Outside, the weather’s balmy, with the promise of rain that remains elusive. Inside, it’s bright, buzzing with the sound of good humour. Monkey Bar on a Sunday night, or any night actually, is the kind of place that can cheer you up, and their ongoing festival, titled Mocktoberfest, is yet another initiative to ensure that diners leave with happy stomachs.
Entering Monkey Bar, accompanied by a friend and the hopes of sampling some delicious food, I immediately understand that this festival comes at the perfect time. The Wimbledon 2014 final is playing out on a giant screen above the bar. Several pairs of eyes are glued to the screen, and several hands are nursing their beers, plates of bite sized snacks laid out in front of them.
The usual Monkey Bar menu that arrives on our table is accompanied by the Mocktoberfest menu, listing out an exhaustive selection of beers and beer cocktails, as well as a respectable number of small plates and mains options — an attractive menu, really, and in true Monkey Bar style, full of wordplay and catchy names. It’s a tough call, and after some deliberation, we pick a couple of cocktails and starters to kick off the evening. The service is impressively quick, and in no time, two large cocktails and generous servings of Calamari Jones and Monkey Fried Chicken arrive. While my Toddy Beer, a cocktail of beer with spice infused brandy, is wonderfully light, spicy and interesting, Subhashree’s Angel’s Share is much more potent, but equally delicious. A cocktail of watermelon, Tabasco, vodka and beer, it doesn’t go easy on the alcohol, but maintains a balance of flavours even so, blending the sweetness of the watermelon with the strong taste of Tabasco.
It’s the plate of beer-battered calamari with lime aioli that really impresses, with the perfectly light and crispy batter around juicy, fresh rings of calamari. The beer and buttermilk fried chicken has a great batter, but the chicken is a tad dry, and doesn’t quite live up to expectations. The portions, though, are more than generous, delivering value for money and filling us up fast. When the next round of beers arrives, it is accompanied by plates of cajun chicken taco pizza and Finding Nemo, a slightly disturbing name for a plate of beer battered betki. This time, I have opted for a fruity, sweet beer, a Fruli from Belgium, while Subhashree tries a Schenider Weisse, an ale from Germany. I’ll confess that while delicious, my beer is a tad too sweet to come immediately after a sweet cocktail, but Subhashree’s ale is perfectly timed, washing down the taco pizza and the fish and chips. It is disappointing though, to find that the fish batter is a tad limp, not like the calamari’s crispy goodness. The taco pizza is an interesting concept, and the toppings are both generous and delicious. It is a little dry, though, and perhaps could do with something to tie the dish together, keeping it from being slightly underwhelming.
Still nursing our beers, we decide to sample a last main, and I opt for a small helping of St Patrick’s Spaghetti, which is a stout and beef stew with buttered spaghetti. This is, I must admit, delicious — perhaps a little overindulgent with the salt, but not overwhelmingly so. The flavours are clear and the spaghetti and beef cooked to perfection.
Almost completely out of space, we still want to indulge that sweet tooth, and the desserts sound too good to resist. The chocolate and stout pudding comes in a jar, and is just right, heavy handed with neither the chocolate nor the stout. The spiced honey and ale cake is exactly opposite, a strong preparation that packs a punch. It’s dense, but delicious, delivering on both counts — the honey, as well as the ale. The Mocktoberfest menu is a treat for anyone who likes their beer and generous helpings of some delicious fried goodness.
(The festival is on from Sunday to Thursdays, till July 17, 2014)
