The Big Mataka is a new Restobar set up near Kavuri Hills in a vast area with fantastic & spacious indoor & outdoor seating. The indoor ambiance is perfect for party goers to enjoy the loud music, good food and bunch of drinks. I liked the outdoor ambiance as it seemed to be a perfect place for a pleasant evening. This is the first outlet of The Big Mataka opened in Hyderabad after a good run in Bangalore. The Big Mataka collaborates with Absolute Sizzlers to serve the best of the sizzlers along with their cocktails & mocktails.
Being a restobar, there is a wide range of cocktails & mockatails being served. I am surprised to see and of course I liked the concept of serving beer in a mataka! Being part of a group invited for a tasting session, I got to taste several mocktails and I felt the best among them is the barman’s special. After Glow(pineapple juice, orange juice, granadine) and Blue Angel(Fresh lime Juice, blue curraco) are ok, but the sweetness has to be reduced. Evalution -a fusion of Ginger, mint & lime juice, was a perfect drink on a rainy evening.
Talking about the non vegetarian starters, chicken lollypop, fish & chips and chicken majestic were good. Chicken Lollypop had minimal coating of flour and well marinated – the combination of tanginess with spice was awesome; Fish & Chips – boneless fish coated with batter and deep fried, served with mayo mixed with chopped veggies; While the fish was good, the mayo was diluted. It would have been better if the fish was served with tartar sauce. Chicken Majestic had thin chicken strips marinated with curd & spices and then shallow fried. The taste of the chicken was good, but it would have been awesome if the chicken would have been softer.
Among the vegetarian starters, Paneer pataka and Crispy Veg Hunan style are good. Paneer pataka had well marinated paneer cubes grilled to perfection and served with mint sauce. Crispy veg(made in hunan style) had grated carrot & chopped cabbage coated with flour & sauteed along with ginger, garlic & chilli flakes; was an awesome dish. I tasted the crackling spinach for the first time – it had shredded spinach, deep fried till crisp and perked up with roasted sesame seeds and a sprinkling of salt. The spinach was indeed crackling, but I felt it is over fried and the flavor of spinach is lost.
As part of the main course, we started with Penne pasta which had a combination of alfredo & arrabiata sauces. The pasta was well cooked and the flavor of the sauces aptly blended with the spices was awesome. Then comes a new variant of pizza called pizzalapizza – it was overloaded with cheese, spinach & corn, and the base of the bread was soggy; taste wise, it is a must try for cheese lovers.
Then arrives the best sizzlers from their kitchen – Veg Nasi Goreng sizzler, cheese cottage steak sizzler and Mixed meat sizzler. Veg Nasi Goreng was almost like Veg schezuan rice; Cheese cottage steak sizzler was good – Sauteed paneer served along with vegetables & mashed potato was tasty. Mixed meat sizzler had a good quantity of meat that is well cooked and served along with rice and fries. It seems that sizzlers at most of the places are being customized to suit the local palate.
Moving on to the final leg of the evening, we tasted Caramel Custard and Sizzling Brownie. The caramel custard had an overdose of sugar syrup; the sizzling brownie was was awesome – a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped on a sizzling brownie and served with melted chocolate on the ice cream.
Summarizing my experience: Speaking about the ambiance, its an amazing place to unwind thyself. Food & Beverages – being a restobar, the quality of beverages is very important. There is scope for improvement in churning out good mocktails. While the sizzlers are good and vegetarian starters are fine, the non-veg starters need improvement.
Mystical Foodie 