Sailing through experiences

Barely a few months old, 'Wanderers - Craft Brewery and Artisan Cafe', located on 80ft Kalyan Nagar, takes food lovers through a journey of sorts. The experience is a fulfilling one.

Enter the restaurant and the first thing that strikes you is the beverage counter that's designed to resemble the deck of ship. But that's not all, there's a compass (similar to the ones carried by travellers) that shows you where you are and which direction you should to head to.

There's also an entire glass wall that has been designed to resemble a sea, so those who are seated in the restaurant will get a feeling that they are on a ship and looking out into the open sea complete with fishing nets and a sunset in the backdrop.

"There are three service areas. The ground floor is called 'Wanderers of the Seas,' the first floor is 'Wanderers of the Land' and the top floor is called 'Soaring into the Skies'. Every floor has been given a definite character. There's a lot of thought and imagination that has gone into designing the interiors because we want to enhance the social bonding among the people who come here," explains Kiran Reddy, chief executive of Wanderers Brewing Private Limited.

He also points out that the music changes from one floor to another. "While the ground floor is perfect for families and those who want to grab a bite over a quick meeting, the second floor is dedicated to young people because it has provision for live bands, theatre, and stand up comedy. "The entire space is acoustically treated to absorb and isolate sound to enhance its quality indoors and not to disturb the neighbours." The retractable roof is another unique feature," he adds.

The menu has the choicest of dishes from seven continents and every dish comes with a recommended pairing of beer.

"Of the 120 odd micro breweries in India, ours is one of the three German micro breweries. We brew authentic craft beers, German style and our in-house brewer is a German with over 40 years of craft brewing experience," says Kiran. He says that the idea is not only to offer different kinds of crafted beer but to take people through an experience.

The menu is divided into different sections. The appetisers include an interesting mix like 'Liver Peppers' which is tossed chicken or mutton liver with pepper and onions; paprika and lemon aioli and choice of bread.

The 'Mexican Chimichanga' which is Mexican corn tortilla with fajita Grilled vegetables, cheese, guacamole, with home-made dip, is a good beginning to a lavish meal.

"The Mexican Chimichanga' has been added because it is a popular street food in Mexico. The flavour is slightly tweaked to suit the local taste," says Kiran. He recommends 'Italian cottage cheese bruschetta' which is flavoured cottage cheese with Italian spices on warm baguette with melted mozzarella cheese. "Our breads are not the regular ones but are especially made for us,"he adds.

A couple of other dishes such as 'Australia's Meat Pie' which is a crunchy pie with meat mince with aromatic spices and 'Thailand's Satay' which is Oriental style marinated Chicken grilled, with peanut dip are a must-try.

"Some of the like these have been included because they are the popular food of that region,"adds Kiran. There's also an enticing range of Burgers, Sandwiches and Pizzas--- all tweaked to perfection.

The menu for the Indian section has been tastefully put together to represent the geographical taste of each region.

Among them the 'Ajwani Machi kebab' which is Ajwani flavoured fish kebabs served with mint chutney, 'Amritsar Machi' which is spiced king fish served with mint chutney and 'Assam's ghost chilli chicken balls' which is mashed potato, corn and chilli balls spiced with chillio beans tossed in Asian sauce are good starters. A few dishes like 'Goan fried Prawn balchao', 'Chicken Chettinadu' and 'Andhra Chilli Chicken' are region specific and the best of the lot, says Kiran.

The restaurant is located at No 417, 7th Main Road, 2nd Block, HRBR Layout.

For details, call 9620815141.