Panchavati Gaurav,
Kumar Pacific Mall
The first time I’d been to Panchavati Gaurav was for
someone’s party, organized at the Bhandarkar road outlet when I was just in
school. I don’t really remember it in detail, but I do remember not liking
it as much as I used to like going out to other restaurants.
This outlet situated on the second floor at one corner of
this mall, is a relatively new one compared to the original one in Pune. We expected
it to be full being a Sunday, but were surprised to find quite a few tables
unoccupied. The Kumar Pacific Mall, on the other hand, was FULL with people.
A famiy had arranged a small function here as most of the
tables were occupied by them. The service was rather slow, we entered at about
8 pm and they started serving us about 10 minutes later. Usually, at such thali
places, there’s no time for you to say no when they start serving, so maybe
this was a plus point! First came the chutneys – green and red (tamarind), then
came the papad to which we said no. A
welcome drink – jaljeera was served. It was very minty but was refreshing. For
snacks, there was tirangi dhokla which was tasteless. Small, fat samosas were
quite okay, they just had a light masala potato filling which was average. Chaas
was also served but I did not have it.
There were four vegetable preparations – aloo (huge chunks
in masala curry), paneer (small pieces in a rich gravy), gatte ki sabji and
veg. kolhapuri. All the preparations were good, but I personally did not
appreciate the huge aloo pieces. Chapatis, rotla served with ghee and masala
puris were being served constantly. 3 bowls were to be filled with sweet dal,
tikhi dal and kadhi, of which I had only the tikhi dal. Unfortunately and quite
predictably, this dal was the same one used for dal bati. The small shapes in
which the bati was offered here was something I’d seen for the first time. The taste,
however, was nice and I helped myself to another serving. Moong dal khichdi was
runny as I’d expected and offered a fitting end to such a heavy meal.
Orange halwa, angoori basoondi and jalebi were the sweets.
Orange halwa was just sooji halwa flavoured with orange but it was a fresh
combination of flavours. Angoori basoondi was disappointing as the angoors were
few and far in between the probably skimmed basoondi. Jalebi was fresh and
crispy and we enjoyed it by dipping it in the basoondi ! The servers were slow
but were attentive and enquired every now and then.
Panchavati Gaurav