Oblique Kitchen, Kothrud, Pune – Review

An old engineering unit now converted into a sprawling 100+ seater restaurant and some super quick service is what makes Oblique Kitchen. Neatly architected, good ambience, good music and of course good food.

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About Oblique Kitchen

The restaurant is probably 5-6 months old now. Went there first time a month back but have not had the time to put my thoughts to paper (I mean MS Word) about them.

They have a decent space in between the tables. Although, it does get noisy on a weekend night, but still comfortable. The best part for me was Phil Collins playing in the background. This is one more place, where the owner has created a space for live performances (currently used as seating space). He had planned this place for standup comedy and private mehfils.

Went there to meet a new friend from the beerlovershangout. We had a lot to talk about. He talked about Beer and a lot of his travel & food experiences from Japan and Europe. I talked about my love for Old Monk and some great dishes I could cook up. Sometimes also talking about Technology which seemed to be the bread and butter for both. @shrikantSawant

The food

Ordered a Long Island Tea along with some Nachos Crusted Cheesy Chicken Sticks. These guys have super quick service the drink and the Nachos crusted sticks were on the table in like 5 mins. Lightning fast is the word for this. They are just too quick.

The Long island tea was nicely made with the strength of rum coming through in the first sip. After the first bite and a couple more of them we found that there was no chicken in the sticks. After checking with them, we realised that there was a misunderstanding. There is a Nachos crusted Veg fingers too and hence possibly the confusion. That sorted we never had to look back on anything from then on.

The next in the line up of snacks were two things Buffalo Chicken poppers and Prawns XO. Buffalo chicken poppers are a must have here. The buffalo sauce has its origins from Buffalo New York (is that not obvious, why do I waste time writing about such trivia). It’s a mix of multiple sauces. Since it has a good content of cayenne pepper, red sauce and garlic the taste is kind of what Indians would also relate to. A must have at Oblique Kitchen.

For the Prawns XO; all I can say is that, if you want to visit the seashore sitting in Oblique kitchen then that is the dish to order. They give you a choice of prawns or chicken. We went with the obvious of Prawns. Prawns are cooked in dried Bombay duck or bombil or sukkat along with a spicy sauce and topped with some rice flakes.

It was the sea come alive in a small plate. A very fishy affair indeed. Me, not being the ichthyophagous (did I pull a Tharoor one here?) person, had a few bites and relished the smell of the dried fish on the nose and in the mouth as well. Shrikant was way to happy with the preparation and a good thank you to the chef for the recommendation. Another must have in the Oblique Kitchen.

With so much of bites to eat, I was full and did not have the space to try any of their main course. So will leave that for later.

While this was a very good experience with good food, good music, good ambience and good company. Tried to replicate the same for breakfast at the same place with family this time.

The breakfast

I had heard about a unique signature dish of Oblique Kitchen, the Kheema Misal and wanted to have that for breakfast. In addition, we ordered a veg sandwich, a tea, sabudana wada and a regular missal as well. Followed by a few rounds of black tea and an oreo milk shake.

The veg sandwich was a large or maybe an extra-large sandwich served with fries. The regular missal tasted well. The oreo milk shake was also good. But what I would specifically like to talk about is the kheema missal.

 

It was a mix of the regular missal but instead of the matki gravy, it was served with a mutton kheema preparation. I liked the concept here, kheema pav is a very popular breakfast all around India, this fuses the kheema with the Puneri missal beautifully. Another must try dish on their menu.

The Sabudana Wadas were good too.

Overall, a nice family place with a variety of beers and good food. It’s an all-day restaurant so has a menu which is served at different times of he day, but surely something that should remain in the list of a person eating out regularly.