A Saturday summer- evening at PROJECT, Hauz Khas Village

The Project at PARK BALLUCHI,  Hauz Khaz Village

In Hauz Khas Village, this is being talked as the ‘New Girl in the Town’. Not just it, the foodies in Delhi are also raving about its sprawling space and ample food choices. It has already garnered lot of attention, love and admiration. Of course, it isn’t surprising because when it comes to food, drinks, and merry-making ‘Delhiites’ are most welcoming to unique, delicious, interesting, funky, romantic, hot or cool eating concepts.  

I had a reservation for 8 p.m. at The Project

Located inside the deer park and owned by Park Balluchi, ‘The Project’ in HKV deserves a visit to get charmed with its colorful ambiance, pretty location and world food combinations. I am glad I had an invitation to this place for a food review and I chose Saturday evening for the indulgence and the go-around.  Hubby is a vegetarian and I am a non-vegetarian, thus we make a great company to go for the food tastings to dig in different items. Interestingly, he has a sweet tooth too so we always return with our unique experiences.

First let me take you around the restaurant.  With an area of 20,000 sq.ft. to itself,  it has lot of space in the otherwise cramped and creative Hauz Khaz village.  In Delhi summers, who would think of dining in the open, but here you will definitely enjoy the night under the twinkling sky.  With lots of people around, you wouldn’t feel a part of the crowd as each table is comfortably space out. There are different sections- To start with is the seating arrangement that is closest to the Wood Fire Pizza Kitchen in the open, then there is an elevated arena which has a few tables, next a glass walled house kinda closed space that houses the bar, next you step out to find an seating arrangement with the Deers running around on the other side of the fence and last you complete a full circle and are back to more tables till you reach the Pizza Kitchen again.

I am sure the slideshow above has convinced you that its got an interesting theme, its open and beautifully laced out, its got tables that overlook the grazing deers in the adjacent park premises,  it promises to make a great place for romantic date,  family dining,  corporate parties and without doubt its quite spacious.  Location is the USP of this place but now lets move on to the food, aroma, looks, taste and flavors.

We met the manager and he was happy to make some quick suggestions. I always love to go for the recommended treats along with my own choices. Before Hubby and I proceeded with our orders, we were soon joined by another blogger Sahitya Ramana and we loved her company for the next two hours and more. Of course, we ordered more, tasted more and talked more.  All this is exciting to me because I have told you I am a big time foodie.

We sat at the elevated arena and see how colorful the whole ambiance looks Yes, its THE PROJECT The candle at the table kept burning for long and was promptly lighted again

Raising a Toast…. Cheers!!!

Co-incidentally all three of us on the table were teetotalers and thus we only kept to Mock tails.  My drink Orange and Basil Cooler was better than Hubby’s Cucumber and Coriander Cooler. Later he went for Peach Ice tea  which I did not taste and found it a little high on the sweeter side.  Maybe we will have to visit again to sample some more drinks to find the best pick in this section.

Where is the FOOD?

Here we go…

Let the food and its taste travel through the eyes and I promise I will elaborate more below.

Mezze Platter with Interesting Dips   (Vegetarian)

Mozarella Bombs– Not cheesy at all           ( Vegetarian) Jumbo Sized Chicken wings with some fries and Coleslaw

Pizza on my plate Freshly made wood fired pizza with Artichokes and Olives Spanish Rice with Cottage Cheeze Chipotle Pasta (Spicy Linguine)

The Project has lots of options therefore its tough to rate its taste quotient on the very first visit but let me talk about my expectations and how it was met in some and not in some. The Mezze platter looked nice with four dips, (hummus my favorite) but the veg kebabs were way too bland. The salad was crunchy but overall the platter needs to be reworked to look more and taste more enticing.

The Mozarella Bombs were interesting but yes you must not expect them to be cheesy as the name suggests. They have a risotto filling which gives it a good bind. Vegetarians can go for it.

The Jumbo chicken wings were good. But since they were big  I had to eat them with my hand without the fork and knife. Cutting through them was a little difficult. I would recommend it for sure.

The Wood Fired Pizzas with Baby Mozzarella, Spinach, Olives and Artichokes was very good. We loved our slices. Along with the size, the toppings were rightly placed. The crust was very well baked. I loved it.

For me along with chicken wings, Pasta (Spicy Linguine) is another thing that I prefer to order because I like Italian flavors in the spaghetti. This was good again since it was spicy just to suit my taste.

The best dish as per hubby was the Spanish Rice with Cheese with salads from the Main Menu. It was our great find. For the Paneer eaters, the large chunks of Cheese are satiating any day. I tasted a small bite and loved it too.

 

 

Hope the pictures tickled the taste buds tastefully?

 

Coconut Panna Cotta with Almond crust tuile and Mango chutney

 

All of us had a liking for coconut thus we settled for the above dessert. The taste was good, the mango chutney was nice but the whole dessert could have been a little more frozen. Since its summers, I would suggest it should be served a little more on the cold side, rest it was nice.

 

Before we called it a day at 11, I took this last shot from a distance. It shone brightly in different colors.

 

All pictures have been taken from Asus Zenphone 6.

Thank you PR team of ‘The Project’ for calling me for the review.