.
The Virgin Colada Mocktail was Okayish and didn’t quite leave any mark while the Paaya Shorba was extremely mild and had very subtle flavors and except for some delicious Mutton chunks this came across as a bland preparation.
The Starters – Most of the starters that were served to us followed a similar theme – on a sizzler like plating and served with a cheesy white sauce. From the ones listed above I found the Subz Seekh Kebab & Tandoori Chicken to be pretty decent.
From the starters listed above I liked the Paneer Shaslik as the quality of Paneer was pretty good and was decently spiced. The second serving of Zaitooni Jhinga was pretty good while the Murgh Tangdi Kulfi & Babycorn Amritsari made up the numbers.
The Mains – Having not witnessed a show-stopper in starters I was getting a bit worried about my great Mughlai/Awadhi food expectations however I would say I was aptly satisfied with the Main Course. Except the Lassooni Murgh Gravy which was an average preparation with a mundane gravy taste and boiled sort of chicken pieces texture the rest of the dishes were pretty satisfying. A brief about the dishes I liked:
Dal Bukhara – This isn’t quite the Dal Bukhara you would have tasted in the famous ITC restaurant but this fares pretty well compared to similar preparations in Pune. The texture is quite thick and juicy and went well with the Butter Naans.
Mutton Rogan Josh – The rich brown gravy coupled with extremely well cooked and tender mutton chunks was one of the best dishes of the evening. It wasn’t too spicy and yet not too mild so it’s a safe dish to order if you dine here.
Mughal Kebab – In an extremely rich and a bit sweetish golden gravy this complemented in providing the milder taste buds something to cheer about, the Kofta was thankfully soft and tastefully done.
Gosht Dum Biryani – The first two bites didn’t leave any immediate impression but it slowly grew on me, the good part about the Biryani was the aromatic basmati rice combined with again tender mutton chunks. However this was along the lines of Awadhi biryani which was quite mild on the usage of spices and more on the aroma side of things but I liked it.
Desserts – The Gulab Jamuns were what you call pretty decent and it’s difficult to mess around the Gulab Jamuns to be honest so it was as per expectations. The Lahsoon Kheer was pretty thick with almost a Phirni like consistency and had an extremely subtle flavor of Garlic ! This preparation was interesting and a combination I have never tried before.
VFM & Verdict – Compared to other places in Ishanya Mall, the pricing is on par and pretty reasonable for what is on offer so it ticks the mark for me on the Value for Money Quotient. The place synonymous to its name offers Non tobacco/flavoured Sheeshas to try however I didn’t quite try any so can’t really mention about the experience and they do have the Liquour license so you can have Alcoholic drinks and Cocktails while you dine at not so sky-high prices !
To be honest the overall experience didn’t really set my evening on fire but if decent Awadhi & Mughlai food is your idea for the evening at a decent price point you can give them a try for some good Mains and decent desserts.
biryanimaster 