The Crunch Affair, Viman Nagar, Pune

Restaurant Name: The Crunch Affair, Viman Nagar, Pune
Phone: +917757092421
Address: Shop 6, Peshwa Garden Society, Near Dutt Mandir Chowk, Viman Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411014 India
Time: 12:00 Noon – 11:30 PM
Meals for two: ₹500
Cuisines: Cafe, European, Desserts
Facilities: Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Pet Friendly, Indoor Seating, Board Games, Free Wifi

The Crunch Affair started with an outlet in Viman Nagar in 2018 and in 2021, they launched their second outlet at the Phoenix Mall in Viman Nagar. They were the first to introduce Hungarian chimney cakes or Kürtoskalács (pronounced Kurtosh Kalach) to Pune. While the original Hungarian chimney cake is a sweet dish,The Crunch Affair offers an interesting twist to the chimney cones with a range of savory fillings.

The Crunch Affair, Viman Nagar, Pune: Decor

This week,while shopping at Phoenix Mall, I stumbled upon The Crunch Affair on the second floor of the mall which also houses the food court. The outlet is strategically located close to the elevators and the escalators. There is no seating and one has to use the common food court seating. You can see the full process of making the chimney cones. Dough strips are wrapped around a cone-shaped rotisserie rod and roasting the dough and basting it until it cooks to a golden-brown color. Then the desired filling is added.

The Crunch Affair, Viman Nagar, Pune: Food

The menu features the a chimney cones with a range of vegetarian and chicken fillings. Sure to impress kids and youngsters,the menu also has shakes, loaded fries, desserts and something called double decker which is a combo of fries and a beverage where the fries box is attached to the beverage container, so that one can enjoy both together. We started with chicken nuggets and onion rings. Both were served with a mayo dip and both the rings and nuggets were freshly fried, crunchy and tasty. Keen on trying the chimney cones,we got the butter chicken, zafrani veg delight and zafrani seekh kebab. The cones are freshly baked and the freshness is evident in the first bite. The bread is fluffy and the addition of coriander, cheese and some spices to the dough elevates the taste of the cone. The zafrani veg delight was absolutely delicious. The filling had crunchy potatoes, peas, carrots and onions in a flavorful sauce with mayo. The zafrani seekh kebab had a similar masala along with chunks of chicken seekh kebab. This was great too. The butter chicken one was tasted good, but the signature butter chicken smokey flavour and cremainess was missing. All the fillings were heavy on the mayo and while the zafrani veg delight and zafrani seekh kebab flavours were balanced, the mayo overpowered the butter chicken filling. Personally,I would have preferred less mayo in the fillings. After the savory cones we also tried the original sweet chimney cone. Here too,the cone was freshly made in front of us and basted with butter and powdered sugar till it turned crispy and golden brown. The filling was simple vanilla ice-cream drizzled with chocolate sauce. A classic combination,worth trying. Along with the sweet cone,we also tried the delicious nutella and oreo shake and the classic cold coffee.

Plus & Minus:

The concept of giving a twist to the Hungarian chimney cakes or cones is innovative. While the savory options available currently are great,they can play around with more diverse flavours for the fillings. The savory chimney cones were quite tasty,but they could do with less mayo in the filling. It was great to notice that the person at the counter asked us if this was our first visit and whether we knew what chimney cones were. He then explained the concept and the Budapest origins of the chimney cones and their fusion take with the different fillings. On my next visit,I am going to try their loaded fries which looked incredible and the remaining savory cones I missed out the first time.