An Art and Alcohol Fueled Weekend

Last weekend was one hectic, action-packed one. I was booked in for a blog event; Snubnose was committed to taking part in a mural painting event from dawn to dusk on both days of the event. Well, just kidding on the dawn to dusk part, but you get the idea: she was going to be occupied outdoors on two blisteringly hot days. I would need to be on hand to ensure she’s properly fed and hydrated and bring her back home if she gets too tired and hot (she’s prone to migraines in the heat).

Rather serendipitously, the blog event at Big Pitcher was a stone’s throw away from the park where she was painting. So, we all agreed that on Saturday, we could drop her off at the park, hang around with her until lunchtime, and then K, Piglet, and I would spend a couple of hours at Big Pitcher and then join Snubnose at the park.

And so that’s what we did. We spent the morning admiring the hard work all the big and little artists put into creating the mural. The theme was horses, and M.F. Hussain’s famous horse paintings inspired it.

Promptly at noon, we left Snubnose with a picnic lunch and went to Big Pitcher to try out their blogger menu.

Big Pitcher, located at Airport Road, right next to Leela Palace, has a microbrewery, and we were quite eager to sample their wide variety of brews. I’d been to the place a couple of times before for their weekday working buffet lunches, and so I thought I knew what to expect – decent enough food, but nothing whatsoever to write home about (which is why I haven’t talked about Big Pitcher earlier on the blog).

But the a-la-carte menu is a completely different beast, and I was wowed by the quality of the food and drinks.

First, the beer is really good, and they have a variety of stuff. So, if you want something dark and malty or something lighter, there is a beer to suit you. And if you need an ID, you can get it here.

I went for the Sarava beer, which is a light one, and it was predictably good. However, I was surprised by the Kingslayer beer, which is very dark. I expected something bitter, but I liked it too (I am probably biased by the GOT reference, though 😉 ). Still, even if I wouldn’t glug down an entire mug of the stuff, it was a beer I could enjoy sharing with someone.

So, yes, the beers were good. But the cocktails that came around for the tasting were the real stars. The staff were extremely generous with their cocktails, inviting us to taste and sip from many varieties.

The drinks we tried:

• High Seas Adventure – Vodka, vanilla, and coconut milk. A must-try if you are a fan of coconut in your drinks.
• Kiss on the Lips – Baileys, Kahlua, and vodka. This was one of my favorites, and I highly recommend giving it a shot if you are a chocolate hazelnut lover.
• Another favorite was the Morning Caress – a mix of whisky, fruits, and cucumber. Mmmm, this was too delicious.
• There was also an unnamed beer and wine mixed drink. This was the ultimate, and I settled down with it, basking in the afternoon sunshine. You can just make out from my smile in the photo below that the drinks in this place were A++.

The restaurant was empty when we walked in, and Piglet had the run of the place, walking around everywhere like he owned the joint. This particular floor we were on (the second floor) had a Western theme, and Piglet was pretty enchanted with the dark wood, the unusually shaped tables, and the wall of guns, hats, and cowboy boots.

Plenty of joints that focus on the drinks skimp on the quality of the food. I am happy that this wasn’t the case with Big Pitcher. The food served was uniformly good.

I can highly recommend all the starters we had—the fries, the vegetable drumstick (an amazing manchurian on a stick), the dum dum mushrooms, and the golden-fried baby corn.

In the mains, I highly recommend the Zafrani Tarkari Biryani. It was so good that even the non-vegetarians at the table helped themselves to multiple helpings of this dish.

The desserts looked very attractive and tasted good, too. However, I was too stuffed to do any justice to them.

In any case, I think I would recommend filling yourself up with delicious starters rather than focusing on the desserts. Here’s an overhead shot of all the starters served on the table. Now you can understand why I didn’t feel up to the desserts 😉 .

What of the lovely art I started this post with?

Well, that continued beautifully for the entire weekend. Once we finished lunch, we returned to the park to watch Snubnose and her friends in action. The team worked intensely for four days to complete the mural, and I am so happy that Snubnose stuck through it until the end, especially as some of the sections were very difficult for her. Here are a couple of sections I loved (and before you ask, neither of them was by Snubnose).

Snubnose had missed a lot of art classes recently because of school sports activities, and she hadn’t mastered some of the concepts taught in class yet. The poor thing struggled a lot with getting the shadows right, and in the end, the teacher had to step in and help out.

She did complete her work on canvas, though, and I love it for the amount of work she put into it—clumsy shadowing or not.

And even though her work on the wall art disappointed her, I hope she will continue to stay inspired and focused on her art.

She will take a break from art classes this summer and hopefully return refreshed and rejuvenated in June.

This mural is in Children’s Park in the Indra Nagar/Defense Colony area. If you are in the area, do stop for a moment to take a look at their work.

Details about Big Pitcher:
Location: Airport Road, next to Leela Palace Hotel
Cost for two: Approx Rs. 2000/-
Ambience: Casual bar with live sports screening
Call for reservations: 080 49653523