Finger food, interesting drinks

A place to chill on any day of the week’ seems to be the kind of motto Laughing Llama Gastropub goes by. Recently launched at Brigade Road, the new kid on the block offers the perfect vibe for a relaxing yet fun evening.

With canary-yellow interiors with bar booths, corner spots and community table, there’s plenty of options just for seating for one to choose from. If you’re in the mood, this can even be a fun chilled out place for a date night. The fairy lights and coloured tiles definitely add a certain charm to the place. And that’s not all, the pun-intended llama quotes across the restaurant will lighten up the mood.

Koli Gappa

The food here offers a mix of everything. You’ll find finger food, American, Continental, Asian, Mangalorean and Goan dishes on the menu.

We decided to try some of the popular items here. The Malabar Paneer intended to offer a coastal flavour but it felt drier than anything else. The Ghee Roast Goes French, on the other hand, was given a spin as it was made in Kundapur-style. It had a certain crispness and the salty flavour to it made it a good snack with your drink.

We wouldn’t recommend the Flying Gobi as the cauliflower, when bit into, felt too raw. Perhaps a better marination and cooking technique could have improved the dish.

The Koli Gappa was a fun appetiser though. The gol gappa was stuffed with butter chicken served with makhani shots. For all the times we’ve had and enjoyed roadside pani puris, this one proved to us that we can enjoy the crunchy dish in this way too.

As for the main course, we had Chow Chow Bunny which is bunny chow stuffed with Malabar seafood curry with a special appearance by prawn pickle and rice crisps. It might seem like a fun challenge to eat this dish served in a loaf of bread but it’s definitely worth it. The Ghee Roast Pizza had all the right elements but it wasn’t a dish that we wanted to go back for more. It’s a good dish if you are in larger groups though.

We ended the night with MarshHello, a classic sizzling brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s hard to go wrong having this dessert, so you’re good to go if you’re planning to order it next time.

They have an interesting array of drinks to have with your dishes. In cocktails, we recommend Drunks the Gola (kala khatta, rock salt, lemon and vodka), Caipiroska (vodka, sugar syrup and lemon) and Hurricane (White rum, dark rum, passion fruit syrup, lime juice, sugar syrup and grenadine).

Laughing Llama is located at 148/149, St Thomas Building, Brigade Road. For details, call 95350 29732.