About a week ago, Ritika & I were planning to meet up on a Sunday; during a random discussion we were having, we decided to go have duck & that’s when we zeroed in on Vong Wong, one of my most favorite Chinese restaurants in South Bombay. Before I forget, on Saturday, the day before we went to Vong Wong, Rachita, Ekta & me visited Smooth, a lounge at Shalimar Hotel at Kemps Corner. This was the 1st time Rachita & me went to this place. Details of both these places & our awesome experience there follows…
Smooth!!!
Caipirojka & Watermelon Martini
Saturday morning started off with a bike ride past Marine Drive & Nariman Point. The morning was then spent strumming the guitar & playing NBA2K13 on the Xbox360. Ekta & me decided to go get drunk in the afternoon & were trying to figure where we should go for the same. Also, we were looking at trying out a new place, so post a bit of thinking, I decided on this place which I had heard about during my work days at Hungama called “Smooth”, located at Hotel Shalimar at Kemps Corner. We decided to head there at about 1 p.m. On entering the place, I was pleasantly surprised as the the look & feel of the same was pretty damn snazzy.
This be Smooth!!!
The decor was sofas & chairs in silver with white coloured walls which looked very cool. For a Saturday afternoon, the place was surprisingly empty & when i say empty there was 3 of us and the staff …. which worked well for us :-). The menu also had a great mix of food & lot of choice around alco… For food we ordered some starters which were pretty damn good & for the drinks we ordered some fruit flavored Martini’s & Caipirojka’s. Post having a couple of those, Ekta decide she wanted to have Rum, Thumbs Up & I decided to have a Bloody Marry followed by some Johnny Walker Red Label… Yup! By now we were pretty damn high / shit faced, came home & crashed. If you guys are looking at a place to hang through the afternoon which is not very noisy then Smooth is ideal; also evening is when this place gets decently crowded. Pretty well priced also for the drinks as well as food…
Best Brunch Spread Ever!!!
Yummmmy!!!
Moving onto Sunday & the brunch at Vong Wong with Ritika, Mihir, Yooti, Ekta & yours truly. Ekta & me decided to ride to Nariman point where the restaurant is located, Rachita & Ritika were out shopping at Crawford market & were joining us directly, while Mihir & Yooti took a cab. Considering it was afternoon, the weather wasn’t ideal for a bike ride but what the heck, we were totally kicked about it as we were dressed like we were in Goa & were living the same experience on the bike!!! Reaching Vong Wong, we realized they had a buffet brunch going on which was priced at about Rs 2000/- a pop with unlimited cocktails. After doing some mental math, we decided to go for the same & make the most of the food as well as the cocktails & mocktails…
Awesomeness!!!
Before I get into the awesomeness of the cocktails & super duper food, let me tell you about the ambiance of this place. The same is pretty classy, the furniture has an authentic feel; there are these giant Chinese vases, also the restaurant is very spacious and if you are a big group of people then you can book the round tables which have curtains to enclose the space & give you privacy; there are 3 tables of this sort. Also, the bar is amazing & most importantly, the view is absolutely stunning as it looks into the sea, past Nariman Point & what used to be the Oberoi Hotel which now is the Trident Hotel.
Sensational!!!
It Doesn’t Get Any Better…
Now for the food & drinks! We immediately ordered some caipirojka & some martini’s to start off with…….. the agenda, clearly, was to try all the cocktails on offer and get shitfaced, atleast Ekta & me had decided the same. Starters were served on the table – there was chilli chicken, momo’s / dim sum (5 different kinds – pork, vegetable, chicken, pakchoy and mushroom), crispy vegetables in a spicy wasabi, etc. There were some awesome salads like Som Tam, Kimchi, tofu & french bean salad, absolutely sensational stuff!There were 3 live counters serving, make to order eggs i.e. omelets, poached eggs & eggs benedict; there was also a khao suey counter which was the hands down the best we have eaten & a counter serving duck rolls with plum sauce which was super yummy!!! There was this guy who was strumming the guitar & singing songs on request which added to the overall experience. This guy’s singing had an amazing voice at least Ekta & Ritika thought so… Another cool thing they had on offer during brunch was shots & to take that experience to the next level they had this waiter & waitress come to your table get you to open your mouth stuff it with Watermelon, Magic pops and then pour in loads of Grey Goose vodka which was the highlight :-). Post going through all of this & a crazy amount of dessert, we moved to some exotic fruit cocktails – those also were delicious & exceedingly potent but by now we didn’t care & were loving the whole experience!!!
Must Visit Vong Wong!!!
We were there for a good 3 hours and loved every moment of it! After that I rode back with Ekta which was an absolutely amazing experience we also switched between who was riding across Marine Drive as that feeling was totally surreal. Also before I sign off, let me very highly & strongly recommend Vong Wong to all; if you like super yummy food & cocktails with a dash of an awesome experience then you must must visit this place. Finally do check out the slide show below, it has some awesome visuals which to us are like a full-on spiritual trip!!!
Badbikegang 