From: Tina
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 5:38 PM
Subject: Barbecuing experience :)
Last weekend a few friends met up impromptu for dinner. We were meeting after a long spell of time. V suggested a new place called ‘Barbeque Nation’ …
Thought why not, as had heard good reviews about the place.. Considering Hyderabad traffic, we took almost half an hour to reach the place. Lucky for us that traffic was moving and not jammed.
For most part I felt that we were destined to go thereJ..It had been in the pipeline for a long time :)
As usual the place was full and we gave our names for the next seating which would be available only about half an hour later…
Forgot to make reservations earlier..Neways by then friends arrived and as if on cue, seating was available in next 5 mins…
Considering that how restaurants are usually late in providing seating this was a welcome change..
Barbeque or Barbecue ‘s wiki reference is here.
“Barbecue or barbeque[1] (abbreviated BBQ, Bar-B-Q or Bar-B-Que or diminuted, chiefly in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to barbie, and Braai in South Africa) is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or basting sauce to the meat. The term as a noun can refer to foods cooked by this method, to the cooker itself, or to a party that includes such food. The term is also used as a verb for the act of cooking food in this manner. Barbecue is usually cooked in an outdoor environment heated by the smoke of wood or charcoal. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose.”
Barbeque-Nation is a part of a chain of restaurants specializing in live barbeque as mentioned on their site here.
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Though barbequing is generally thought of in terms of being non-vegetarian i.e. generally consisting of meat, this place provides a variety in vegetarian selection also.
Based on the restaurant description, the barbeque technique there is influenced by Turkish cuisine.
But I guess, the application of marinade and different spices to flavor the meat while cooking has more Mediterranean influence or Indian cuisine which in itself is notable for the “dum” style cooking.
The US style of barbecuing has barbecuing with a lot of sauces but they impart a slightly sweetish touch and we are used to Meat with spicy flavors. So much for extra info :)
On each table is a mobile barbeque. When you are seated then a fresh charcoal barbeque is placed and they get 5 different types of veggie options and 5 servings of non- veggie options to try out as appetizers. These could be kebabs like hara bhara kebab (Veg) , Mushroom kebabs or shammi kabab (Non Veg). Chicken or Fish fried in simplistic sauces or marinades with pepper.
This unlimited serving also includes live barbeque of either veggie options or non veggie options placed on skewers (picture below) and then placed on the table barbeque to give you a feel of actually barbequing.
Non veggie options being typical like most-safe-bet chicken and prawns. Also includes veggie options like paneer or mixed veg grilled on skewer.
Along with these are placed various sauces like lemon, ginger which can be brushed upon the subject as a spice rub and allow to barbeque on your table barbeque.
These in turn could be had with 3 other sauces…
With these we were all on “Mission Toot Pado” especially me..Initially exploring and then asking for more of the specified starters one liked.
By the time we had starters, I guess we were full. But main course and dessert still await us ..
Main course was laid in typical buffet fashion. But it did have good balance of veggie and non veggie foods and Desserts though I guess Starters is what they and we concentrate on. Main course included Dum biryani, Pasta in tomato sauce, Curd rice (default in AP) :) , simple dal makhani, crab preparation, Salads and soups.
Of course of all the stuff above we could do justice to hardly few. No capacity you see after all those starters :) and I was keeping place for desserts.
Desserts also had a few but typical options like pastry, gulab jamuns, vanilla ice cream.
But the main star of the evening were the barbeques starters :)
Barbeque – Nation restaurant was good in terms of service, food and cuisine uniqueness.
The servers being with a usual mix of good service and attentive customer care …which is very difficult to see in Hyderabadi restaurants.. Though the price in itself could be a bit steep in terms of rising inflation and all, but if you can do justice to their buffet system then there is nothing like it. (We could only manage a few servings and then jumped directly to the dessert)
Usually restaurants associated with kebabs or barbeques are mostly non vegetarian specific. Of course they are not wholly centric around non- veggies but the vegetarians’ are thought of almost as an afterthought from food perspective. This is especially noticeable in certain restaurants famous for non-vegetarian dishes where vegetarian dishes are kept only for name sake, the main forte being non-vegetarian dishes.
But good to see a welcome change in this restaurant where we non veggies were curious to try out vegetarian options too :)
So in case your locations also have their outlets…I would definitely recommend you to try it and especially so if you are a non vegetarian … Check whether you location is there in Barbeque Nation locations. Though on the site, Pune as a location was not to be seen. Their pamphlet at the restaurant had reference to their outlet being present Pune.
Additional review : http://mumbai.burrp.com/establishment/view/1753989
Gud luck trying and do let me know in case you do.
C you all till next time.
Warm Regards,
Tina :)
