Critic's Review: Sip On Fancy Cocktails And Eat Delicious Food All Day Long At The Daily

In March 2018, the founders of Mumbai’s popular The Daily Bar & Kitchen launched their second venture The Daily All Day in the heart of Koregaon Park in Pune. Conceptualised by founders Dishant Pritamani, Nicky Ramnani and Manmeet Arora, The Daily comfortably switches from being a café during the day to a restaurant-bar at night.

DECOR

The Daily is spread across 4,000 square feet and is divided into an indoor and an outdoor section. The outdoor section is covered with a white fabric which gives it a marquee tent look and is beautifully decorated with rows of hanging light bulbs. This space is a perfect drinking destination for friends to hang out. The indoor section is more subdued, but classy. The contemporary monochromatic theme catches your eye the moment you step in. This theme is further carried forward with frames that carry news snippets from across the world. These news frames are also incorporated in a unique chandelier through the ceiling. All through the space there are potted plants which are a great contrast to the black and white interiors. 

FOOD

The food menu at The Daily is a creative mix of Asian and Continental along with an innovative cocktails menu. On the suggestion of the server, we ordered for two molecular cocktails, oriental passion and wild card. The wild card cocktail was a heady concoction of whiskey and triple sec along with cranberry infused tea. The drink was smoked using hickory wood which made the drink an absolute winner. In comparison, the oriental passion cocktail, though potent, lacked the flavor of kaffir lime.

We started with the stunning mushroom and leek puff pastry shells. A mushroom, leek and parmesan cheese mixture delicately filled inside thin puff pastry and shaped beautifully as shells and served with mustard sauce. The chef highly recommended the spicy chicken wings and they definitely lived up to their reputation. Crispy chicken wings were tossed in a house sauce which seemed like a perfect mix of the spicy sriracha and sweet barbeque sauces. The appetizer menu is quite elaborate and we definitely wanted to do it justice. Though we ordered the minced tenderloin slider, I was not too sure about the cook on the tenderloin patty as I had requested it to be medium. To my delight the meat well cooked and  was perfectly grilled. The meat patty tasted particularly great with the caramelized onions, cheese and a baked egg. 

There is a lot of great options to choose from in the Mains menu. We started with the crispy potato rosti and mushroom ragout, as accordingly to me, mushrooms and potatoes is a match made in heaven. The mushroom ragout was flavorful and hearty, but the potato rosti lacked the crispiness which is a defining quality of a great rosti. We couldn’t fault the delicious pappardella pasta with lamb ragout. The pasta was cooked just right and the flavours on the slow cooked lamb ragout were phenomenal. This one dish is worth travelling to Koregaon Park for.

We ended our meal on a high note with the orange and pomegranate panna cotta (A perfectly wobbly panna cotta served with orange segments, pomegranate and sabja seeds.)

PLUS AND MINUS

The concept of an all day dining place which can switch between a café and co-working space during the day and a restaurant and bar at night is extremely novel and The Daily manages this task very well. Following the success of their Mumbai establishment, The Daily in Pune, along with great food, music and cocktails, also delivers on the counts of great ambience and hospitality.

Must try dishes: Mushroom Pastry Shells, Minced Tenderloin Slider, Spicy Chicken Wings, Appardella Rasta Lamb Ragout,  Orange & Pomegranate Panna Cotta

Meal for two: Rs 2,000
Address: Lane 7, next to State Bank of India, Koregaon Park, Pune
Contact: 9930795318
Timings: 12.00 pm- 1.00 am