Lanterns Kitchen & Bar is a welcoming paradise where you can go with your friends, sit for hours and get sloshed. It is definitely a customer’s paradise. The food is tasty, the alcohol cheap and the staff courteous. They are bang outside the Rajendra Place Metro Station, hence are easily accessible especially by office-goers and college students, and is a 15 years old British styled bar, which has recently gone through renovation and it has revised its entire menu according to the fresh ambiance. The new improved ambiance and fusion food takes inspiration from an European lounge cafe. The place would soon be opening its rooftop for customers.
Ambiance:
Located on the first floor of an old, dilapidated government building, this is the main attraction there, and though located right opposite the metro, it is hard to imagine the location precisely. The tables opposite the bar are in fact barrels. You would notice the seating arrangement here the moment you enter here.
Now one would notice that there are no lanterns per se included in the decor to justify the name, rather it’s more a rodeo style cafe vibe, rustic yet with a little fine dine feel restaurant. Well they wanted to keep the legacy going and so even after renovating their expansion, they stuck to the name!! It is a place for the music lovers, they have a projector screen displaying videos of Hollywood music being played in the background, but near the bar area, they do also boast a screen displaying Bollywood music videos on mute.
If you are a music lover, especially live band/Sufi nights, this is the place to be. Friday- Sunday this place is crowded with people because of their fab music and even fab booze which is available at a very cheap rate, and guess what, to add on to it and keep the crowd coming, they don’t charge a penny extra in the name of cover charges etc. on these nights, the liquor is available on flat rates!!!
Service:
Service is apt and they have a service machine on each table. One does not need to raise their hand to call for service. All one needs to do is press a button and the server attends. Basically the servers have a service watch on their wrist and whenever anyone presses the service/call button, there is a flash and the servers are notified immediately to serve your needs in no time. Its so fun and quirky!!
The place is a marvelous work of Mr. Jasneet Sahni and Mr. Suneet Sahni. The men behind this great concept of catering to people by providing them delicious food, foot-tapping music, and never ending alcohol at an extremely cheap rate, have put in immense efforts and well they have a lot of ideas bubbling in their creative minds to keep you coming again and again. They are the best hosts I have met so far, really friendly and highly concerned about providing the best service to their customers. The manager, is extremely polite and suggestive, and always on his heels, so you have the time of your life.
Food :
So coming down to the most essential and delicious part of the experience, I along with a bunch of my foodie friends, came here for lunch on Independence day, and well, we were in a for a feast, as that very day they had introduced their newest feature: Sunday Buffet… and we were lucky enough to be the first ones to try our hands on it!!
Before coming down to the food talks, let me intrigue you further by stating that, their Sunday Buffet including all of the down below mentioned items, costs Rs. 299+ (including tax the final amount sums up to be Rs. 385!!! yes that’s right, they provide you with an array of lip smacking variety of multi cuisine delicacies at that cheap a rate, cheaper than a single pizza at Domino’s. Beat that!!)
What they currently offer for a mere 385 bucks is a multi-cuisine menu covering Italian, Continental, Indian, Chinese, Asian and what not. So they have a live soup station, which currently boasts Khow Suey with a variety of toppings to choose from, a live salad station, with freshly prepared Caesar salad, 1 veg and 1 non veg appetizer, 1 veg and 1 non veg pizza, 1 veg and 1 non veg dim sum (all of them served on the table), then nine different varieties of main course for buffet( 1 course being rice/noodles, and fresh breads to go along), and four types of desserts.
Cottage cheese with celery schezwan pepper: small morsels of cottage cheese, batter fried and topped with spring onion, schezwan pepper dressing, the morsels were soft and subtle in taste, a good snack for vegetarians to munch along their drinks.
Veg galouti on crispy roti: served on a huge circular board, these were not only a treat to the eyes but also to the palate, and thankfully it actually tasted like a proper galouti with the perfectly minced and melt in your mouth texture, topped with slightly sweet basil mayo and basil leaf , served with a thin crispy savory wafer (papdi). The softness of galouti with crispiness of papdi, the savory flavor of the two with the slight sweetness of the mayo, this starter was a flavorsome affair.
Aniseed chicken: thin slices of chicken tossed in oriental sauce with honey, soy sauce, star anise etc, the chicken was really moist and juicy, the honey gave it a slight sweet taste whereas the soy sauce made it a bit sour and then star anise gave it the earthy spicy note, so it was a blast of flavors, though I’ll say it’s a little acquired taste as not everyone is a big fan of star anise and the initial bites can be a slight change from what we normally would expect, but the dish is good nonetheless.
Exotic veg extravaganza pizza: now this was one heck of a pizza, being a hard core non vegetarian I never prefer veg pizzas but boy what a treat it was, consisting of spinach, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes and basil, topped with ample cheese. The cheesy goodness was stringy and the right amount of oiliness had been added to keep the pizza moist and juicy, the base was damn crispy, the sun dried tomato had a candied touch to it and with its slight sweetness and other ingredients, it became one of the best veg pizzas I have tasted.
Lanterns all meat pizza: now this was my most favorite of all, a meat lover’s delight, a thin and crispy crust topped with smoked chicken, chicken ham, pork ham, bacon, olives, jalapenos, loaded with oodles of cheese. A true meaty pizza with immense flavor.
Exotic veg dumplings: steamed dumplings with a mixture of different veggies diced finely, served along with a chunky sweet and sour dip, the dim sum sheets were thin, and the filling was decent too.
Non veg dumplings: a good amount of minced chicken stuffed inside thin dim sum sheets summed this dish, decent enough.
To help gulp all this down and we tried a variety of their mocktails, which consisted of:
Cucumber cooler: a cool mix of fresh cucumber, chaat masala, mint, rock salt,finished with sprite. Although it was a different combo, unfortunately it didn’t quite go that well together, the drink was cool and refreshing, but not a favorite of the lot.
Virgin sangria: cranberry juice and orange juice combined together, with chopped fresh fruits like apple, pomegranate, though the fruity taste was refreshing and apple had a bite to them, but the overall drink tasted a tad too sweet for my palate.
Virgin mojito: a light, fizzy, refreshing drink topped with mint, soda, lime!!
Apple banana smoothie: a pretty looking, baby pink colored drink with banana infused flavor topped with thinly sliced apple!!
After these delectable dishes and decent drinks, we started with the buffet, first came a portion of salad accompanied with soup and thereafter we binged on the main course, followed by the desserts.
Khow suey: in a large simmering pot, is their khow suey (base soup), a Burmese specialty, made of coconut milk ( and not coconut powder unlike other places, thus lending to the subtle yet noticeable taste and aroma of coconut), along with it were displayed an array of condiments, boiled noodles being the main element, boiled egg, braised chicken, broiled broccoli, crunchy potato/corn, crunchy garlic, brown onion(fried), peanuts, green chili, lemon and coriander, add as much or as little topping of your choice as you slurp away.
Caesar salad: a huge bowl of fresh and vibrant ice berg lettuce with a variety of dressings and topping to choose from.
Dal Makahni: a creamy black lentil delicacy, simmered for a long time to give it the rich taste, was delicious to say the least, the lentils were cooked well and the dish tasted great.
Paneer taka tak: a cottage cheese dish made of thick chunky gravy with sliced onion and bell pepper, the paneer was soft, veggies crunchy, and gravy flavorsome and rich with butter and oil.
Soya chaap masala: super soft and juicy chunks of soya chaap cooked in Indian spices with a thick greasy gravy was full of flavors, the chaap was a hit among my vegetarian friends, a great substitute for non-veg.
Murg makhani: an aromatic, creamy, delectable butter chicken dish with succulent and juicy pieces of chicken, and a flavor packed gravy. polish it off with a portion of freshly prepared crispy garlic naan or any bread of your choice and you are good to go.
Stir fry Chinese greens with chefs sauce: a clear broth with a variety of veggies like mushroom, bell pepper, spinach, broccoli, cottage cheese, etc, the flavors were subtle and the veggies were cut big enough to be enjoyed well.
Stir fry braised chicken: a thick sweet, sour and spicy Chinese style gravy with chunks of delicious braised chicken, onion, bell pepper, carrots etc. enjoy these oriental dishes with their pan fried noodles or plain boiled rice, and savor the great flavors.
Grilled fish in lemon caper sauce: thick fillets of fish, dunked in caper lemon butter sauce, grilled to perfection, served with grilled green and yellow zucchini, was one of my favorite dishes. The fish was really moist and flaky, fell apart easily, the sauce was delicious and the combo and a lingering taste.
Penne arabiatta: pasta was cooked al dente, tossed in a chunky, spicy and lip smacking red sauce with sauteed veggies, was delicious .
To end the journey we devoured the dessert section comprising of:
Chocolate walnut brownie with chocolate sauce: tiny pieces of a super soft, melt in your mouth, sinfully chocolaty walnut brownie is the show stopper of all. absolutely loved it.
Churros with chocolate sauce: Churros are basically fried-dough pastry, predominantly choux based. They are piped using star shaped nozzle, hence the shape, deep fried and rolled in cinnamon and sugar powder, the churros here were decent and light (a little too light and airy for my liking).
The phirni was served in small bowls placed over ice cubes, the taste was decent, though the consistency was not up to the mark, it was slightly more runny than it should be.
Overall, Lanterns is one heck of a place, serving delectable, lip- smacking, multi cuisine, ample variety of food with really cheap alcohol,great ambiance, flawless service, awesome music, and generous hosts!!!
Must have:
Exotic veg extravaganza pizza, Lanterns all meat pizza, dal makhani, soya chaap masala, murg makhani, grilled fish, chocolate walnut brownie.
And wait, there is more, this is what they currently offer, their
Sunday Buffet menu is rotational, i.e barring a few items, they tend to change their dishes every Sunday, they are on the verge of introducing a new feature for Sunday buffets only, wherein by adding a mere amount of 199 bucks, you can enjoy your buffet with unlimited alcohol.
If that’s not enough to keep you coming, then they are planning to open another branch of theirs in Greater Noida soon, which would be exclusively all day buffet based concept.
To top it all, be on an alert, since they plan to launch their Mexican fest, next month and Beer fest in October.
So mark your calendars, book a date, and pay this place a visit, if not for the much awaited fests, then for the enormous Sunday buffet feast at a meager price, great alcohol at cheap rate, fab music and welcoming service.
