I was pretty curious for the last couple of months about this new place called ‘Afra Tafri’ (at Camac Street, Kolkata) and about this whole concept of Transitional Gastro Brew Pub. Kolkata witnessed the launch of this brew pub in the month of March 2017 and this place has been trending ever since then in social media. This is presently the largest Transitional Gastro Brew Pub in Kolkata and has a sprawling 12,000 square feet area. This amazing place promises a fantastic mix of classy vintage interiors, fantastic music from that single array speakers, brewery and global cuisine. This joint venture by Raajiv Nathany, Sachin Saraff and Sandeep Goenka promises to provide the perfect mix of world class ambiance, facilities, warm service, food and fantastic cocktails all under one roof. And recently they decided to launch their ‘New Menu’ and I was invited over to this amazing gastro brew pub for tasting of this newly launched menu!
So let’s start off by discussing a bit about the much talked about décor of this place. Afra Tafri is located at 9, Camac Street adjacent to the Industry House, in the Haldiram Building (opposite British Council). The place, as already said, is huge but you will find it is neatly divided into several sections, like the DJ console, bar, brewery unit, the huge dining areas, smoking zone, and stage area for live performances. The splendid old fashioned wooden interiors are sure to give you a warm and classy vibe as soon as you walk in. I loved the wooden arched ceiling décor, the elevated wooden platform at one end with couches and a glass window overlooking the busy street (this is the place where we were seated).
The new age DJ console is there in the geometric center of this dining area and there is an adjacent projector screen as well with music videos playing on. The bar area looks splendid with those lightened retro microphones hanging atop the high stools placed along the bar counter. And the transitions this place has to offer from a café to a brewery to a family dinner joint to a happening pub, somewhat explains the ‘Transitional’ factor introduced to this one-of-a-kind address of ‘mayhem and madness’ in the city – that’s Afra Tafri for you!!
Now, coming to the new menu, for which I was here at this place. The quirky item names will surely stay back in your head and they introduce a subtle fun factor while you are having the food, which I really liked. The bloggers meet surely was well planned out and everything went on pretty smoothly. The service and the servers were perfectly warm, courteous and well informed.
The gastronomical affair started off with the Steamed Vegetable Kothe which we absolutely loved for the generous filling of minced veggies in those dumplings, and with that red chilli dip. Bunny Chow came up next, it is a bread and curry combo with a twist of local masala vegetable mix in it. The Cheese Chilly Meltz which was served next was an open faced sandwich tapped with masala cheese and baked to perfection, I absolutely loved this sinful cheesy delight! The Awesome Threesome was next in queue, which was a slider having three mini burgers with veg patty.
The quirky named dish Jahapana Tofu Kabul Karo was nice and crispy cottage cheese was tossed with crumbled garlic and onions on top. The Knight Riders Mojito helped me to wash things down and was basically a part of their IPL menu, it is a lovely concoction of Gondhoraj lemongrass ginger mojito! The perfect combo of ginger and lemongrass gave a nice refreshing touch in between nibbles.
The Kolkata style Dhakai Paratha came in next which again tasted fantastic, specially the dal which came along with it. The much talked about Abba Tabba Jabba was an assortment of flavored papads with smoked baingan bharta, onion tomato kuchumber, peanut masala along with chutneys and dips.
Also we loved the flavorful Khub Galauti which was served in between these dishes. The Bhai’s Biryani Tiffin was served in the typical multicolored tiffin box and had Murshidabadi aloo / Chicken biriyani with raita and salad. The Makhan Singh ka Tiffin was served in the same fashion, it had paneer makhani with kalonji naan and dal makhani.
The Egg Kejriwal was really one fantastic dish with open loaf sandwich topped with spiced fried egg sunny side up, cheese and tangy chutney, and I really loved savoring this. The Watermelon & Waterchest Nut Ceviche had some stunning looks perfect for Instagrammers! It came in with fumes coming out of this lovely dish that had the freshness of the watermelon intact. The Akkad Bakkad Kukkur really churns loads of flavor in it and triggers curiosity with that unusual name, we tried the juicy fiery red tandoori chicken tikka with kachumber brunoise and chutney! And then we tried the amazing Rock Shrimp Tempura which were just heavenly! These lovely batter fried crispy shrimps were fresh and juicy and perfect to go with cocktails or drink of your choice!
The food and drinks were really amazing and we tried few more dishes apart from this menu, like the Korean Chicken Gochujang, Blue Breeze mocktail, Cucumber and mint lemonade, etc and those were also perfectly prepared with equal amount of care. No real concerns about the food or drinks and I am sure this place is going to settle down a bit more and give Kolkatans some of the best times of their lives. The classic drinks with those lovely twists, vintage yet contemporary styled interiors, and some exemplary dishes and pub grubs are sure to entice you and give reasons to come back to this place for more. Till the next time, I would urge you to visit them once and try out their new menu and fantastic cocktails!! You surely will be pleased!
Cheers!
[P.S. Thanks to Afra Tafri management and Candid Communication for the invitation]
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