Saturday 16 December 2017

Phoenix MarketCity Food Trail 1.0 - 212 All Day Cafe and Bar

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Phoenix Market City, Viman Nagar for a completely unique and potentially fun-filled activity. For the past year we have been food blogging, here was a food event that promised good food and also a bit of healthy competition.

Phoenix MarketCity Food Trails 1.0 organized in collaboration with Carpe Diem turned out to be a food tasting with a twist. The Pune food bloggers were invited to the venue and randomly allotted a restaurant and an ingredient.
The bloggers would have to select a dish from the restaurant menu which they think highlights the ingredient in the best way. That sounded exciting!

We reached the designated meeting spot, 212 All Day Cafe and Bar, a tad bit later than everyone else. (Curse of living in the edge of the city. Wakad.) We spotted quite a few of our fellow blogger friends engrossed with their plates of food, trying hard to capture the best picture in the best light.

We ended up with 212 Cafe itself, which was happy news because we love the food there. It is a beautiful cafe with cosy indoor seating as well as a outdoor seating that overlooks the plaza and the fountains. It makes for a great place for a quiet date.

But it wasn't turning out to be too ideal of a situation for us. As much as we had hoped for a 'Chicken' ingredient (Kukkad lovers through and through), we were handed a chit that spelled 'fish'.

Mr. TKD looked down at the piece of paper a bit askance but we knew we had to make the most of the situation. So fish it was. We aren't the biggest fans of fish, but Bengal-based upbringing has made sure I tell my Rohu apart from my Hilsa.

After some serious consultation with the manager and Chef, who were all so friendly, we decided to start off with something a bit.. risque? So we opted for a shellfish dish. In our defense, the WASABI SHRIMP COCKTAIL was jumping off the page. What can I do readers? They had me at Wasabi.

The chef did an excellent job with the presentation. The cocktail came in a martini glass that gave a clear view of all the ingredients. The bright greens of the lettuce, the popping reds of the cherry tomatoes, the wedge of lemon brightness and the quintessential orange of the Nasturtium flower that made the dish look complete.



It made me happy just looking at the dish. And happier still devouring it. The shrimps were beautifully cooked and it had that crunchy and firm texture that I like. The smooth Wasabi sauce was coated on the shrimps and brought in that familiar kick into the dish. That being said, I would have loved if they had served some of the Wasabi sauce on the side as a dip. For us wasabi lovers, just the smear on the shellfish is just not enough.
The iceberg lettuce was fresh and crisp with a light sprinkle of dressing. The parmesan wafer brought an element of crunch that made the texture of this salad so interesting.



In entirety, this dish was full of flavors and textures yet so light and refreshing. We were glad we kicked off our meal this this beauty.

We decided to invest a bit more on our fish ingredient and picked the Grilled Norwegian Salmon. The main idea of the dish was to hero the beautiful fillet of Salmon and keep everything else to the minimal.

So we had the beautifully grilled fillet with a sprinkling of olive oil and dash of salt. The meat was firm yet tender. It fell yielded readily to my fork and fell apart to reveal the pretty pink within. The skin was crispy on either side and was served with a side of roasted baby potatoes and grilled vegetables. The lemony, creamy dressing brought the much needed citrusy relief.



For a person that doesn't prefer seafood, Mr. TKD devoured much of the dish. Every element in the plate just came together in symphony to celebrate the salmon. No spices, vegetables or flavors took away the spotlight from the fish. The tender, melt-in-the-mouth fish with the crunchy, grilled vegetables and the creamy, acidic dressing made this dish a winner.



Needless to say, we were very sated at the end of the event. Whether we chose the winning dish or not, we don't know. But we sure had lady luck smiling at us for choosing some great food that day. It was a really great event in the light of the fact that they made us go for an ingredient we don't usually end up choosing. (The Macchi Diaries, anyone?)

So, all we can say is 'Phoenix Market City Food Trials 1.0' was O-FISH-ALLY a success! 

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