Junglee Billee: Restaurant Review

Junglee Billee is a Retail  café, restaurant, bar and a boutique in Greater Kailash 1, M block market in Delhi. Junglee Bille and my blog are so similar. Both are varied and under the umbrella of lifestyle, cover fashion, food and so much more. It certainly is not a not regular restaurant but a bit different one. It is unlike "running behind alcohol based restaurants" that we normally see in Delhi. The restaurant is only 7 month old. There is nothing loud in it, yet everything is quirky and out of the box.

Here everything is stylised- starting from décor and food. There seems to be a story behind everything-even food and beverage. The menu is enticing with pictures on notepad. It has been painstakingly designed, thought and presented. It is a fun menu that is very easy to navigate.

The place sells wallpapers, Swarovski, crockery, onyx mosaic and cutlery. It is listed as part of the menu. It is a stylised, fashionable retail eatery.

Its concept is around 70’s- Bombay Velvet- when ladies were coming out, Parsi women were outgoing and enterprising. That is the theme of the restaurant.

The restaurant proves that Mumbai food is not just vada pao. They serve Maharashtrian food, konakani, bori mohalla (muslim cuisine), Parsi, Khau Gully, Colaba café (modern, European). Sion koliwada (oldest fishermen food), Mumbai dabbawala, Patel bhais farsan korner. (Gujrati ).

They also have a Special Sunday brunch menu. Within few months of the launch of this restaurant, they have had a great response and lots of expansion plans pan Indian and Internationally. There is a certain Wow! factor here.

What I  loved about the place is that 75% of its menu is vegetarian but the choices for non vegetarians are amazing too.

Nida Mahmood has done its interiors. I could not help but wonder that to get quirky look, Manish Arora would have been a better choice. All 3 floors have a different feel. That is certainly commendable.

Apt to its name, Junglee Billee, which means wild cat, the restaurant is very women oriented. It is like going back to lanes of 70’s and bringing antiques. Food too is women friendly- healthy and refreshing.

We started with drinks

Bloody mary

Cinderella
Both were amazing. 

Starters:

Khandvi chaat- It had Sevpuri, peanuts, pomegranate. It was not spicy but very light and refreshing. I polished off the whole thing.

Mohammad ali boti chicken-Special cut of chicken that was juicy and tender but not dry. There were great chillis and flavours.

Charmunda prawns from Colaba- olive oil and good amount of garlic. It was out of this world.

Garlic button mushroom. Creamy, juicy and delicious.

Keema pao- It was like best hamburger in India.

Mains:

Grilled cottage cheese with cous cous. Succulent pieces of cheese on a bed of delicious cous cous. 

 Chermoula custard red snapper- crust made of chopped garlic, basil etc.

Desserts:

Mumbai Mawa cheese cake- eggless

Caramel custard.

The whole experience of eating here was awesome. I fell in love with the place. I can imagine going there again and again with girls, alone, for events, parties etc. It is a perfect place for women gossip of powder room kind. I am highly recommending this place. It is MUST VISIT.

There is a very interesting terrace that has live dj at night and water body. It is very popular for events and amongst people who want to be in open. There is a beautiful green wall on the terrace.

Once again all the dishes we had:

1. Mh Ali chicken boti kebab :- Succulent and perfectly cooked chicken chunks inspired from famous Mh. Ali road of Mumbai.

2. Khandvi chaat:- Regional Gujrati dish accompanied by delicious chaat.

3. Vitamin kurmure bhel:- chowpatty style bhel accompanied by imported apple(granny smith) and pomegranate which makes it a healthy version of chowpatty bhel.

4. Prawn aglio olio:- colaba cafe inspired european style prawn flavoured with roasted garlic and cooked in olive oil

5. Keema pav:- Bohri style mutton keema served with inhouse made fresh pavs

6. Limone mushroom:- fresh button mushrooms tossed in garlic butter and topped with aioil.

7. Grilled cottage cheese steak :-  thyme and garlic marinated cottage cheese steaks cooked to the perfection and served with steamed cous cous and fresh basil tomato sauce.

8. Chermoula crusted red snapper:- fresh fillet of red snapper crusted with chermoula and served with garlic potato mash and sauteed vegetables.

9. Mava cheese cake:- perfect creamy textured cake made with the help of mava and cream cheese with butter frosting and maraschino cherry and to cut down the sweetness it is served with the berry compote.

10. Caramel custard:- Perfect layer of soft caramel on top and balanced sweetness makes this dish star of the entire meal.

Chef Pawan started cooking at the young age of 14, as he used to stay away from home and he enjoyed cooking for himself and his friends since then.  Later he realised that he wants to make his passion into his profession .

Chef Pawan joined IHM Mumbai straight out of school, and trained in Kitchen Operations for three years. Chef Pawan has already garnered an experience of seven years in the industry at this young age.

Post this he was selected Olive Bar and kitchens prestigious Chef Training programme in New Delhi , where he gained further experience at Olive at the Qutab  and Olive Beach. He was also part of the team of three chefs, representing India at the Hans Bueschkens world junior chef challenge, Hong Kong, 2011.
  Post the programme, Pawan was the officiating head Chef at Olive Beach where he also showcased his talent and skill at the different festivals held at Olive - French festival, Greek festival, Swedish festival, the season of Spain and the Middle eastern season. He also travelled to Singapore for Food and Hotels Asia in April 2012 as a part of the Indian delegation of Chefs.

Known for his skills and professionalism ,Chef  Pawan is a popular name in the industry now.

Chef Pawan’s mantra, however is, that cooking is an emotional process and if you do not cook each dish with your heart, it’s an effort gone waste.