Chilling Out With Loved Ones At Daily Bar & Kitchen Bandra | Food Review | Restaurant Review

Located right behind Shopper’s Stop at Bandra, Daily Bar & Kitchen has created a niche for itself as a must-visit watering hole, so some of my food and wine (emphasis on the ‘and’ part) told me and a food tasting invite for our bloggers group was the perfect way to test this theory. Superb chilled-out vibe at both outdoor as well as indoor seating. I have a troubled knee right now and so we decided not to sit at the high chairs and rather go for the far more comfortable couches. Brilliant music, exceedingly efficient and quick staff who went out of their way to accommodate our diverse palate preferences, great crowd post 8 PM.

We were all so starving after having had a particularly busy day (rather,week!) that we had almost everything available for vegetarians (except salads,which I shall try next time :D) Starting with drinks, my friends had Gypsy Queen, The Contender, Elysium, Little Foot, Scarecrow, Snapshot, Cleopatra and liked all of them. Owing to a horrible sore throat,I tasted none of that though I will vouch for how beautiful they all looked. Looking around, we could see every table ordering their molecular cocktails so that’s definitely their specialty. I just told them that I needed something hot, without alcohol, to soothe my throat and they got me 2 versions of Virgin Todi, one with Honey, Lemon Juice, Cloves, Cinnamon, and the other one with more Honey and addition of Star Anise. Pure LOVE!

Going to Canapes (starters) section, we started with Patatas Bravas which were different from the other version of same dish I had had at a place some time ago, this one much more memorable with soft potato pockets stuffed with cheese and veggies creating a wonderful explosion of flavours.

Focaccia and Cottage Cheese Bites had a wonderful focaccia base with a little pound of cottage cheese (delicious!) elevated by the fresh pesto drizzle and crunch of vegetables.

Champagne Mushroom Fricassee is for mushroom fans, typical wild flavour bursting through a string of cheesiness, those who don’t like mushrooms will find this heavy, I on the other hand loved it :)

Grilled Vegetable Filo Tarts was decent enough, the basic taste of vegetables with a bit of cheese stuffed inside a filo which I would like crunchier, this one was a bit oily, it still tasted delicious though :D

Tried the Cottage Cheese Slider next and it was just like Cottage Cheese Bites from the Canape section with addition of an onion ring on top and presented between a bun instead of atop a Focaccia :D So a little bit of added crunchiness but nearly the same dish overall.

I really loved the Flatbreads here and I would gladly go back to have them again. We started with Farm To Table Pissladiere which had a beautiful pesto spread with zucchini, caramelized onions and bellpepper as toppings, all of which are among my favourites. Very refreshing, very cheesy and full of calories too, bringing a rusty feel to the meal.

Olive Garden Primavera had a mix of vegetables ( I suspect these are the same that were stuffed inside the Filo we had in Canapes section) with braised asparagus and a generous amount of cheese, nice to go with drinks, wholesome in flavour and textures.

Day & Night was my personal favourite but just like a pizza flavour I had at Light House Café just 3 days ago, this one needs an experimental palate and is not a crowd pleaser. My palate likes things leaning on the sweeter side, I have no issues with boiled and bland food. My sister on the other hand likes spicy food with flavours that kick. That’s why our opinions are always so subjective with different people liking different things. Day & Night will appeal to those who love the density of Cream Cheese (it was not overpowering), the sweetness of caramelized onions jam and the fresh burst of arugula leaves. It is not a regular pizza flavour but I suggest go for it, you might like it :)

Among the main course options, we started with Pan Roasted Vegetable Ravioli which was not exactly authentic ravioli (so tell me my seasoned foodie friends) but pretty delicious and cheesy to relish! We absolutely loved the Cottage Cheese Steak served with generous dollop of cheese and a ratatouille as the base (which was basically a tower of wholesome mix of veggies, again very similar to the one on Olive Garden Primavera).

For desserts, we just blindly ordered everything :D Orange and Rosemary Panna Cotta and Mascarpone Ice Cream with Caramelized Oranges and Almond Crumble were decently refreshing and not overly sour (which was my concern on seeing Orange there!), Flourless Dark Chocolate Mud Cake was good but could be a bit more gooey in the center (still liked it a lot) but Espresso Chocolate Fondant was brilliant and led to a fight among our dessert spoons, so enough said :D

None of the food options we tried disappointed us, with the major observation being that flavours of quite a few dishes overlap with each other. So if you are ordering Focaccia Cottage Cheese Bites, do not order Cottage Cheese Sliders, same goes for Grilled Vegetable Filo Tarts, Olive Garden Primavera flatbread and Cottage Cheese Steak! Apart from this, the flavours and textures were amazing and I really loved how they used seasonal vegetables generously, but portions were very small for the price. We would suggest a bit of improvement in that area. We can certainly see ourselves coming back here soon after a long tiring week at work to blow off some steam, chill in a wonderful ambiance, drink up some of their specialties and feast on some really fantastic preparations. Absolutely recommended :)