A feast for the veggies

Hard Rock Cafe’s limited edition all-vegetarian menu has a little bit of everything for everyone’s varied food choices.

When you belong to a vegetarian family, choosing a place to dine out to becomes a long-drawn battle, with efforts to reach consensus often leading to just staying home and cooking instead. For, truly, restaurants that offer an all-encompassing menu to please both vegetarians and meat-eaters are far and few in between.

A restaurant that has been known for its commitment towards satiating meat-eater appetites has been Hard Rock Cafe (shout out to their juicy and filling burgers). So when the chain announced a new menu, especially for vegetarians, the question was, would it match up to the rest of their offerings

As we settled with the special menu, we realised that it nearly had a bunch of options under each variety. We decided to pick the Carnival Vegetarian Platter (Rs 585) to start off with, since the dish contained portions of all the available starters on the menu. The overloaded platter arrived with portions of spiced corn and cheddar cheese Samosette, and spiced Cottage Cheese and Falafel Fritters. However, the stars of the dish were the Red Rod Fries that were crisp and lightly flavoured with dry spices, as well as the Cream Cheese and Parmesan Crusted Tomato Bruschetta, which had just the right amount of cream cheese to complement the fries.

Fries are no good if they aren’t paired up with a good drink or two. The Be Edgy, Go Veggie menu had a variety of new, yet interesting muddle of drinks like the Wasabi Cucumber Reviver, that was topped with lime soda, the Red Velvet that had a medley of rum with fruit juices. We settled for a Lemon Grass Mojito (Rs 525) and a Jalapeno Iced Tea (Rs 525), the latter being a mildly spicy blend of jalapeno, sugar lime and four spirits. Needless to say, for the sheer quantity and unique taste, the drinks were the stars of the night.

Despite a full menu of regular salads, we were surprised to see the veggie greens featuring prominently on the new menu. The Pico De Quinoa Salad (Rs 399) is every bit worth the price, and works as an even better appetiser than the actual starters do. A great mix of Pico De Gallo, quinoa, iceberg lettuce and arugula, the salad is topped with walnuts, raisins, Feta and citrus dressing. However, the salad can be a tad on the sweeter side. The quinoa, lettuce and feta make for a splendid combination, and one could ask the server to modify the sweetness accordingly. An important part of the night were the friendly servers , who were more than glad to help customise dish to suit our needs, and that is quite what sets the stage for a great experience at an eatery.

With great expectations, we moved on to ordering a burger off the new menu, with the knowledge that crowds swear by some of their regular offerings. However, the Mexican Quesadilla Veg Burger (Rs 399) and the Goats Cheese and Cauliflower Burger (Rs 425) failed to meet the mark. The latter was too dry and flaky, while the Quesadilla was drenched in sauces, almost falling apart.

Don’t let the burgers fool you about the vegetarian menu, though. With wholesome options and decent pricing, Hard Rock Cafe could well be a place to hang out — vegetarian or not.

Kitchen Quickies INGREDIENTS 60 gm Khichiya papad 40 gm Onion 40 gm Tomato 10 gm Green chillies 10 gm Coriander leaves 5 gm Deghi mirch powder 5 gm Chaat Masala 5 ml Lemon juice 2 ml Tamarind sauce

METHOD Chop the onions, tomatoes, and green chillies and keep them in a bowl. Add lemon juice, deghi mirch, chaat masala and tamarind sauce. Alongside, add oil to a pan and fry the khichiya papad once hot enough. Break the fried papad into chunks and let it sit. Place the papad on to a plate and layer the mixture onto the crisp khichiya. Serve warm.

Channa Express INGREDIENTS 100 gm Kabuli channa 40 gm Onion 40 gm Tomato 40 gm Green chillies 20 gm Garlic, peeled and dried 10 gm Coriander leaves 5 gm Degi mirch powder 5 gm Chaat masala 40 ml Oil

METHOD Soak the channa in water and boil it till it’s cooked well. Strain the boiled channa and keep it aside to set. Alongside, dice the onions and tomatoes. Chop the coriander leaves fine. Crush the garlic pods. Heat the oil in a pan and add to it the crushed garlic pods. Fry the channa in the oil. Once the channa is crisp, drain the oil and keep it aside. Prepare the masala with chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander, and green chillies, by adding Degi mirch powder and chaat masala to it. Add the fried channa to the masala mix, add lemon juice and serve warm.

Recipe courtesy: Chef Dominic Sequeira for the united sports bar and grill.

Rating: 3.5/5 Price for two: Rs 2,500 Address: Hard Rock Cafe, Behind Bombay Dyeing, Kamala City Mills Studio, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli.