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Restaurant Review | FLAMBOS BREWPUB, Camp

My review of Flambos Brewpub was published on Burrp! today. Here's the link to it: http://www.burrp.com/pune/know/review-flambos-64479

For the benefit of our lazy web-surfers, I paste the review below so you don't have to go anywhere else.


In a city known for its budding microbrewery culture and pub food, we find out how Flambos fares.
A popular hangout point housing some of Pune's best restaurants and lounges, the Metropole commercial complex adjacent to Inox Cinema was once brimming with flavour. This is not the case any longer. Over the years, some restaurants have downed their shutters and the only surviving outlets are Flag's and Flambos.
We decided to pay this old haunt a visit on a Sunday afternoon, and walked into Flambos to be greeted by Flambos' beer chillers at the entrance. Its interiors are warm with bricked walls and wooden flooring and furnishing. The ambiance is lifted by substantial natural lighting during the day.
We chose to go for their mini Sunday Brunch menu, which beer would have been perfect with. But when we asked if we could sample beer from their microbrewery, we were informed that their chillers were being fixed and would be ready in two weeks. We then chose a Melon Blast (Rs 160) and a Virgin Mary (Rs 160). The Melon Blast was a refreshing combination of crushed watermelon and fresh mint leaves, although the sugar syrup was a bit excessive. The Virgin Mary was simply a salt-rimmed glass of store-bought thick tomato juice, no celery or Tabasco.
For starters, we ordered the Veg Antipasti platter (Rs. 380), a winning combination of pickled vegetables, hummus, punchy garlic sauce, canned artichokes, green olives and perfectly caramelized pieces of brinjal complemented with freshly baked pita bread. The pickled vegetables - shallots, carrots, baby corn and french beans - had a flavour of fresh ginger and vinegar, making it our favourite part of the platter.
For our main course, we decided to skip the regular pasta-pizza-risotto orders, opting to experiment with Veg Hunter's Style (Rs 280) and Nacho-Crusted Fish and Chips (Rs 350). According to the menu, the vegetarian dish included brown rice with a grilled veg steak cooked in red wine sauce. However, what we got was parboiled rice while the steak was a potato-vegetable mash. The tomato-based gravy definitely lacked the taste of red wine. The overwhelming acidity of the gravy made the course quite unpalatable.
The Nacho-Crusted Fish and Chips fared much better. A thick fillet of fresh basa coated generously with breadcrumbs and nachos made for a crunchy bite. Served with chilli-topped fries, fruit salsa and finely diced apples, the dish struck a fine balance between sweet and savoury.
Our server recommended Chocolate Bon Bon With Ice Cream (Rs 240) for dessert. This was the costliest dessert on the menu and came with two pieces of thin filo pastry rolls stuffed with chocolate sauce, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and slivers of apple. What we expected was gooey chocolate sauce rather than the sugary Hershey's sauce in limp filo pastry served to us. The vanilla ice cream also lacked characteristic creaminess. 

Overall, Flambos made for passable fare. The restaurant however has a lot going for it - a microbrewery, prompt and cordial service, enjoyable music and an enviable location next to the bustling Inox. All it needs to bring in hungry diners is to take their food up a few notches.
Meal for two: Rs 1500 including taxes  (excluding alcohol)
Must try: Veg Antipasti platter
This review was conducted anonymously.

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