Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla a dining destination!!!!!

Mumbai,India

Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla which is perceived to be a day trip by many due to its location is quite a shopping experience because it’s gargantuan and houses a huge number of brands including Zara, Diesel, Charles and Keith, Steve Madden and they also house Debenhams. I live in Ghatkopar and R-City the next door mall keeps me happy with its shopping options and happier with the F&B, but  I do commute to Marketcity for a lot of good brands that I miss.  And yes, the mall is within a kilometer from BKC and easily accessible.

But the question is can Phoenix Marketcity  become a dining destination??  The management of Phoenix and Food Bloggers Association of India (FBAI) had organized a Food Crawl recently for foodies to come and experience their F&B offerings.  Irish House, Rainforest café and Dunkin Donuts their new baby was on the list.

We started with drinks and starters at the Irish house. The place was relatively packed for a Wednesday evening and it had a nice chirpy vibe. Cocktails and lots of them were the call of the day and fellow bloggers even tried their hand behind the bar and happily posed with their creations.  The cocktails from the classic Cosmo to their very own Irish Trash can (heady mix of 4 spirits, peach liqueur with an inverted can of red bull in a beer mug) were made very well but had the pub like finish to them. The starters, mushroom stuffed in brioche was impressive but their hummus failed.  Must say the staff was quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic and it is certainly commendable for a stand-alone place.

The next stop was Rainforest resto-bar and I was really skeptical about this one because of bad experiences in terms of food in the past at R-city and unfortunately it turned out to be the same this time too. Some people find the ambience dull but I do not mind the ambience or the service but in my opinion there is too much happening on the very extensive menu with Chinese to Italian to Indian and they are not able to do justice to any of them. The Paprika Paneer tikka seemed to have a chili paste marinade only, the cheese kurkuri tikki was drenched in oil and the Risotto balls, very lackluster.  They are running a fondue festival and I wanted to stay back and give their fondue a chance, but had to move on to the next due to time constraints.

The last stop was Dunkin Donuts. I admit I am not a fan of donuts at all and hence I settled for a stiraccino a layered chocolate hot coffee and a tiny Bavarian Munchkin (filled with custard). The coffee was very good and the munchkin met expectations.It was a fun evening and very well hosted by Phoenix and the participating outlets, we got to know some brands better whilst sharing feedback with their representatives.

This Phoenix however has a lot to do before it can rise up from the ashes vis-à-vis its F&B scape.I will leave you with restaurants  I would go to Market city for:

Irish House for drinks and food

Poush for lovely Kashmiri food

Café Royal for their sizzlers

And there are endless places to choose from for desserts and coffee.

Lastly on my yet to try list  is YumCha Vie the Casual dining Oriental restaurant which shares walls with Funjabi Tadka an Indian restaurant conceptualized by TV chef Harpal Singh Sokhi.

Santé!