The Bar Stock Exchange finally opened its doors for the public yesterday in Bandra West. Replacing the popular lounge The Big Bang Bar & Café, it is located on the popular Linking Road. To catch the opening night, we headed to bar in search of some wonderful food and the cocktails of course. The first thing you notice about the place is its grunge vibe. Think wall murals with quirky messages, rustic metal chairs and tables, and the stock exchange screens by the bar. The ambience is a winner and one thing that sets this branch apart from the others is the spaciousness. There is plenty of place to move around and you can shake your booty as well, after one too many drinks.
Going to The Bar Stock Exchange and not drinking is like blasphemy, so we started our order with some cocktails. We ordered a Gimlet, which became one of our repeat orders because of how great it tasted. The next was a Tom Collins and the third, a Caprioska, which was just the right amount of sour. We were clearly impressed with the drink assortment on our table. We later opted for a Margarita and a Mojito, both of which didn’t fail to impress. At the risk of sounding like alcoholics, we also ordered Jagerbombs, which were the icing on the cake, because after that we were officially members of happy high town.
For the starters, we ordered Mustard Fish, which was too salty for our liking, but the Chili Calamari was absolutely amazing and left behind a burst of flavour in our mouths with every bite. The Tender Lamb in Hot Garlic tasted okay, but the meat was overly chewy. But the Stuffed Tandoori Chicken, which was the chef’s specialty was juicy and cooked to perfection. We highly recommend this dish with your beers.
Moving from the starters, we ordered a string of main course dishes. We ordered Tangy Fish in Lemon Sauce and Chicken Sausage Risotto. While the fish had a wonderful tanginess and wasn’t overly doused with sauce, the Risotto was half cooked and we just couldn’t go beyond the first bite.
The last but not the least was the The Bar Stock Exchange Special Pizza, which had a naan bread base and was topped with butter paneer. The fusion of Italian and Indian was absolutely wonderful and even though we were too stuffed to eat, we did manage to finish it all.
While the drinks are great, the food definitely needs work and so does the place. From a leaky air conditioner to a cockroach running across our table, The Bar Stock Exchange has some serious teething trouble to deal with, so you might want to wait a while for these issues to be straightened out before you head over.
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