Tucked in a corner of the city, Toss Sports Lounge stands tall in the same premises as the Passport Office. Just next to the famed Independence Brewery, this place is hard to miss because of the tastefully done up interiors, the cool ambience, the choice of music and ofcourse the delectable dishes on the menu. It also finds a mention because it belongs to Zaheer Khan, the famed Indian Cricketer who runs another chain of restaurants ZKs.
It was a Mini Foodie meetup that was orgainised by Carpe Diem Pune at Toss Lounge on a lovely Wednesday evening.
As we enter, we are welcomed by the staff who show us a huge table for 8-10 people. Its hard to miss the keenly decorated interiors with frames of sportmen adorning the walls , the fussball table and the flip cups and the low hanging lamps illuminating each table.
The menu is keenly crafted by the chef Mukesh Sharma who takes great pride in dishing out the best for his customers. He explains us about each dish and ensures that not only does it taste fantastic but is well presented too.
The menu is a great mix of Mediterrean, Italian and American.
We started with the Warm crusty ciabatta topped with American corn, Cottage cheese amd Cherry bruschettas. The non-vegeterian bruschettas were topped with chicken and rounded off with Italiano sauce that made every bite more flavourful.
From the Mediterranean Mezze platter, we had the flavourfully fantastic dips like Hummus, baba ghanoish, tabbouleh and tzatziki. The flavours of the bruschettas and the soup sticks were elevated to a different level when had with the dips. We were also shown a platter of delicately indulgent dips like chipotle , parmesan, Honey mustard and a few others. Mustard turned out to be our firm favourite.
Next came the beautiful cigar rolls that were splattered with a potent dressing of sour cream and mayonnaise. This was a high voltage pairing as the flavours ran riot in our mouth. Though a little oily, we still enjoyed the cottage cheese stuffed cigars whose flavours were wonderfully combined to hit every taste note of ours.
To wash off all the oil we had had, we dug into the Caesar salad that was a confection of lettuce, croutons, grana padanao cheese , Caesar dressing and chicken. There were both veg and non-veg varieties. We dug in with gusto and almost lapped it between us in no time. The salad also made up for a great palate cleanser.
From the American menu , we were presented with the Chicken BBQ sandwiches which tickled our taste buds with the tangy flavours of the BBQ. Chicken paired with julienned veggies and served with coleslaw was a delicious start to our mains.
To take this journey to the next level, we were served the flavoursome risotto rice with mushrooms, sphagetti with minced lamb and red wine sauce and penne pasta with pesto sauce and parmesan cheese. While the risotto impressed us with its great rich flavours , the spaghetti with minced lamb was a downer. The flavours were all over the place. We did not delve much on this one. Instead we tried the pasta smothered in a rich pesto sauce drizzled with parmesan cheese. The pasta was cooked al dente and tasted exquisite.
By the time we were done with the mains, we were running into a food coma. However, we really couldn’t say no to the delightful creamy tiramisu served in a wine glass. It not only looked great but also screamed ‘delicious’. Sponge cake fingers soaked in Kahlua and layered with Mascarpone were placed on the table to magically wrap up a majestic review. The tiramisu was sinfully delicious. Even though we would have preferred a little more of the cake pieces dipped in kahlua or chocolate, we couldn’t stop ourselves from digging out spoonfuls of the mascarpone dusted with chocolate and coffee.
That ended our Mini Foodie meetup with Carpe diem on a happy satisfied note.
Before we left we were already planning our next trip to this wonderful sports lounge that not only has good food to offer but also a great ambience, good music and various games to keep you entertained throughout the night.
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