After the highly successful Hauz Khas Social and Defence Colony Social, this Social Circuit, is ready to open its doors at CP, right above Odeon Cinema, and is called the Odeon Social. The place is done up to give a school like feel, with all prominent things you see in school, bringing those memories back, the only difference being, this school has a lot of cool quotient, as here you are allowed to drink, dance and enjoy a wide variety of food. Sounds like a dream school, isn’t it, and trust it me, it truly is.
I felt privileged that I got a chance to attend a preview session of this place and I am already looking forward to going there again, as they open their doors this 15th onwards.
The concept of Back to School, is reflected in each and every element of the restaurant. Some parts give you the feel of that teacher’s staff room that we saw in our school times, complete with those big tables, old style phone and even a typewriter. There is a huge show window with trophies and books, a wall that adorns shields, a blackboard to write those interesting ‘thoughts of the day’, a principal’s room, which makes up their storage, because a principal’s room is always a restricted area, there is a home science department, which makes up for their kitchen, and a skeletal in showcase welcomes you right in front of this department.
There are those long benches, where you can co-work, or just enjoy food and drinks alone or with bunch of your friends. They have a long running bar which allows multiple people to sit across unlike that small canteen window, where we pushed around our friends to get food and drinks.
The huge balcony which overlooks the road, also has some seating and a couple of swings to remind you of your school ground, and makes an ideal place for warm winter afternoons and pleasant summer evenings.A lot of boards with names and marks of students adds more value to the ambient feeling of school.
They even have a huge school bell, to tell you, when its really the time to go back to home ;). But the best thing is that the theme is not just restricted to decor, but it truly reflects its essence in the menu, the food presentation and taste of the food.
They have introduced about 15 exclusive items in the menu which compliment the theme, apart from the regular menu. Vada Pao, Samosas, Bread Pakoras, sound like familiar canteen dishes, isn’t it, and they are all part of the menu, but prepared in a much more interesting way, with some twists of tastes.
The plates and glasses that they serve in take you back to school in an instant, and they way certain items of the food are presented is so so interesting to look at. So be prepared to get your lunch served in tiffin boxes and enjoy a walk down the memory lane.
Even the drinks are served in a very innovative way, with the mocktails served in jars and cocktails served in very tall glasses that remind of test tubes.To start with, we were served with Masala Guava and Pink Cream cocktails, and both of them were excellent, especially the Masala Guava. Unlike the usual guava drinks that are made from the pink guavas and are sweet in taste, this one was from the ‘Kachha Green Amrud’ that we normally enjoy with some chaat masala, it tasted exactly like that and was yum.
For starters, we got to taste their Chilly Chicken and the vegetarian version with Chilly Paneer. The chilly chicken was awesome and done to perfection, the chilly paneer was somewhat more spicy than the chicken, and hence a little too hot to handle.
The next was the Vada Pao and I have to say that after Mumbai, it was the best Vada Poa ever. Its very hard to get such an authentic taste in Delhi, but this one truly had that local essence, though the pao that they used was not a typical bun, but a very soft and delicious pita bread, which did complete justice to the softness, the texture and taste of the bread. The most putting off are the pao that we get in Delhi otherwise, but this made an exception.
We were also served a non veg version of Vada Pao, which was a chicken pal, and it was also the best ever I had. The chicken was very juicy and tender, and had a very mild yet a very great taste.
The dips and accompaniments were great too, especially those fryums that were long forgotten.
The next set of drinks included a Social Shake, which is our very own cold coffee, for me, I found it little bitter, and I am sure it can be looked into, but the Ferrero Social Shake was an ultimate, it was a sure shot hit. Perfect sweetness, perfect thickness, perfect balance of whipped cream and milk and a ferrero rocher on top. These shakes come along with two yummy wafers to munch along.
But the show stopper was the 3 layered dessert. It had layer of soft chocolate cake, topped with vanilla ice cream and a the third layer of chocolate ice cream, a very hot chocolate sauce is then poured on top of it, creating a melting well of ice cream, which is very very tempting to look at and equally awesome to taste.
I am so very looking forward to the official launch of the place and explore other items on the menu and get my taste buds lingering. I highly recommend all grown ups to pack your bags and Go Back to School @Odeon Social