Bohemian

A true happiness lies in simple events of life which happen most unexpectedly and you have not planned for them..anticipated them..like a pleasant surprise. You wake up in the morning, you see outside the window, it’s raining, and while you grab your senses you realize its Sunday today and also at the same time the savoury smell of Crispy pakodas goes in you nose?

You are bored one Saturday afternoon and get an invitation from friends to go for that movie that you were planning to watch for sometime? Movie turns out to be good followed by chitchat over a cup of coffee at a cozy coffee joint?

seriously.. happiness lies in small things which happen day to day..unplanned, unexpected..

One such reason for happiness was my visit to a restaurant named Bohemian in Pune.

I was visiting my brother that weekend and in the evening, favourite question of the evening popped. 'What about dinner?' It had rained and the electricity was gone. It would have been nice to have some nice dinner at home in the candle-light but preparing the dinner in the dark was not so good idea. So my brother and sis-in-law suggested we go out. As their home in nearby NDA road Bavdhan, they took us to this place called Bohemian. This is a restaurant which is a part of club Oasis restaurant nearby. I had visited Club Oasis for office get together but that time Bohemian did not exist.

Its a cozy little restaurant not so much crowded. As the name suggested this is a truly Bohemian place where the sense of freedom is immediately seen its unique choice of decor, paintings , selection of cuisine and antique pieces. The ambience was good and we picked up table near the window. It was rainy outside, otherwise the restaurant had an option for open space.

Everything in this restaurant was unique. The furniture, unique handmade dinner plates and glasses, very innovative menu card and distinctive menu. This is a specialty restaurant for exotic food from Mediterranean and some parts of Europe. But what is really special about this place? It is the authenticity of the food.

Many restaurants I have tried before boast about their specialty cuisines but when it comes to the taste of food, it’s not so authentic. Or do these restaurants underestimate the gourmet qualities of their customers? Well that’s what I have seen in some places. But this restaurant is purely an exception.

We ordered a mezze platter and drinks to start with. The Mezze platter is plate full of 6 to 7 Mediterranean and Middle East dishes in small qualities with a plate of assorted breads.

mezze platter contains :

Hummus - a dip made from chick peas , this is very very tasty
Baba ganoush - eggplant (brinjal) smoked and mashed and served with spices and herbs
Dolmas - Vine leaves, stuffed with rice, chopped mint, lemon juice, pepper, minced lamb and fried onion
Tzatziki - Dip made from plain yoghurt, chopped cucumber with finely chopped garlic and mint leaf.
Muhammara – a hot pepper dip with ground walnuts, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil
Tabbouleh – bulgur, finely chopped parsley, mint, tomato, scallion, with lemon juice, olive oil and various seasonings
cheese dip
Falafel - this is a dip fried balls made from flours
We also ordered drinks to enhance the taste of mezze. I was immediately attracted to a cocktail named "Passion Art", well not because of the name but because it had nice ingredients passion fruit, gin and Curaçao liqueur. Passion fruit is something I had never tasted before. And It came looking very beautiful in a tall glass topped up with a nice curls of orange peel and a cherry. My sis in law ordered Aria. This cocktail based on tequilla and decorated with apple slices. My husband ordered Mai Tai, and till the cocktail came to the table he had to hear all sorts of lines like 'Mai tar akka vichaar kara pakka' , 'Aai mai tai' etc etc.

Then he told us that its one of the popular cocktails in the world and later when I googled on this cocktail I saw a whole page dedicated to it in the Wikipedia. This cocktail is made from rum, Curaçao liqueur, and orange juice. My brother always orders his all time favourite Kahlua. This cocktail is made from Kahlua liqueur served with crushed ice and has a nice coffee like taste.

For the main course, we ordered pizza with fungi toppings because all of us like mushrooms a lot. We also ordered some pasta with arrabiata sauce which is spicy(arrabiata is a red sauce literally meaning 'angry' in Italian language) If you want a less spicy flavours you can go with pastas made with white sauces.

The quality of food was exquisite and made with pure delicacy. The drinks were pretty likable too. Overall this experience left me with a feeling of what I call 'Happiness'.

So if you want to get away from the city crowed, over exaggerated places, and try something new. Or simply have a nice peaceful time with your closed ones. This place is two goals in one shot..a quality time and quality food.

P.S. after you have dinner, don’t forget to go to through the left side door which is near the exit.

There’s a wall piece of a huge pan with sculptures of human heads getting fried and tossed ( !!! )