The concept of BYOB or Bring Your Own Booze has been picking up pace in the recent times. Increasingly, you would find various players of the hospitality sector developing a niche for themselves in this relatively new area. Since the cost of a glass of wine or whiskey is charged with added taxes at luxury restaurants and therefore, a pain point for most customers. To cheer up the crowd and bring a unique twist to BYOB, The Weekend Wine And More has launched its new outlet in Ghaziabad. With two outlets spread across Noida and Vaishali, this is their third branch. The concept of BYOB is becoming very popular these days and this new eatery tries to define it with their own style. The brainchild of a young entrepreneur, Vatsal Goel is the man behind this idea.
The motivation behind this concept is to let the customers bring their own booze and provide them with a space to have a good time, especially during the weekends. We headed out to experience the launch of their latest outlet in Ghaziabad and hear more about their plans of expansion. Upon entering, all you avid drinkers would be amazed at the huge liquor shop at the entrance. Located in a far corner of the city, away from all the hustle-bustle, the place has a huge array of booze stacked right in front. From wine to whiskey, vodka, gin and tonic and more, you would be spoilt for choice. We were introduced to the concept and idea behind the place and given a tour of the varieties of drinks they have to offer.
Next up, we entered the brightly-lit restaurant which was connected to the shop through a passage. The sound of guitar and live music set the mood for the night. We began by trying out some of their appetizers. They had a range of Mughlai, North Indian and Chinese starters from which we picked the Papad chicken since it sounded interesting. Minced chicken dumplings coated with crispy breadcrumbs tasted delicious with a spicy chilli chutney made from red hot peppers. Along with this, we had some butter garlic prawns. With a hint of black pepper, the prawns were cooked to perfection and garnished with some cabbage and spring onions. Since we were already in the mood for seafood, we headed off to try some panko-fried fish fingers. The moist and soft fish were covered in crusty crumbs that were fried and dipped into a creamy tartare sauce.
After satiating food along with our gin and tonic, we moved to the outdoor seating which was all things lively and happening. A live musician and guitarist was playing popular Bollywood numbers and setting the tone for the night. While in the soul-soothing ambience, we called for some kakori kebabs from their Mughlai menu. The chewy and meaty skewers arrived hot with a mint-coriander chutney. These kebabs made us full to the brim and by the time we came to the main course, we only had space for some noodles. Slurping on a hot bowl of chilli garlic noodles full of spice, shredded chicken and finely sliced vegetables.
While we were eyeing on the chocolate fondant for dessert, we were so mesmerized by the foot-tapping music that our evening ended on that note.
Since we liked their Kakori Kebabs so much, here is a recipe of the same that we fetched from the Chef.
Kakori Kebabs
- 400 Gm Mutton
- 5 Tablespoon Ghee
- 2 Eggs
- ½ Cup Kabuli Chana
- ¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon
- Water As Required
- For Marination
- 2 Cup Onion
- ½ Teaspoon Mace
- 2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 2 Powdered Black Cardamom
- 4-5 Cloves
- 5 Green Chilli
- 3 Tablespoon Fresh Coriander
- ½ Teaspoon Garlic Paste
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger Paste
Method
- Put mutton in a pressure cooker. Chop coriander leaves, green chillies on a chopping board and grate nutmeg and thinly sliced onion.
- Mince the boiled mutton using a mincer and put roasted chana and cinnamon into the grinder. Grind them well.
- Place a pan over medium flame and add ghee to it. Once heated, add thinly-sliced onion into pan and fry them until brown in colour.
- Take a bowl and add minced mutton, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, black pepper, coriander leaves, green chillies, cloves, powdered black cardamoms, cumin seeds, mace, grated nutmeg and fried onions to it.
- Mix them well and keep the marinated mixture for 2-3 hours.
- Put the mixture in a grinder and grind them well. Add powdered roasted chana and cinnamon mixture to it along with beaten eggs and mix all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Set the mixture onto skewers and shape them into kebabs.
- Coat the kebabs with some ghee and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Serve hot with chutney.