Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen — Restaurant in Pune

Kalinga is redefining our perspective of vegetarian food with its newly introduced Veg Gourmet Kitchen & Bar. Unlike other vegetarian restaurants which offer the same old boring food, kalinga is dishing out European, Asian, Indian & Continental food with a twist of their own. They also have a bar on the fourth floor so now you can enjoy your drinks along with the gourmet food if you wish to do so.

The food dished out here is absolutely delish. I had the privilege of trying some of their gourmet dishes, so here's some insight about my experience here.

⭐ Cocktail

🔹Blue Bay Iced Tea- A blueberry version of the LIIT prepared none othe than the celebrity mixologist herself, Shatbi Basu. Needless to say it was mindblowing. All the spirits were added in such proportions that it didn't even feeling like drinking a cocktail. The cocktail was smooth as silk on the throat and that certainly tells you about the quality of drinks here, all of which are curated by Shatbi Basu herself.

⭐Soups

🔹Tender Coconut & Corn Soup- Made of corn broth and coconut water as its base along with finely diced veggies, this soup is very simple to begin with. But when I say simple by no means does it mean that it was average. Infact this is one of those soups i'll prefer anytime of the day. That's just how delightful it was. A must try!

🔹 Mulligatawny Soup- A pretty interesting name for a soup I thought. It was basically a blend of lentil curry, coconut, sweet potato and rice topped with papad crisps. The black pepper in it had a prominent taste which was quite delectable. Overall a very unique soup and certainly a must try!

⭐ Appetisers

🔹 English Vinglish Salad- Said to be the best seller in their menu and rightly so, this salad had me asking for more. Loaded with cottage cheese, smoked corn, peppers, peanuts and cranberries this was one hell of a salad. One which would knock your stumps off with a yorker. Outstanding. A must try!

🔹 Panseared Ravioli- Delicious! That's how I would sum it up for you. Soft, tender ravioli stuffed with asparagus and cheese topped with crushed walnuts and tabbouleh served along with bell pepper hummus. A fusion of Italian and Middle Eastern cuisine, this is a clear winner. A must try!

🔹Peri Peri Arbi Tuk- Okay so you need to actually taste it to experience the blast of flavours on your palate. This is a simple yet delicious preparation made of fried arbi tossed in in-house spices and peri peri powder. One which would make you ask for more and more and more.

🔹Crisp Shell Tacos- Absolutely delicious. Deep fried Crepes sandwiched between guacomole, cottage cheese, lettuce, salad, salsa and sour cream were charming on the palate, so much so that I couldn't stop myself from having more portions of it. Again, a must try!

🔹Ortolono Pizza- Well, a vegetarian pizza never tasted so good. The highlight of this pizza was its base, light and crisp. The toppings and cheese were in generous amount and did not overpower each other which was the feature of the overall pizza. Loved it!

⭐ Desserts

🔹Fudge Brownie- Being a big brownie fan, I fell in love with this dessert as soon as I took a bite. The gooey texture of the brownie was to die for, the combo of nutella fudge and vanilla ice cream was like two lovers which had never parted ways from each other. This is by far the best brownie I have ever had. Hands down!

🔹 Kulfi Faluda- Aesthetically, this is hands down the prettiest faluda I've come across as yet. The overall taste was soul satisfying that's the best way I can describe it. Packed with kulfi, rabri, jelly, blueberry compote and nuts this is delectable. A quintessential ending to our meal and how!

What a dining experience that was, I'm yet to get over it honestly! That said, the service here is as good as it can probably get. The staff is well trained and know their work well. They cater to your needs flawlessly and deliver a wonderful experience altogether. I enjoyed every bit of my time spent here. Do visit! That's pretty much...

This place offers some good varieties of European and Asian cuisine veg dishes. This place is on the Main road and very easy to spot + finding a parking here won't be much of a problem as they have a pretty big parking of their own.

The ambience here is simple and cozy. The management here is very good and the owner is always around to look after their customers. The service here is really good too.

Coming to the food! I personally tried :

1. Chole Paneer Triangles : These were basically Samosas stuffed with paneer and Pindi chole topped with dahi and sweet and spicy chutneys. My only issue with this dish was that I couldn't really taste any Paneer and the Pindi chole dominated the taste. But if you consider it as A chole samosa then the taste was actually great and the flavors were beautifully balanced because of dahi and chutneys.

2. Dal Pakwaan : This place has taken a different take on it's Dal Pakwan. This was Dal topped with chutneys and served with broken Pakwan so that you could eat the Dal & Pakwan like a Chip n Dip dish. The Dal was rich and creamy and very subtle in it's flavors and the Pakwan added a nice crunchy element to the dish.

3. Dimsum & Sauce : These were Corn & Chestnut dumplings served with Ginger and Soy sauce. I loved the combination of flavors of Chestnut and Corn and the dumplings were perfectly cooked but the sauce was just way too sweet. You couldn't really get that Ginger and Soy flavors hit because of too much sweetness.

4. Pulled Bhuna Kathal : This was my 2nd favorite dish here. It's basically pulled Jack fruit which is cooked in Indian masalas and then served in a paratha roll. This dish was served with fries and lettuce salad. The hero here was that Pulled Jack Fruit. It was mildly spicy and that pulled Jack Fruit gave had a meaty texture and I loved that.

5. Fried Mozzarella : These were like spicy mozzarella patties. The outer coating had a nice hit of spice and herbs to it which complemented that melting mozzarella in those patties and c'mon honestly who doesn't like fried cheese dishes!!! This was my most favorite dish here.

6. Mushroom Cheese Melt : This was basically a Mushroom and three cheese Panini sandwich. The mushroom had herb flavors and butter garlic flavor to it and the three cheeses just made it really a melt in mouth sandwich. I never in my life had such a fresh Panini bread ever. It was so good. I could just keep hogging on that bread alone.

7. Coconut & Corn Soup : The soup was light corn soup with other ingredients like tofu , carrots, peas. The unique thing about this dish is that they add coconut water and tender coconut to it. You cannot taste the coconut flavors differently as such but it does give a nice touch of sweet flavors to the corn soup.

8. Paneer Makhani Argenteuil : What's different about this dish? Well they asparagus to it which leaves a very subtle and pleasant asparagus aftertaste. The Makhani gravy was rich and creamy and the Paneer was soft and cooked beautifully!!

9. a) Red Velvet Ice cream Tender b) Tender Coconut Ice cream : These ice creams are made in house by this restaurant. People don't usually spend on a simple dessert like ice cream in a restaurant and prefer going to some ice cream parlor but let me tell you this.... You'll miss the beautiful ice cream this place has to offer if you do that here. Usually ice cream gets all the ice flaky texture but this ice cream was just nice and milky and a little dense and it felt like eating a really Gourmet ice cream. The red velvet cake is infused in the Red Velvet ice cream and nice Coconut chunks in the Tender Coconut ice cream. The tender coconut flavor is soooo goood. These ice creams are a must try!! ❤️❤️

From the drinks I personally liked : 1) Fresh Orange Caprioska(cocktail) 2) Peach & Mint slushie(mocktail) 3) Cucumber curry leaf lemonade(mocktail).

Overall this place is great one to visit along with your family and enjoy some...

Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen!

Around 10 years back the Owner Mr Abhishek Shetty had a dream to have a multistoried restaurant offering different cuisines under same management, the dream has finally come true, Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen is the first restaurant from the dream house of Mr Abhishek which has started their operation couple of weeks back.

Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen serves North Indian, European Indian and Asian Cuisine. The menu is well curated with fusions of traditional recipes in sleek new avatar and still not compromising with original taste. The restaurant is located opp to mehendale garage in Erandwane and easy to locate, they have a multilevel and automated car parking along with additional parking area with capacity of around 120 cars, indeed it a plus point is considering the narrow roads in the vicinity and shortage of common parking space. The décor of this place is impressive, inviting and the space planning is superbly done with comfortable seating space. I visited this place for #Foodtasting

Street Food

Multigrain Bhel Poori [Rs 150]: A healthy version of bhel done with with puffed rice, makhana, quinoa puff, sunflower seeds and spiced nuts didn’t lose the charm and flavor of the regular bhel poori that we get. It was tangy, spice and well mixed. #Highlyrecommended

Starters

Badam Brocolli [Rs 250]: Broccoli grilled along with creamy marinade prepared from yogurt, cardamom and almond paste was outstanding, it was topped with fine slices of roasted almonds, one of the unique preparations which I have seen, it is definitely #Musthave.

Bruschetta Trio [Rs 275]: Bruchetta topped with different combination in a single plate, Tomato- Basil-Mozzarella, Spinach-Kale-Garlic, and Mushroom, all were extremely well done but I personally loved the Tomato- Basil-Mozzarella topping which had strong flavor of basil, and Spinach-Kale-Garlic topping which was smooth and creamy. #Highlyrecommended

Zaatar Palak Pakore [Rs 250]: Spinach leaf fritters/Pakora was coated with thin batter with ajwain and aloo, it was served on bed of yougurt and was drizzled with zaatar spices along with a tangy tamarind dip. It was crispy and was good in taste. #Recommended

Mains

Pindi Chole with Amritsari Aloo Kulcha [Rs 210]: Chole sabzi was served along with aloo kulcha and pickled onion, it had a distinctive aroma and had strong punch of ginger in it, the thick gravy had various spices, it was nicely blended and went well with the aloo kulcha. #Recommended

Paneer Jugalbandi [Rs 250]: A huge plate filled with two types of thick gravies, tomato based red colored which was slightly spicy with strong flavors and white color with cashew and cardamom was topped with huge slabs of fresh and soft paneer was truly delicious. I really loved the contrast of colors used in placing the paneer on the gravies. The quantity of this dish is really huge and can easily serve 3-4 people. #Highlyrecommended

Koyla Dal Makhani [Rs 195]: A buttery and creamy urad and channa dal with a mild smokey flavor was superb in taste. The beauty of this dish was that the smokey flavor was not overpowering the basic taste of dal makhani. #Recommended

Desserts

Ice Cream Falooda [Rs 200]: Kulfi Ice Cream, Rabdi, jelly,vermiceilli, sabza (basil seeds), rose syrup and nuts was undoubtedly the best falooda which I have had, the kulfi ice cream was superb and the falooda had generous amount of vermicelli and sabza. It was topped with an edible flower which was also a great finishing touch to the dessert. #Musthave

Overall: In spite of good rush at the restaurant the service was prompt, the restaurant was hygienic. The staff was polite and friendly. Plates were proactively replaced. Thanks a lot Abhishek and Amruta for hosting us and for a wonderful and memorable meal. Undoubtely it was of the best tasting session which I...