Now that the Whitefield Metro is up and running, I cannot whine about traffic, and we can broaden our horizons. And that’s how we landed at a place we’ve been hearing of, for quite a while. Suzy Q, all the way across the world at Vasant Nagar, but only a 5 minute walk from the Cubbon Park Metro. We reached at 7, with a reservation, and the hope that we’d be spared the young and the boisterous. But they start young, and early.
We sat in the alfresco section, in a cosy nook with a garden setting around us, and then took a stroll inside to check out the decor. Suzy Q has a character to it, evident from all the decor elements – murals and sculptures. It manages to give a laid-back feel outside, and a lively resto-bar vibe inside.
Once we had crossed the hurdles of the QR code approach, our next challenge was the 13-page drinks menu! From a gazillion options, I finally went for the Sharaabi, and D chose The Wanderer. The former is supposed to be inspired by Panakam, which isn’t a bad idea in itself. I had asked the waiter to check if they could keep the jaggery to a minimum. After saying he’d return with the answer, he actually landed with the drinks! Whatever arrived was pretty meh, and I wondered if they forgot the alcohol along with the jaggery.
D’s drink had no such excuse. The combination of Jim Beam with plum, thyme and sweet & sour mix did sound interesting, but again, though the fruit flavours were intact, we wondered where the alcohol went.
The 15 page food menu on the mobile screen was the next adventure. We managed to avert another disaster as our friend almost mistook the Chicken Liver Pâté for Pad Thai! Why one would have the latter as a starter is a little beyond me, but it could be my ignorance of local culture! Thankfully the dish itself was very good, with the delicious paste and the base providing contrasting textures.
We then tried a Ghutwa Kabab. Minced goat kababs on Khakhra. Research tells me this is supposed to be in a paste form, but ours was more patty. But in terms of taste, we loved it.
We decided to do our own culture mix by having starters for mains too. I had my eye on the Naga Pork Bites – pork belly with supposedly fiery Bhut Jolokia. Unfortunately, despite the hype, its chili quotient was low. In fact, the kabab was spicier. If you do want your insides to burn, try the Bullet Pork at Brewklyn.
Our final dish was the Nilgiri Roast Chicken. This was under Coastal, but promised the taste of Nilgiri Hills. Oh well. The cashew masala in this apparently won over the green chillies very comfortably, because the overall taste was actually tending towards sweet!
The service probably needs to get a little better, though, to be fair, they were prompt and tried to be pleasing. The bill came to around Rs.2900, and so there is some premium pricing at work.
Suzy Q, No.1, Express Building, Queens Rd, Vasanth Nagar. Ph: 080 4725 0088