Adda – The Korner Katta

Adda actually means a perching spot or perch for birds. It also means an informal conversation among a group of people, often for hours at an end, and usually accompanied by food. And this is exactly what owner Chaitanya Adgaonkar had in mind when he came up with the idea of #Adda. [Uff teri adda, I like to see you move..]

So when Nikita from #TeamAdda reached out to us for an exclusive bloggers table featuring #TheBTeam, we simply could not refuse. [PS: The amazing posts and photos of this place trending on social media did help us!! ;-)]

The logo of this place has been creatively inspired by the pieces of the popular Chinese puzzle game – Tangram which literally means ‘seven boards of skill’.

The place is very funkily and creatively done up using some antique and some downright weird artefacts. They have dedicated an entire wall to these artefacts including old typewriters, alarm clocks [seeing that clock brought back so many terrifying memories of it going off and scaring me awake] and some movie memorabilia.

The chairs too at the tables were all different from each other and Chaitanya says customers subconsciously tell a lot about themselves by the chair they choose [Clairvoyant, isn’t he??]

Another wall was completely covered with wooden window panes giving it a totally different and instantly appealing look. Not gonna write more about the ambiance, I’m gonna let my pictures do the talking. [A picture is after all, worth a thousand bucks!!]

But what totally blew us all away was the extra step taken by #TeamAdda in making us feel welcome and very very special. Nothing says “We’ve arrived on the scene!” like custom printed menu posters bearing our team name!! [Look out Bollywood, here we come!! :-P]

In-House Bar‘Tinder’ Specials

The Bar‘Tinder’ specials [I love the word play here ;-)] included Ko-Rum [Rs. 250], Lota [Rs. 250], Tamba [Rs. 250], Madh Island Ice Tea [Rs. 300], Drink of the Champions [Rs. 500].

Mocktails for our teetotaler friend also had some nice options – The Fish Bowl [Rs. 300] – Blue Curacao and Sprite, Khus Khus [Rs. 250] – Mint, Lime, Sprite and a dash of Khus and Mango Colada [Rs. 110] – Mango, Coconut and Cream

Ko-Rum was a brilliant drink made with white rum and served in a beaker with a syringe full of kokum syrup. You gently pump the syrup inside the beaker and savor the flavor. #HighlyRecommended

The Madh Island Ice Tea is a local village cousin of the more famous Long Island Ice Tea, made specifically with students and #MonthEnd crowds in mind. Served in a prison mug, this was a nice and potent mix of whisky, rum and brandy with masala [Masaledaar Mugga!!]

The Tamba and Lota are whisky and vodka based drinks served in, you guessed it, a tamba and a lota. [:D]

Madh Island Ice Tea	Tamba	Lota

We also got to try their limited edition “Drink of the Champions” made with Jägermeister, Whisky, Coffee and Red Bull and served in a real trophy. This was one delicious drink, I tell ya. #HighlyRecommended

Fish Bowl and Khus Khus are cocktails available at #Adda however they were kind enough to make them virgin for our teetotaler buddy while the Mango Colada is a mocktail listed on the menu.

The presentation and containers for all three drinks was highly innovative and we loved the one-liners printed on them as well. [They sure knew what lines work on us! ;-)]

Fish Bowl	Khus Khus	Mango Colada

Summer Chillers

#Adda has recently launched a new summer line of coolers called the “Summer Hacks” [valid from Tue, 26 Apr, 2016 To Fri, 1 Jul, 2016] which includes drinks like Punch-A-Karmaa [Rs. 650], The Goa [Rs. 250], Boozy Cold Coffee [Rs. 350], Melon Sangria [Rs. 250] and Kacchi Kairi [Rs. 250].

Punch-A-Karmaa is a drink made using 5 ingredients [hence the ‘punch’] – dark and white rum, spices, hazelnut syrup fresh fruits and juices. The concoction is made a night before in order to steep the spices in it. It was one perfect mix of alcohol and fruit with a strong undertone of the spices.

Melon Sangria was a perfect combination of white wine with musk and water melons while The Goa combined tender coconut water with white rum with a splash of pineapple and grenadine and served in a coconut! But I wasn’t too taken by this drink, the mix of coconut water and rum didn’t work for me.

Punch-A-Karmaa	Melon Sangria	The Goa

The Boozy Cold Coffee had an additional ingredient of Kahlua to give it the potency while the Kachhi Kairi had aam panna mixed with vodka. Now that is a drink that works for me. The amazing taste of the raw mango worked very well with the kick of the vodka while trickling down the throat. #HighlyRecommended

Boozy Cold Coffee	Kacchi Kairi

Chakna

The chakna we were served along with the awesome drinks were pretty good themselves. The cheesling bhel was a new item for me, a nice combination of the cheeslings with the bhel additions while the Papad Churi and the Disco Masala Papad didn’t really get me in the disco deewane mood.

Cheesling Bhel	Disco Masala Papad	Papad Churi

Appetizers

If the chakna was a low scoring over, the appetizers were like Chris Gayle at the crease.

Nachos with the sour cream and salsa was a reasonably good dish and so were the falafel bombs with hummus and pita. The falafel kebabs were nice but the hummus was strictly average. [2 balls, 4 runs]

Nachos with Sour Cream and Salsa
Falafel Bombs with Hummus and Pita

Chicken 65 was a nicely plated dish of chicken chunks covered in the hot and spicy red sauce, nothing bad about it but nothing earth shattering either. The veg. and chicken tacos were pretty good – made with corn and spinach, the tacos had a good taste with generous stuffing. [2 balls, 4 runs]

Chicken 65
Veg. and Chicken Tacos in Corn and Spinach Tortillas

The Jalapeño Poppers had whole jalapeños with the cheese stuffed inside and bread crumbed and fried. Nice spice hit of the peppers mollified by the hot and gooey cheese inside. The matka chicken had nice and succulent pieces of chicken lathered in khada masala, green chili, and mint and covered in cream and cheese. The chicken pieces are first cooked on skewers and then finished off on the dum. This is one matka I wouldn’t mind betting on! [2 balls, 10runs] #HighlyRecommended

Jalapeño Poppers
Matka Chicken

End of Over: [2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 6] – Chris Gayle doesn’t believe in running his runs, remember? 😛

Burgers

The Tandoori Chicken and Paneer Burgers were similar in make and look with stuffing of bell peppers, cheese, onions and coated in mayo and green mint chutney. Both patties were perfectly sized and equally well cooked. Potato wedges completed the dish.

Tandoori Chicken Burger	Tandoori Paneer Burger

Rice Bowls

Both bowls presented to us – Burmese Bowl and Tikka Bowl were the chicken variants. Burmese bowl has coconut gravy while the tikka bowl had the regular red gravy. Not a big fan of coconut gravy based dishes, the Burmese bowl expectedly didn’t impress me but on the other hand, I loved the spicy red gravy with the butter rice served. #HighlyRecommended

Burmese Bowl
Tikka Bowl

Desserts

The desserts were another see-saw affair with some hits and misses.

Misses –

Blueberry and Yogurt Panna Cotta with Citron Pipette – set nicely in a beaker and pipette but the panna cotta had turned bad and overall the dish had a sour taste.

The Red Velvet Jar – nicely presented in a jar with alternate layers of the cake and the cream cheese but the cream wasn’t good.

Chocolate and Peanut Bars with Whisky Caramel – nice taste but the cake base was too hard to cut.

Blueberry & Yogurt Panna Cotta with Citron Pipette	Red Velvet Jar	Chocolate & Peanut Bar with Whisky Caramel

Hits –

Old Monk Gulab Jamuns – loved the flavor combination of the sweet gulab jamuns with old monk rum but the rum was a tad overpowering. Adding ice cream cut the alcohol and made the entire dish so much more palatable.

Brownie with Ice Cream and Bailey’s liqueur sauce – they really lifted a standard dessert and brought it up to another level altogether by simply adding Bailey’s liqueur sauce to the dish. [A very innovative idea indeed]

Apple, Whisky and Cinnamon Pie – this was by far the best dessert of the evening. Nice crumbly pastry with perfect cooked apple slices. Nice taste of cinnamon and just a mild hint of the whisky throughout. #HighlyRecommended

Old Monk Gulab Jamuns	Brownie w/ Ice-Cream & Bailey’s	Apple, Whisky and Cinnamon Pie

Starting on a high note [remember the custom made posters with our group name??], the evening ended on another high note, quite literally this time, with personalized handwritten thank you’s for each blogger from Team #Adda. Made us feel so special. [A feeling like none other!! <3]

#Adda is located at Rainbow Plaza, Pimple Saudagar, Pune

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 plagiarized from any source however I have done my due diligence on the event via publicly available information on the internet.

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