What strikes you when you step into this new rooftop bistro in Shivaji nagar, Pune are the colours and the quirky wall graffiti with a fabulous rooftop panoramic view of the Pune skyline. Buzzing with a perfect melange of colours you can also experience an extraordinary seating. So the moment we arrived, we got to clicking pictures, all the while admiring Team OWCB’s eye for detail and what a happy and buzzing place that they had transformed the roof top to. Walls are adorned with funky frames and the two blue windows on the bar gave the ambience a colour pop all the while reiterating the name of this cafe. So the table was set, to explore the food in this place under a starlight sky…
Along came the cocktails and the mocktails served in noteworthy essentials.
- Caramel Twist – A heady mix of bacardi, fresh pineapple, juice caramel syrup with a dash of lime. Served in a bong, this had a great taste with a dominance of the pineapple flavour
- Dead Man– A blend of J.D, chivas, Jonnie walker and orange syrup. Unique combination but I prefer my whiskey on the rocks
- Pineapple Mojito – A classic served in a bulb, loved the balance of flavours here
- Long Island Iced Tea – Doesn’t need an introduction, great punch. In recommend this strongly
- Apple Martini – You cant go wrong with this and they definitely didn’t
- Kiwitini – A medley of vodka, kiwi juice and and lime,
- Classic Mojito – Another classic from Team OWCB
- Caiprinah Berry – A medley of cachucha, lemon grass, lime wedges, sugar syrup and strawberry crush, subtle flavours but was way too sweet for me.
In the mocktails, the Tropical Island caught my attention, mixed bag of pineapple, mango and litchi juice, a dash of grenadine syrup and was served in a milk bottle along with a watermelon wedge. It was one of the best cocktails that I have had before.
Next up on the table were the appetisers, we had
- Veg Brusshetta – Sweet, seasonal tomatoes and basil are such a perfect pair, and made this simple bruschetta recipe sing. Humble toppings with a hint of garlic and topped with cheese. Would definitely recommend to try this one
- Cheese Nachos – This was served with in house salsa, jalapeño sauce and a pot load of cheese. What I missed in this dish was acidity of tomatoes.
- Prawn Satay – skewered prawns served on a salad bed of carrot, cabbage and capsicum. Pretty decent, I would have loved a little more tang and spice in the prawns
The salad here stole the show, perfectly roasted chicken, fresh, plump cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers and romaine lettuce with an Italian dressing and oodles of oregano . This one is a must try here
For the Bites we ordered
- OW Grilled Chicken Sandwich – Highly recommend this one. Toasted bread with a filling of chicken, mayonnaise, jalapeno and marinated peppers. A sure shot must have especially if you love jalapeños, served with fries on the side
- BBQ Chicken Burger – The burger painted a pretty picture, but alas the chicken was cut into strips and dry accompanied with a filling of onions, tomatoes and iceberg lettuce the flavour was good. Served with a side of fries and a well-dressed salad of iceberg lettuce and bell peppers.
Chicken Penne Pasta in OW Special Sauce- A rich and creamy pasta sauce with the pasta being tad overcooked was a downer- Wine Chicken Pizza – Thin crust pizza topped with mushrooms and BBQ Chicken brushed in red wine. This was decent
For the mains we tucked into
- The Roasted Chicken – A perfectly roasted chicken in butter and garlic served with a thyme sauce with an excellent taste. An absolute my kind of a meal. It came with a side of well-cooked and seasoned veggies and smashed potatoes.
- Veg. Shepherd’s Pie – A lip-smacking twist to the traditional shepherd’s pie
In the cold accompaniments the 5 of from TheBTeam shared a humongous helping of Kitkat Shake , one sip and i was transported to sweet heaven, bang on consistency and sweetness with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, I almost kicked myself for having too many cocktails
The OW Cupcake with Ice Cream was another stunner. It consist of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between a chocolate cup cake. The cupcake was a bit dry but I loved the idea of a cup cake sandwich. Then came along the stunner crepe suzette served with an orange sauce and sliced oranges, soft melt in the mouth crepes to satiate your sweet cravings
Overall, a great evening with fellow bloggers and at last I came back home completely stuffed. A special thank you to the team at Open Window Cafe & Bistro for hosting us
Disclaimer: The invite was for a complimentary food tasting event. This review is a narrative of my experience at the event. The views expressed in this review are solely mine and others are more than welcome to agree or disagree with the same. The review is in no way influenced either personally or commercially nor has it been lifted, copied or plagiarised from any source however I have done my due diligence on the event via publicly available information on the internet.
