Pamper Yourself with Salads and Cocktails at The Wall

The afternoon sky overcast with grey clouds...the sporadic downpour or the incessant drizzle...the rain-soaked trees and buildings — inconvenient as much as it was — provided the perfect backdrop for some refreshing cocktails and light and flavourful salads inspired by the Orient. The venue was The Wall and the event The Rainy Tales: a celebration of salads and cocktails that pampers the myriad moods of gastronomic connoisseurs to indulgent tipplers.

Brainchild of Chef Sushanta Sengupta, who recently made a trip to China, this festival includes salads that are light, easy on the stomach, devoid of fatty dressings and yet bursting with flavours. "Oriental salads are the healthiest of them all, because unlike mayo and cheese we use vinegar and soy sauce extensively," said Chef. I couldn't help but agree. After all, who wouldn't want to go for salads that keep your fresh and rejuvenated instead of leaving a greasy aftertaste in your mouth, that too after you have wolved down hundreds of calories?!

Giving the salads company was an array of cocktails, resplendent in a plethora of bright colours and exquisite decoration that made a rather pretty picture. My pick from the cocktail section was the Monsoon Magic (a vodka-based drink with cranberry and orange juice, shaken with strawberries). The Nimbus 2000 (a sleek and cool litchi and vodka drink, muddled with lemongrass and mint) was soothing and refreshing. The Jolly Brolly (a watermelon mojito served on the stick) however failed to strike a chord with me, despite the watermelon fanatic that I am, or may be because of that! The other options on this special menu are Cloudburst (roasted mango sorbet spiked with vodka), Thunderstorm (an orange flavoured gin and Cointreau based cocktail for that booming effect) and the extremely eye-appealing Rain Dance (coconut water, tequila, lime juice mixed in a coconut shell). 

The salad menu comprises of Organic Seasonal Salad, Rice Wrapper Roll with sesame sauce, Seaweed and Lotus Root Salad with Grilled Tofu, Nasu Yaki Salad (braised aubergine in sweet miso dressing), Curry-flavoured Grilled Chicken Salad, Bang Bang Chicken Salad and Crispy Bhetki and Lemongrass-infused Mango Salsa Salad. The curried chicken salad that I tasted was a winner through and through!

The cocktails are priced at 250 INR onwards (+ taxes) and the salads at 175 INR onwards (+ taxes). The festival is on from July 11 to 19 at The Wall, 31 Dr Sarat Banerjee Road, from noon to 3.30 pm and 7.30 to 10.30 pm. If salads and cocktails are your things, you might as well pay a visit!

PS: This was an invited review where I represented Kolkata Food Bloggers. The post is completely a personal account based on my experience.