Rainforest Resto-Bar Launch Preview Party Experience | Review | High Street Phoenix | Lower Parel | Mumbai

Fortunate enough to be invited to a preview of this new entrant to High Street Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel, Mumbai, I was a part of an evening of fun and frolic with many fellow blogger friends just a couple of days ago :) In a nutshell, the night was young, the food was good and the experience was overall memorable for everyone.

All Photos Credit : Prachi Shailendra Photography

Ambiance, as the name suggests, is all about recreating and loving a rainforest :D No joke this! Walk in and be instantly surrounded by a canopy of leaves, trees, branches in all direction, watching out for tarzan to leap out anytime! Even the tables and chairs seem to be individually tailored to give that rustic, hand-crafted in middle of the jungle feel with lanterns and torches everywhere completing the adventurous environs. Trekkers and Environmentalists will never want to leave the place. The only drawback could be the dim lighting. But then, we don't expect floodlights in the middle of the jungle,do we? So sit back and get in that camping mode.

As I said, this was just the preview night so it would be unfair to strictly judge them on service and menu. We had just some choicest dishes to taste (not the full menu) and there was a considerable delay in bringing out main course after the starters but these hitches are to be expected anyway. Service was exceptional though, the staff asked once about our food preferences and remembered it throughout the evening even though they were serving at least 100 people at the same time! Our drinks were refilled quickly, feedback was taken immediately, we had nothing to complain about on service front, hope they keep it up :)

We had LIVE music to entertain us this particular night,all sorts of songs that go well when you are with a bunch of friends. Found the music a bit loud but totally apt for the kind of audience and ambiance. Coming to food, it was truly generously portioned and well worth the price tag.

We started with Cosmopolitan (cocktail), Blue Lagoon, Pina Colada (Mocktails) and Beers, all tasting the way they should :D 

Starters meant Rustic Bruschetta (decent enough) and Paneer Angaray (absolutely melt in mouth big chunks of spicy paneer,marvelous). A special mention to the roasted papad that was simply marvellous with the cheesy dips provided to us while we waited for the main course :D

In main course we simply loved the Veg Dum Biryani (astonishingly this was closer to an authentic lip smacking Biryani than what many places serve!) Portion of 1 Biryani enough for 3 people, it is a must-have here.

Another must-have would be the Pizza Paratha which was basically Naan slathered with Molten Cheese served with Subz Hussainabadi (rich spicy thick gravy coating huge chunks of Mix Vegetables and Paneer,had a home-cooked feel) as they went well together as well as on their own! 

A warning though, be it Biryani or Naan or Mix Veg, food here is seriously rich and dense, so calorie counters better stick to starters :P It can also be construed as a sign of how good the food is since in India, many people refuse to call it 'good food' unless it has cholesterol increasing properties :D 

If you are in a big group of 4-6 people, just call for 1 Bread Basket and you will be stuffed to the brim with Naan, Cheese Kulcha, Makai Roti, each of them scrumptious. In other words, even though we had to wait for food, the wait was well worth it :)

We also tried the Thai Red Curry with Steamed Rice which was decent enough, actually I love Green Curry more than Red one so there was no love lost for this one.

Desserts need a special mention as we had 2 Chocolate based Mousse - one with nuts, one with berries, I loved them both but they were on excessively sweeter side for those not endowed with a sweet jaw like mine. Maybe too much of chocolate sauce, a little bit less and it would be perfect. 

Bailey's Delight was the star for me with Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Creams jostling with just a hint of Bailey's liquor at the bottom. Peoples, I said Ice Cream, enough said, right? :D

Did we have fun? Absolutely!

Did we like the food,ambiance and service? You bet!

Will we be back if we are in the area? Sure!

Conclusion - Rainforest Resto-Bar is here to stay :)

All Photos Credit : Prachi Shailendra Photography