Let’s
face it, most of the good places for food in Pune are in the Eastern part of
Pune – concentrated in Koregaon Park, Kalyani Nagar, Camp area. And when it
comes to having authentic fish preparations – the old city areas, are the ones
which are relied upon the most!
Thus
when a new restaurant by name FishLand opened few days ago in Bavdhan, it
indeed was a place to visit soon and review. Before I can even start writing
about the Fish served there, I need to let you know that I am not a fish-eater and a lot of help for this blog has come from my better half.
Located
next to Petrol Pump in Bavdhan, opposite Maratha Mandir, this place has ample
parking place for two and four wheelers and would have a seating capacity of
about 50-70 guests.
The
first page of the menu card talks about the history of the restaurant and how
one G.R. Desai moved out of Kamath Group of Hotels to start his own brand
Fishland, followed by Unicorn – both and Bangalore and launching FishLand in
Pune in March this year.
We
did not book this place and just walked in on Sunday afternoon, hoping that we
would get place and they would accept us for lunch at 2:30PM, and we did get a
place of our choice and realized that the restaurant is open till 3:30PM for
lunch.
Ambience, Décor &
Seating
There
is nothing much to write about the Ambience or Décor of the place, it is simple
and there is a place for what looks like a yet to start bar. Seating is
comfortable with good sturdy chairs and ample space on the table to accommodate
the dishes you order. Entire seating is closed with air condition and I assume
that on days when the restaurant is full, the smell of fish would welcome new
guests.
Drinks
Currently
the restaurant is not serving alcohol so the drinks are limited to Sol Kadhi &
cold drinks.
Menu
The
menu at this new place is not exhaustive but covers all that one would look for
in a restaurant like this. You can select from one of the Thalis on offer (Fish
/Special Fish/ Crab/ Chicken), Soups, Starters (Dry Fish / Dry chicken), Main
Course & Limited Deserts.
Food& Service
We
ordered for Thalis, one Special Fish Thali – which comes with one Fish Gravy,
One Fish Dry, two Chapati, Rice, Rassam, Sol Kadhi, Papad and one Chicken Thali
– Which has one Chicken Dry, One Chicken Gravy and the rest being the same.
We
expected that Thali would be ready and would come in really quick, but it took
about 15 minutes for the Thali to be served. The Special Fish thali had an
option of Bhangda [Mackerel] or Bombil [Bombay Duck] as dry fish and had Surmai[Seer
Fish] in curry. The curry indeed was very tasty.
Chicken Thali
As
for the chicken thali, the Dry chicken was in coconut preparation and the gravy
authentic mangalori in green gravy. The quality of fish in fish curry was very
good, but fish fry tasted stale and hard and chicken was above average, but the
quality could have been better.
Special Fish Thali
The
chapati, was a complete disaster. I suspect they get it ready made and only
reheat before serving their guests. It was not soft and within no time, became chewy.
The sol kadhi needs improvement too. There was no taste or zing to it. Rasam
was a little spicy but had good taste. Overall, some hickups, and need to
increase the quantity of rassam and sol kadhi in the thali.
Cost
Fishland is in the same range as other fish
joints in the city, and two thali’s cost us 840 bucks. The place is expensive
if you are going to opt for Al-a-Carte.
Overall Rating
Worth
a visit but this place needs to get things right in terms of quantity and
quality and hopefully that should be done soon. Time shall tell how well they
are managing it.
Fishland
Heera Heights, Opp. Maratha Mandir,
Bavdhan, Pune
·
The
restaurant was not aware that I would write an review based on my experience
·
The
visit was not sponsored
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