This desi speakeasy bar & kithcen in Kolkata has great vibes & delectable menu

Leading her own wedding management company for many years, Swati Agarwalla always had this dream of coming up with a lounge bar that would give out party vibes, no matter at what hour of the day you visit. With that in mind, she had come up with Tall Tales last year and the cosmopolitan place has since been a massive hit among the city’s young and vibrant. Located in the heart of Kolkata at Fort Knox in Camac Street, the desi speakeasy bar & kitchen with a capacity for 200 people, has a fun entrance system -- a red phone booth door with a telephone where you whisper your unique ID to be let in.

Once in, we marvelled over the swish décor in the lines of the European art deco style with blue painted walls and bright accents all around. The high bar stools at round tables and the comfy lounges adjacent to the French glass windows giving out to a lovely skyline, all added to the fun ambience.

As we poured ourselves a little water to cool down, we were amazed by Swati’s meticulous business skills in running the show singlehandedly with so much success. “Being a woman, I always felt that besides great times over good music and drinks, people also want to taste good food. Hence keeping a g reat line-up of lip-smacking dishes was always one of my priorities. This place is as much known for its party and live music scene, as for the delicious fare,” informs Swati and we couldn’t agree more as we dug into the mouth-watering new menu.

Comprising both Indian and global offerings, the modern menu has a mix of tempting dishes that we had a hard time to choose from. With a strong weakness for dim sums, we initiated the affair with Edamame water chestnut cream cheese dimsums. The white soft balls sprinkled with microgreens were loaded with fresh cream cheese. The nutty flavour derived from the edamame went well with the slightly crunchy texture of the water-chestnut and it definitely turned out to be our favourite. The comforting plate was followed by Habibi murgh malai kebab. Though initially we were a bit reluctant to taste the same old bird in the form of kebabs, a slice of it left us impressed by the innovative use of cheese cream and kasuri methi.

For a change of palate, it was a Farm fresh pizza next and the thin slices came adequately topped with fresh veggies and a generous amount of cheese. With Swati telling us about the immense popularity of their sushis, we couldn’t avoid trying them out and chose an assorted platter of Cream cheese asparagus and Wasabi tempura prawn sushis. Both were prepared to perfection and went well with the accompanying sauces. To wash them all down, we had a Blue sparrow with sweet fruity notes and a Pink lady, a strawberry flavoured mocktail with a tinge of litchi and cranberry juice, tapped with soda water.

For those looking for a great place to hang out and relish some delicious munches, the restaurant lived up to our tall expectations.

Meal for two: Rs 2,000 (with alcohol)