Foodie Ravi Handa shares with LifeSpice his experience of the recently launched Sunday Brunch at blueFrog Pune.
blueFrog has been on the radar of Pune’s music lovers for quite some time now. The genres of music played at blueFrog range from jazz, blues, funk, soul and Afro-Latin to electronic, club, rock, folk and more. A few weeks ago they launched ‘The Sunday Brunch’ for foodies around town. I decided to tape the voice in my head, which keeps on telling me to watch my weight, and give the brunch a try.
blueFrog Pune is located close to the airport and more importantly not very far from Koregoan Park, which is usually the destination in Pune to have a good time. The fact that it is located in the sparsely populated Ishanya Mall is a big plus as it makes it easy to find a parking spot. From the outside blueFrog appears to be a small cosy joint, but once you enter, you realise that you were wrong, very wrong. There is a deck area, which is next to an artificial waterfall and an open-air theatre. The ambiance inside is pretty chic with a slightly unusual semicircular pod type seating arrangement. The ceramic frogs – don’t worry, they don’t jump – at the bar counter and at the entrance serve as a constant and quirky reminder of where you are. Thankfully, they are not all ‘blue’ which in my opinion would be pushing it too far.
Coming to the important bit, the food: To use a word other than “extensive” for the brunch menu would be not only be unfair but borderline illegal. A Prawn cocktail, Cajun Spiced Pork, Baby Lamb with Asparagus, Bacon with Broccoli – you name it, they have it. And this is just the non-vegetarian side of the salad bar. The Hummus with Pita and Gazpacho Andaluz deserve a special mention as well. On the beverages side, I decided to try out the mojito which they offer in three flavours – watermelon, orange, and pineapple. But then, I saw a waiter carrying a glass of ‘Gateway Brewing Co.’ For someone who lives in Pune, the choices are pretty limited when it comes to beer because of the limited number of breweries located here. The fact that blueFrog chooses to source beer from a Mumbai based brewery does add a certain variety to the whole affair. I went through a couple of glasses of their wheat based beer White Zen in almost no time. Fun fact: White Zen gets its name from the German word for unfiltered wheat beers, Hefeweizen. Don’t get it? Try speaking Hefeweizen as a German would – “hay-fuh-veyt-szenn” which sounds like “Have a White Zen.”
For the main course we went ahead with the chef’s recommendation of a mixed grill platter. It had tiger prawns and herb chicken but what I enjoyed the most were the pork ribs which were served with a garnish of tamarind. I ordered a pizza as well, just to try it out. By the time it reached the table, the voice in my head had removed the duct tape and started screaming to stop and give my body another chance to enjoy the pizza on some other day. I did not listen to it and had two slices of the pizza. The way it tasted justified the decision.
The Sunday Brunch costs only Rs. 1,800 per person with an unlimited bar that flows all afternoon long. It is definitely worth every penny. And here is a pro-tip: blueFrog celebrates a megaFrog Saturday every month, where they choose one Saturday in the month for promotion of megaFROGs (a 4 shot cocktail presented in blueFROG-branded non-spill sports sipper) and anyone purchasing a megaFROG gets a shooter free with it. If you are looking for something quirky, you might want to take up on this offer. Also, they have Mukhtiyar Ali and Mathias Duplessy performing on the 25th of February as a part of the Global Music Festival. If the brunch doesn’t excite you, I am sure the music will.
Ravi Handa is a Pune based foodie who runs an online CAT coaching and CAT preparation course.
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