Jist of a great culinary extravaganza: Trader Vic's is a restaurant chain headquartered in San Francisco, California. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902, San Francisco, California – October 11, 1984, Hillsborough, California) founded a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants that bore his nickname, "Trader Vic". He was one of two people who claimed to have invented the Mai Tai. Source: Wikipidea
Trader Vic's has a trademark of an easy and fantastic combination of good ambiance, food, drinks and warmth in service. I along with my few friends had been there for lunch last weekend. When we entered through a giant door, it looked a busy atmosphere. The first thing that caught my notice was it's classic Tiki ( Polynesian masks) arrangement. The decor because of Tiki gives a distinctive look.
You can find different size of Tikis all over there, imported from abroad. Above every table there is a focus light. The over all ambiance made me soak in the exotic atmosphere.
Steward came in quickly with a warm smile and handed over the menu to us, quickly we glanced through menu card for our starters and drinks. So we started with cocktails and mocktails, our pick were Suffering Bastard, Peach Tree Punch and Honolulu Bay.
Here I have to confess the unique name "Suffering Bastard" was enough for me to try it. If you aren't careful, it will sneak right up on you !!!
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Honolulu Bay |
Chef Priyank seeing us enjoying our cocktails recommended to try their famous Tiki Bowl. Well yes Chef Priyank was right this was just not another drink, a rum based with a hint of almond flavoured, Italian liquor. The presentation was fantastic with a white huge conch shell served with my arm's length straws !! Yes it is meant for 3 -4 persons. My dear friend who was sitting besides me whispered in my ears "Am feeling high and want to laugh loudly". We enjoyed it so much....Don't believe me?? Then see it yourself.
The advantage of long straws were we didn't have to lean towards the table and could relax and chit chat. The cocktail section is fairly based on rum. All their cocktails starts from Rs450 onwards. Prices are normal for the quality offered. Chef Rahul said that their bartenders are specially gets hands on training by a Chief Bartender.
Next on our table was TidBit Island which had assorted appetizers. The mozerella chesse balls were finger licking good. Crispy prawns were crunchy from outside and soft from inside. Best pick amongst all these starters were Kung Pao Chicken. Rest items were also OK.
By now I was actually full after having scrumptious starters and cocktails but my tongue was not ready to surrender. For the main course we ordered 9 Spice Chicken, Green Prawn Curry, Vegetable Fried Rice and All in Vic's Fried Rice. The Green Prawn Curry was not impressive though, found it very sweet based gravy. 9 Spice Half Chicken was something which was done inside Chinesewood Fried Oven (slow indirect cooking). This method brings out the best taste and infuse the distinctive smoky flavor which defines Trader Vic's dishes.
The meat was tender and had a lot of flavor in it. The custom built woodfired Chinese Oven can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C to A.D 20), and it is vital feature of Trader Vic's. Meat, seafood, poultry is suspended from hooks and slowly cooked by the smoke and heat derived from the burning a combination of white oak and wood. So this takes 25-30 minutes to get the food on the table. Keep that in mind when you order.
In dessert I had Rum Top and Chocolate Nut Tili which was out of this world. , with generous amount of walnut in it. Had a bite of Passion Cheesecake but may be I was over whelmed by the Chocolate nut Tike that couldn't relish the taste of Passion cheese cake.
Over All : This was my first visit to Trader Vic's and looking forward to going back again. Liked the personal approach of Chef Rahul, Priyank and there team added the warmth. Heavy on pocket but value for money. Good portion on most of the food items. So Go ahead and indulge yourself in good cocktail and meal with friends.
Address: No. S 20, 23 A, 24 & 24 A, 2nd Floor, Phoenix Market City, Mahadevpura, Bangalore
Disclaimer: I have no interest whatsoever in promoting Trader Vic . But it is my wish that I share with all my Blogger Friends about my experience about specific dishes that I had . For the rest I recommend readers to try them out and if possible share their feedback here.