Pune’s booming micro-brewery industry got a boost when Effingut opened it’s 3rd outlet at World Trade Center, Kharadi. Clearly, Kharadi (WTC and EON) being the youngest IT hub of town was in desperate need of watering holes. There’s nothing better than craft beers at the end of a long day/week (depending on your love for craft beers) with some awesome bite sized food.
I attended the launch party of Effingut Kharadi, and boy, it was great. A breezy evening with 3 funny guys from EIC – Atul Khatri (who quit EIC the same day), Sapan Verma and Angad Singh Ranyal entertaining the guests. Party continued into the wee hours (read: almost sunrise) so it was hardly an occasion to take in the feel of the latest brewery in town.
While the new Effingut is located really really far from my home, it deserved a second visit soon to enjoy a proper evening. Within a couple of weeks, I was invited by the good folks at Pune’s best brewery (quite easily) for a tasting of their newest menu additions. Free flowing beer, was present of course.
Effingut will continue to serve their regular food menu at this outlet but like it’s other 2 branches, this one will also have a few unique additions. A group of food lovers were there that night to help decide if any alterations were required to the new additions. Effingut takes feedback really seriously and I can confirm that the groups who attended these sessions after us, were served the same items with changes recommended by us!
Crispy Chicken Bites – these yummy bite sized chicken pieces fried to perfection are a delight! They go really well with beer and no one could stop munching these through the evening. I recommended the same dish to be replicated with prawns and the suggestion was well taken. Hopefully, we should have Crispy Prawn Bites on the menu soon!
Chicken Spring Rolls – as a child dining out with my parents, I would always go for Chicken Spring Rolls however that fascination died out over the years. These spring rolls brought back a lot of good memories. Good amount of chicken, evenly spread along with other stuffing make this a lovely appetizer. I wouldn’t bother too much about those sticks though – I’d eat it with my hands!
Golden Fried Prawns (with Sambal sauce) – while the Sambal sauce goes well with the prawns, it’s better off to be served as a dip than served on top of the prawns. It made the prawns soggy really quickly and they longer retained their crispiness. Chef was happy to make the change.
Tequila, Lime & Thyme Prawns – I couldn’t taste the tequila, lime or thyme so it was quite disappointing. Prawns were well cooked but the overall flavours need some work.
Loaded BBQ Potatoes – along with the Crispy Chicken Bites, these cheesy potato fries in BBQ sauce would go really with the craft beer on offer. Portion size is really good and would easily last 2-3 people for a round of beer.
Threaded Cottage Cheese – cottage cheese marinated with oriental sauces and wrapped in crispy threaded casing make another good side. It’s important for a brewery like Effingut to have good sides with their excellent craft beer and they know it!
Veg Spring Rolls – yes, these look exactly like Chicken Spring Rolls and it was impossible for me to tell the difference without eating them. Of course, they’re also as good as the Chicken variant.
Effingut has also introduced Kathi Rolls on their menu at Kharadi (only). Idea is to create ready to eat or take-away meals for all the folks working in the nearby IT parks. Combined with a drink or a dessert, these would really make sense during lunch time.
Thecha Chicken and Mexican Veg rolls were served to us. Thecha needs to be evenly spread across the roll and all it’ll take is a little bit of adjustment while making the rolls. The rolls itself are soft and don’t crumble in your hands.
Pizzas were had for mains. The Pulled Pork & Bacon pizza would easily be the favourite for meat lovers. A very good helping of pulled pork and bacon bits made me gobble up several slices in quick time. The Quattro Formaggio Pizza comes with Orange Cheddar, Parmesan, Scamorza and Mozzarella so all cheese lovers should go for this one.
Desserts came next and were below par.
Hefeweizen Banana Trifle – this one had more of a bubble gum sort of taste. I couldn’t taste the Hefeweizen infused with it. This was a definite no-go for me.
Hazelnut Cheesecake – while the flavours were right with this one, it felt more like a Mousse than a Cheesecake. 2 suggestions were made – either change the name to Hazelnut Mousse or make it like a proper Cheesecake.
Effingut Kharadi is an excellent addition to Pune’s growing list of bars. Effingut’s beers are undeniably great so the more Effinguts we have around town, the less the beer lovers have to travel. They’re also offering a flat 30% off on F&B during 12.30-7.00 pm Mon-Fri so make sure you finish off work early to head here!
Here’s wishing everyone an Effingut time at the new outlet!
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