Why this bar and restaurant in Mahim fails to impress

Hancock Spaghetti

Reunion Bar and Kitchen is located a little away from the clutch of restaurants that surround Shivaji Park. This bar and restaurant is located on the fringe of Mahim, near Citylight cinema.

As we stepped in, we were greeted by grungy graffiti (demon-like faces) and quirky posters (Sample this: We don't serve women, bring your own) on the walls. With different levels of seating, we choose a basement corner, under a staircase. This space offered a sense of privacy in an otherwise open restaurant, which is a nice arrangement for a group.

Hancock Spaghetti with Makhani Lamb. Pics/Dipanjan Sinha

Both the drinks and food menu are elaborate, with Indian and hybrid dishes on offer. We kicked things off with the starters and a drink. The humble vada pav made it to their menu, rechristened as Aram ka Vada Pav (150, as an ode to the popular vada pav joint near CST) and we wanted to figure out how it has transformed. Well, not much, it was vada pav on a plate and slightly better cooked, which vada pav enthusiasts may enjoy.

The other starter was the Drunken Chicken (450). Apart from being overpriced, this dish was a disaster. Possibly attempting to become a chicken shot of vodka, it left a bitter aftertaste of its failure. The yummy Kekda Pattice (450) that came right after managed to make amends.

Re-Union (450), the drink that accompanied us on our journey through these starters was a fair one. Not too strong, it retained the taste of both vodka and Kahlúa -- a Mexican coffee-flavoured liquor. Aided by it, we headed for the heavier dishes. The next dish we tried was Chicken Masala Curry with Rice (250).

This dish came with a dressing of onion rings, the chicken was well made and gently spicy and the gravy thick enough to be tasty but mix with the rice easily. But reprieve from the bitter memory of the inebriated chicken came in the form of Hancock Spaghetti with Makhani Lamb (450). This main dish had it all right; the lamb was crispy and pitch perfect, the spaghetti well made and the makhani bit of the hybridisation added to the deliciousness just as desired.

While Reunion might be a cool place to chill over a lazy dinner or drink, it lacks the wow factor in food either food or service to become the place that one keeps going back to.

Reunion Bar and Kitchen didn't know we were there. the guide reviews anonymously and pays for its meals