One of the best things about long weekends is the traffic, or rather the lack of it. Communiti had been hitting my Insta and FB feeds since it opened, and the long Republic Day weekend gave us the perfect excuse to make the long distance trip into town. It’s right next to Taj Gateway on Residency Road and very hard to miss! (map) We got there before 7 on a Saturday night and easily found a table in the al fresco section. If you get the right table, there’s a good view of the road to be had. The decor is typical gastro pub – quirky lighting fixtures, long benches, and so on. Their brewery will start only in March, we were told.
We began with a couple of house specials from the drinks menu – Tarun Talkies for me and Ann-tastic for D. The first, despite the strange name, was a typical dark rum and coffee based drink, I could only faintly discern (if at all) the peach and apricot crush it claimed to have. D’s drink on the other hand was all fruit – strawberry and orange, and the gin was more like djinn, in terms of presence! The Corn Bisques with Chicken soup made up quite a bit for the liquid mediocrity thus far. A thick soup with roasted corn and chicken, it did need some salt and pepper additions, but that was easily done. The Beef Kibbeh was more onion rings with beef making a guest appearance. The Nutty Cracking Chicken though, is something I’d recommend – excellent texture thanks to crispy spaghetti and lettuce, and a spicy, creamy, nut flavoured marinade.
Our second round of drinks consisted of a Sangria and a Cuba Libre. They brought a red sangria first, despite clear instructions for a white. (I predicted this would happen!) I had asked for minimal ice in the latter, but almost got an ice bucket with some rum in it! After I fished out all the ice, there was obviously just too much of a lemon flavour! Once again the food came to the rescue. The beef lasagna was fantastic, and filling as usual! The Bunny Chow – a square bread with chicken, beef, pork sausage, mushroom in a wine sauce – was superb too!
The only dessert available was a carrot cake which we skipped, because Art of Delight exists less than 100m away! The meal came to a little under Rs. 2650. The service is quite friendly though the person who took our second drink order was largely clueless. They played some Abba despite most of the tables being occupied by a generation who are probably oblivious of their existence. Points for that. I wouldn’t really go for the drinks, the food though is decent.
Communiti, Brigade Solitaire, Opp Advaith Hyundai, Residency Road, Ph: 080 40999755