With the advent of branded fried chicken in Kolkata the quintessential ‘mangsher chop’ has somewhat taken a backseat which are often prepared with chicken pieces at the roadside snacks stalls. In fact there are so many stalls still preparing them, but people these days generally tend to go for fried chicken brands rather than those old stalls unless the charm of the bygone era captivates their foodie brains. Broaster’s Chicken is one such brand, in fact an old American brand which has pulled a considerable amount of crowd lately with their entry in the Kolkata FnB market. If you remember, few months ago I had reviewed the first outlet of Broaster’s Chicken in Kolkata at Loudon Street, now they have opened up few more outlets and I was invited to their Sector-5 outlet for a food tasting session which is housed in a swanky IT office tower that elevates the glam and glitter of the brand and its overall presence. The building where it is housed is called PS Srijan Corporate Park, and it is beside the 10 Downing Street restaurant, which is quite close to the RDB Cinema at Saltlake Sector-5.
To start with, let me tell you what ‘broasting’ means. Here they use a specific technique of frying chicken. If you really hate that extra oil in your fried chicken then this is your place to be. Broasting is actually all about ‘pressure frying’. They have their patented Broaster pressure fryers (at their outlets) where all the chicken pieces are fried. The chicken pieces are fried inside the pressure fryer with of course the lid close for a specific amount of time and under a measured pressure which is permissible. These fryers basically use a sealed and pressurized environment just like a pressure cooker, where food is cooked in canola oil. The pressure seals in food’s natural juices and locks out the cooking oil. Also this process of cooking eliminates hot overcooked spots and provides better heat distribution in the food which is being fried. So, it obviously takes less time to cook the food and to cook it in a better way. The end product is pretty amazing to be honest!
Coming to the ambiance, I liked the interiors and the ambiance better here at this outlet compared to their Loudon Street outlet which I felt is a bit cramped up. Here you have got ample space and the outlet is divided into two levels with that rustic feel all over the place, even in their cutleries. The antique finished wooden tables, comfy couches, wooden chairs with US flags painted on them, baseball helmets, red iron stairs, everything seems to be just perfect. The lighting is optimum and soothing. If you are here at the day time, the glass windows will allow enough natural sunlight to give you that laid back dining experience. The playlist is also pretty perfect here with all the popular western numbers being played and the videos being screened at a giant projector screen.
Now, let’s discuss briefly about the food which the Chef wanted us to try out. Chulbul Soda and Bulbul Soda are typical masala cold drinks with Chulbul having a Coke base and Bulbul having a fizzy orange flavored base. Both drinks have improved a lot in past few months from the time I had tasted them at Kolkata’s first Broaster’s outlet. Their presentations in headless Thumps up and Sprite bottles really impressed me a lot. I also tired few sips of Tarbuj Cola which was a concoction of Cola and fresh watermelon juice and tasted pretty good. The preparation of Palang Tod was a visual treat, it is the virgin avatar of Jagerbomb and someone who likes RedBull energy drink would surely like this drink which is served in a beer mug.
The three variants of fried chicken were served next, which included the Legendary Broaster chicken, the Happy fried chicken and the Hot Masala Chicken. The legendary one was pretty bland but I liked it since it promised to be like this only, and it tasted really good with the sauces and the dips, the chicken was juicy with an absolutely dry and non-oily coating. The Happy Fried chicken was there with the curry mango jalepeno dip, and the Hot Masala Chicken came with the curry mango jalepeno dip, harissa and Thai sweet chilli dip. The items were perfectly fried and very flavorful. Next I tried Firangi Palak Chicken Dip with Garlic Bread; frankly speaking these were one of the best grilled Garlic breads I had tried in a long time, kudos for that. The palak Chicken dip was extremely cheesy, filled with spinach and chicken pieces and it was simply bursting with flavors.
Next I tried the Italian Ghotala Biriyani which the sous-chef personally prepared for me. This is a fusion biriyani with minced chicken prepared in Italian style in Arabiata sauce with Italian seasoning and spices, it was pretty spicy with the spice coming in from green chilies and sauces used. It comes with papad and you can surely order this and is one safe bet. For the desserts, I had Gulkand Muffin and the Walnut Brownie. The muffin was flavorful with centre filled gulkand though I felt the muffin was tad on the crispier side, not very soft. The walnut brownie was as usual a joy to savor. The ice cream scoop with those pieces of tasty and soft walnut brownie was a delight, and a perfect item to end your meal with.
The service and the hospitality was top notch, no doubt about that. Overall I would rate this place 8.2 out of 10 and recommend it to my foodie friends. On few weekdays they have awesome unlimited food and drinks offers starting from INR 899 which is irresistible, call them to know more about this offer. As of now, I’ll be signing off and hope you go and try out this outlet of Broaster’s Chicken, I am sure you will definitely like it.
Cheers!
foodiedada 