This place had been on my to try list for a while now and what better than to get invited to review it??

Masala bar- a massive restaurants venture by Kalra’s offers a cutting edge, post modern, scientific laboratory style bar experience. A beautiful property in the prime location of Bandra overlooking the Arabian sea provides a beauty of its own with being a fully candle-lit place during evening hours and beautiful use of mirrors all across; thereby offering a first of its kind intimate experience to its guests. This place is a revolution in mumbai nightlife.

As soon as we were seated we had Mr Rajesh who came to introduce himself. He waited on our table helping us through the menu throughout the tasting. We were introduced to the chefs and we decided to go for blind tasting; it being our first time here we wanted to be surprised. Check out all that we ate and drank here ????

1. Malabar point- vodka, apple, chamomile and thyme foam on top. We were told that the drink gets its name from the fact that malabar is a point in mumbai where earth, sea and sky come together and is a very beautiful view. Apple and chamomile are used to represent earth, for water it’s vodka and for clouds they’ve used thyme foam. What a beautiful representation. Taste wise it’s on the sweeter side but very tasty. I loved this one the best!

2. The Great Hornby’s cloud-chocolate cinnamon and whiskey concoction. This one gets its name from the fact that Mr Hornby was a great architect, who made a lot of bldgs in colaba side. He enjoyed his drinks, spicy food and chocolate desserts; so combining the three elements together gave birth to this drink. Was presented like a cloud, taste wise found the cinnamon to be a bit overpowering.

Such drinks with some beautiful numbers being played by the dj just rocks your evening.

3.Sunset at carter- whiskey, rosemary orange concoction, topped with almond foam. This one in the evening light is supposed to give the look of sunset. Its presented beautifully and tastes delicious. The foam on top does the trick.

4. Bem vinda- mudfigg puree, Mumbai masala chai reduction and whiskey cocktail. Sounds very different and tastes interesting.

5. Heaven on earth mocktail- watermelon and cranberry juice topped with thyme foam. This one is absolutely refreshing.

6. Roasted duck salad-aragula leaves, spice flavour, dehydrated for crunchiness and flavours dressing harbenara yuzu- innovative and tasty.

7. Honey fig watermelon feta salad- with rocket leaves and cherry tomato- this one was absolutely refreshing, sweet, tangy, crunchy, soft, it was just a burst of flavours in the mouth. Simply loved it.

8. Lentil and barley soup served with aubergine crostini on the side. This one looked beautiful and tasted really good, though indian taste to the whole dish, I quite liked it. The crostini just added the perfect crunch and spice to the otherwise bland but very healthy soup.

9. Albondigas soup- Spanish word for meatballs. A spicy tomato based meatball soup with leeks and cilantro. This one was really good too.

10. Khurchans- Paneer and tofu khurchan.
Lamb khurchan

Khurchans are supposed to be the scrappy leftovers usually of reduced milk. Thsee ones were veg and non veg toppings cooked and scrapped off the pans and served on khari to add crunch to it. Topped with mayo and mint chutney to enhance the taste, it was beautifully presented on a stone plate. It tastes good but nothing extraordinary about it.

11. Carbon pav bhaji- this one looked really fascinating in the pics and I had to try it. This pav bhaji is black. The buns literally look like black balls. The interesting part is that the bhaji is not made of cauliflower and peas and potatoes and brinjal instead it’s made of carrot, broccoli, pokchoy, asparagus, onion, tomato and garlic and there is edible charcoal ducks added to give the colour. Beautifully presented and tasted awesome. The buns however felt a little dry and chewy.

12. Aamras kasundi – combo of south Indian and Bengali, base neer dosa and topping with mustard mango prawns cooked with onion garlic and turmeric. Lip smacking.

13. Yellow curry risotto served with melt in the mouth soft banana flower patty. Loved it!!

14. Butter chicken with gravy on the side and flash burnt with torch to melt the herb butter cake on top served with sun dried tomato naan. This was a hearty main course, with perfectly juicy chicken and creamy texture.

Finally it was time for some desserts. We were obviously too full after so much food to have anything more but my sweet tooth got the better of me and we called 2 of them-

15. Baileys lollipops- this one was presented in a branch, with little lollipops of baileys icecream. The visuals make you happy like a child and it tastes simply yum.

16. Dark allurement- this was dark chocolate mousse. You take one bite and you are in a chocolate heaven. Creamy, rich and superb.

The way all good things come to an end, so did this tasting. We thanked the chef for our amazing meal and obviously Mr Rajesh for being so prompt with his service and so well equipped with knowledge of each dish. The place is a must visit for its one of a kind ambience, drinks and innovative food.

If you enjoyed this gastronomical post…check out this space for more in the upcoming weeks.