Bloggers Meet over a Food Tasting session at Wall Street Bar, Kolkata

The city is changing every day and with every passing day it keeps amazing us with its latest offerings. Last Saturday I was invited to a Bloggers Meet over Food Tasting session at Wall Street Bar, Shakespeare Sarani and I was so excited to be at the new Gastro-Pub which is now becoming a landmark for great beverages, food, hookah and entertainment. It is serving some amazing Chinese, Continental, Italian, and Burmese dishes and they claim to have specialization in Italian and Burmese, well I truly agree with that since my Khow Suey was really nice! :)

I would say in the summers this is one really cool place to chill out especially if you are close to Theatre Road area. As a matter of fact I have heard that this six months old joint used to dish out only vegetarian dishes couple of months back but recently they have introduced Non-veg items as well and infact we were there to sample these newly introduced non-veg items and few other newly introduced items in their refurbished menu. This place has got a well-stocked bar and they are gaining popularity in preparing some power-packed cocktails.

LOCATION - - - - - The place is very easy to locate and it is there right on the main road, just try to locate the address 10A Shakespeare Sarani. It is there on the 1^st floor of the Shagun Mall. You need to take the stairs and you will be guided to this place on the 1^st floor. Since the place is quite dimly lit so if you are coming in straight from the sun, you will find it difficult to adjust your vision for a while. While you step inside the restaurant you will pass though an alley with nice colorful gift items displayed on the wall shelves.

AMBIANCE - - - - - This is one of the great features of this place. The ambiance is pretty chilled out with loud music and a DJ churning out some awesome stuff to keep you glued. As already said the place is pretty dimly lit, that sets the mood right and helps you unwind pretty fast. The seating arrangements are nicely planned and are quite spaced out. 

The lights over the bar counter are somehow lovely since you find the filaments have been placed in the Absolut vodka bottles which looks great! The wooden finish flooring makes the place looks classy and the comfy high chairs along the strategically illuminated bar counter (with glowing WSB logo on the wall) makes thing even more gorgeous! We were seated on the normal couches by the side of the bar counter and they were very comfortable and you have the television right there by your side where you can enjoy sports and the live telecasts, if any. The walls are adorned with catchy taglines neatly framed and there are couple of walls showing the New York skyline. 

Wall Street, historically is known as the center of New York's financial district and the WSB is themed on that. It is also surrounded with corporates in the heart of the city so you get to see office goers by the end of the day loosening up and chatting over few drinks. The 50 seater dining zone is spread across 2,000sq ft where people meet to dine and drink. The wooden décor gives this pub the urbane feel along with the signature Harbour View on the walls. The DJ is placed at one of the corners with US flag in the background, and overall - the place is sure to attract the young generation and hope the décor and ambiance stays like this over the years.  

FOOD - - - - - We tried several food items and we feel this place truly puts loads of stress on food although it is a pub, this is one such odd pub which also scores high when it comes to food – maybe that’s why we call it a Gastropub since in a Gastropub you should expect great food items and meals besides pub grubs. But a gastropub is expected to serve high-end beer as well, which was not included in our list of beverages. Here you get great meals for your lunch or dinner besides lip smacking finger food. We tried a few snacks, some cocktails and couple of complete meals. Overall the food was really nice, they kept the flavors and aroma like the way it should be to maintain authenticity keeping in mind the use of fresh ingredients. We had in our menu – Gondhoraj mojito, Grilled and baked mushrooms, Chicken ginger strips, Bekti Cupcakes, Khow Suey, Bhuna Masala chicken wings with burnt garlic rice, and Cheese Fondue. I loved the –

a)  Baked mushrooms – They were extremely well prepared with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. These were well marinated mushrooms stuffed and baked with ricotta. And it is served with a three cheese medley.

b) Ginger chicken strips – This was served with tartar sauce and the chicken strips were perfectly crispy on the outside and well marinated and prepared inside. It’s worth a try.

c) Cheese Fondue – The dish looked stunning with a flame keeping the thyme flavored cheese fondue warm, it was served with sautéed veggies and crunchy bread cubes. Overall the dish tasted good.

d) Bhuna Masala chicken wings with Burnt garlic rice – I loved the burnt garlic rice served in this dish in quite a good quantity, the Bhuna masala chicken was served with some salad. The dish had a single piece of chicken wing which was very well prepared, was a bit tangy and bit spicy, it went good with the wok tossed rice, nice option to try out!

e) Khow Suey – This was the best dish that I tried at this place. It was soul satisfying and pretty filling. As we know it is a soup and noodle based Burmese dish and here it was pretty authentic, aromatic and very flavorful. The aroma of coconut milk and the squeeze of lemon spelled its magic and kept me glued to it till the last nibble! Add the rice noodles and condiments provided alongside and take the taste to the next level. This is one dish you should try if you are here at this place!

f) The Rocket launcher – It was an awesome cocktail with a mix of five spirits that can leave you tipsy! It was served in a big glass bottle and is surely for four or five to share!

g) Bellini – It is one of the classic cocktails which is a bubble-peach flavored sparkling wine based drink and it was truly smooth and awesome!  

h) Wall Street special – This is the house special cocktail. This was served in a long glass with cranberry and orangey flavor and on my request the spirit levels were kept a bit low. It was served with thing apple slices and a cherry on top, perfect!

Besides the great food and beverages, WSB has designed special nights like –

a)      Karaoke Nights on Wednesdays,

b)      Live Band on Thursdays,

c)      Ladies night Out on Fridays,

d)     Switch Night underground music on Saturdays,

e)      Stand-up comedy nights on Sundays.

The scenario is further enhanced with Bollywood, Hip Hop, House Music, Unplugged, and Deep House music. The eatery offers Happy Hours from Sunday to Friday from 3pm to 8pm.

SERVICE - - - - - After the great section about food we come to the not so great section where we discuss about the service. The servers/waiters are polite but they need to be trained a bit. I was not served couple of items which was disappointing; it was not served even after asked for. One such item was the Bhetki Cupcake that everyone had and they appreciated. After requesting for several times the Bar menu was then handed over to me! And after these, my Wall Street special cocktail was unintentionally dropped on me while serving another food item, but I am really very grateful to Mr. Aayush Karel, the co-owner of this place who immediately came over to me and helped me out to recover and took my phone to get it dried!

Anyway, it was nice to meet the chef-in-charge Mr. Deepak Kr Majumdar. He came to us, took a seat and had a chat with us answering our queries, he is truly a very humble and soft-spoken person and we learnt that he had started his career with The Park and Flury’s in Kolkata before settling down at Mumbai.

SUMMARY - - - - - If I am asked to rate this place I will give it 3.7 out of 5 points. It could’ve scored higher if the service would’ve been a bit better. I really loved the food items which were served to me. The cocktails were amazing as well. I have already discussed about the ambiance and it is just right for a gastro-pub. Food is one of the major focus here and it clearly shows. WSB is best known for its well stocked bar and the house cocktails, its Burmese and continental food and also for its range of pub grubs. The Switch Saturdays which promote underground music with alternative DJs every week makes this place more attractive on the grounds of clubbing.

Finally, Mr. Aayush, the co-owner is extremely polite, dynamic and friendly, we had wished him all the best and I would again like to wish him the very best for WSB and for all his future ventures.

Cheers!