I was quite the Party Animal in my day and I have always loved to dance. One of my fondest memories is my father coming home from office in the evenings and putting on one of his enviable collection of LP Records and the sound of Paul Anka, Engelbert Humperdinck, Elvis, and The Beatles would flood the house. Sooner rather than later my father who was quite the Party Animal of his days would sweep my mother into his arms and twirl her around the room. This was the cue of tiny yours truly to get into the act by hanging on to each of my parents legs and dancing with them. As I grew older you could not keep me off the dance floor and Cloud 9 and later Plush at the Astor were places where you would find me shaking a leg every week. What always stood out was along with the great music and ambience was the food which was always very good and you all know that is my weakness.

Fast forward to last week and I was invited to visit Phoenix, The Lounge that has opened up after Plush closed down and has reinvented itself into the swankiest nightspot in the City. Sophisticated and elegant interiors given a cutting edge with some fantastic Madrix LED Lighting that can configure up to 50,000 effects in sync with the music for the first time in the city. Phoenix is designed on Brick and Wood with Globe Pendant lights and tungsten filament LED look lamps and a 32 foot antique iron grill bar with industrial look ceilings. The high quality JBL sound output is world class and it’s quite obvious that the owner Vikram Puri has left no stone unturned to make this one of the very finest party destinations on offer in the City of Joy.

The drinks are great and though I rarely drink I did have a sip of the Lavender Margarita that Suneha ordered and it was lovely and delicate and is going to be quite popular with the ladies. The Absolut Grapetini, Elderflower Mojito are also on offer and I intend to try them as soon as I visit next. The Shots and Bucket Menu is also going to be a great favorite with the guests.

The food was what I was looking forward to (as usual!) because The Astor has always served up excellent fare and we were not disappointed. The Tawa Mutton Bhuna was outstanding, juicy and succulent boneless mutton cubes tossed with onion and bell pepper served up with a Paratha was one of those dishes I know I am going to end up ordering on every visit. Next up was the Chicken Reshmi Kebab which is my all-time favorite at The Astor and it was polished off in record time by us. The KungPao Prawn with Fried Rice ticked all the boxes for me and a dish that is great to sort you out for a night out on town. There was also a Greek Sampler Platter that I was too full to do more than peck at but the food really was excellent.  Looking forward to trying out some of their other specials like the Butter Chicken Cannelloni,  Crumbed Fried Parmesan Chicken with house mayo, Pesto Grilled Kolkata Bekti with yin and yang of mashy green peas and garlic mashed potatoes which all sound quite mouthwatering.

They have special nights Wednesday through Sunday so just put on your dancing shoes and let the party begin with  – Wednesday Challenge, Thursday Jazz Encounter , Friday Synergy, Saturday Showdown, Sunday Smasher which are on offer currently.

Fantastic Vibe, Fabulous Music, Stunning Interiors and Delicious Food….  Congratulations to Vikram and the Team and all good wishes for Phoenix to rise and take the City of Joy by Storm!

DISCLAIMER: I was invited to Phoenix as a guest of The Management but the views expressed are entirely my own.

PICTURE CREDITS: Suneha Saha

 

Phoenix is accessible for those with impaired mobility but there are a couple of steps one may have to navigate inside.