Melange

Since this is a lounge with a view as it's USP, I thought it's only fair to lend equal weightage to the ambiance, drinks and food.

Ambiance and Decor: 

Just as Mumbai is divided in to the high-on-snob-value South Mumbai and the fun and chilled out 'Burbs, Pune too is divided by 'The River', and folks from either side of the river usually find it quite painful to traverse to the other side. I was almost kicking myself for accepting an invitation from Melange while being traffucked for almost an hour. Surprisingly, this anguish disappears quite quickly when you step in to the very chic lounge offering scintillating views of the city's skyline.

It's a bit of a bummer then that you can't enjoy the view once you're seated and you wish they'd have used railings or glass panels instead of concrete walls. But it sure is very thoughtful of them to have warmers and even shawls {apart from alcohol} to combat those cold windy nights. While i didn't see anyone making use of the shawls on offer, there were quite a few people warming their hands against the soothing fire of the warmers. 

It also helps that the restaurant is divided in to a lounge, that has low seating and diffused lightning which is may be attractive for the young hip crowd out for a few drinks with friends, and the dining area that may be more suited for families and those looking to have a relatively quieter evening. The management deserves kudos for not blasting loud music in your ears even in the lounge area so you can actually have conversations with your companions. 

They have a really huge screen where you can enjoy live football and cricket matches and have started an open air theatre in another section of the premise where they will show some classics.

Drinks:

The bar is extremely well-stocked with a good selection of domestic and international spirits and wines. We ended up tasting quite a few cocktails and I must say they were all quite potent and very competent. I started off with the watermelon caipiroska which had a good hit of lemon, mint and watermelon flavours. Next came the lemon margarita and though it wasn't frozen as i like them, there were no complaints on the taste at all. 

I believe that when people go dining out, they're not just looking for a good meal and drinks but also to be entertained and for that a little theatre is the call of the day sometimes. The flaming tequila and whisky shots we tried next and the flaming tower provided just that. The flaming tower has 3-4 glasses stacked vertically on a bowl of cranberry juice on which flamed vodka is poured thus creating an effect of a tower on fire. You then sip the liquid with straws. We then tried the long island iced tea which we couldn't complete because by then blood in our bodies had been replaced by alcohol and that's kinda harmful. Or so i've been told. 

My fellow Zomation, Prashant tried the Cosmopolitan and Sex on the beach and found them to be delicious as well. 

Food:

They do a la carte as well as buffets here on all nights. The difference is that on weekdays, you get limited options of the mains and desserts which are served at the table and on weekends it's unlimited options from the buffet lay-out as well as from the menu.

From the starters we tried the panko fried prawns, sharabi kebabi tikka, chicken tikka, fish tempura, barra kebabs, mutton malaai seekh kebab and cheese borek. My pick of these were the sharabi kebabs which were well marinated with a slight after-taste of alcohol, the crunchy panko fried prawns served with tartare sauce, the mutton seekh kebabs and the barra kebabs which were beautifully spiced mutton chops and just perfect to go with drinks on a cold winter evening. The fish tempura was kind of disappointing mainly because of the choice of fish {basa} and the feta in cheese borek lacked that saltiness inherent of feta and thus tasted more like paneer. The borek wasn't too bad but as Prashant commented, 'I'ts not meat'. True that!

We also had the Mediterranean Mezze platter consisting of hummus, moutabel, greek salad and a red bean dip called ful medames. All of these were really nice and went well with the fresh and fluffy pita bread. The piece de resistance, however, was the wood-fired Pepperoni pizza. Generous slices of delicious meat grilled on fresh bread with good quality cheese - heaven. 

After so much food, we almost hesitatingly ambled across to the buffet counter which had salads, main course and desserts. I tried the lemon garlic grilled chicken, king fish goan curry thai curry- rice and also a bit of dal makhni. The grilled chicken stayed true to it's description and the thai curry was rich and creamy. Too bad we couldn't do much justice to the mains which consisted of a good variety of indian and continetal dishes and a live pasta counter. 

I loved the soft and spongy rasgullas and the warm vermicelli and cashew nut kheer. Of the western desserts, the caramel custard was okay but the others were quite disappointing and best avoided.

Since this was by invitation, the service was very prompt but i do hope this is consistent as the attendants seemed very well trained. Also, a big thanks to our very hospitable host of the evening, Monique Machado, who when not at work, can be found cheering for Chelsea in front of the screen at Melange. 

We truly did have an enjoyable evening and you're almost certain to have one too. Put this one on your must-go list.