Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen, Erandwane, Pune

Name: Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen, Erandwane
Phone: +91 9822338833
Address:  1st-3rd Floor, House of Nosh, CTS 1365, Gulawani Maharaj Path, Opposite Mehendale Garage, Erandwane, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Time: 8 AM to 12 Midnight
Meals for two: Rs. 700
Cuisines: North Indian, European, Indian, Asian
Facilities: Home Delivery, Vegetarian Only

Kalinga is a known name among Puneites as a restaurant which serves delicious sea-food. Carrying the brand forward, owners Abhishek and Amrita Shetty have launched Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen which offers an all vegetarian menu with a global theme.

Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen, Erandwane, Pune: Decor

The restaurant occupies two levels in a multi-level building and is split in an air-conditioned section and the other one without. The seating is basic, but comfortable. The space is well decorated with Mario Miranda inspired wall-art, hanging lamps and sporadic vertical planters.

Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen, Erandwane, Pune: Food

Keeping the target audience in mind, the menu offers unique global dishes along with the classic Indian vegetarian dishes. The also menu boasts of beverages and mocktails with extremely unique combinations. Among the lot the pineapple, tuzu and jalapeno Sour was our favorite. It is a fresh and fizzy pineapple drink, served on the rocks with Japanese yuzu and spicy pickled jalapenos. From the street food section we started with the multigrain bhel puri and the garam aloo ki chaat. The bhel puri got its flavors and taste right, but the puffed grains were not crunchy enough. The aloo chaat was a miss as it completely lacked the chutneys which are the mainstay of any chaat dish. The Mac and chili cheese poppers in the nibbles section were perfectly crunchy, oozing with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and spiced with chilies. The attractive looking crispy noodle paneer 65 was crispy and delicious. Served with curry leaf tempered yoghurt, this one is highly recommended. There were three options in the steamed bao section and we rightly picked the mushroom curry baos. The soft baos were stuffed with mushrooms in a thick coconut curry and topped with fresh basil and crushed peanuts. Basically, all the good things in one dish.

After a mixed start, the redeeming point came with the Italian dishes on the menu. Among the hand rolled pizza section, we chose the fungi pizza which was thin and topped with mushrooms, balsamic onions, thyme and crushed walnuts. We followed this with the hearty gnocchi gratin, a baked dish with soft potato gnocchi, vegetables, tomato-basil sauce topped with parmesan cheese and the mushroom risotto, an indulgent and cheesy risotto with mushroom ragout and topped with pinenuts.

We ended the meal with the cheesecake of the day which was a soft coconut cheesecake aptly served with a coconut, cardamom and jaggery topping which was reminiscent of the stuffing used in modak. We definitely hope that they add this to the desserts menu as a separate item.

Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen, Erandwane, Pune: Plus & Minus

Kalinga Veg Gourmet Kitchen serves great vegetarian fare and offers some extremely interesting flavor combinations.The effort put in by the team in curating the menu, presentation and cutlery and the decor shows. The service needs improvement and we recommend that the management puts in some effort in training the staff to make them understand the food they serve.