Barcelos, a South Africa based restaurant was launched in
February this year to tickle the Indian
palate with its brand of world-class peri-peri flavored, flame grilled
delicacies. After successful debut in Oman, Barcelos made its India entry with
its first outlet in the bustling capital of the country, Delhi known for its
colorful foodie culture. The restaurant has come up in the heart of the city in
the upscale and well-visited posh area of Khan Market.
Barcelos
is named after a quaint Portuguese town that is famous for an ancient legend of
the Barcelos rooster.
According to the 17th
century legend, a pilgrim seeking food and water in Barcelos, was accused of
stealing from a landowner. The pilgrim was sentenced to hang despite his
protests of innocence. In a last minute appeal to the judge, who was enjoying a
roasted rooster for dinner at the time, the pilgrim boldly stated, “If I am
innocent, then that rooster will get up and crow!” Suddenly, a gorgeous
scarlet-plumed cockerel rose from the plate, crowing loudly.
The man was acquitted of course !
Barcelos, which started off in 1993 in Pretoria, has presence
in 17 countries with 120 outlets.
"The eatery marked the 17th country opening
for Barcelos. The company sees India as one of the biggest opportunities to
establish and expand its brand. Barcelos plans to have its presence in 10 metro
cities of the country with more than 20 outlets in the next five years.
The casual dining specialists have introduced a menu
concentrating on authentic Portuguese flavours, catering to a predominantly
vegetarian segment, which would cover about 40 percent of the incoming
footfalls.
The Indian palate has traditionally moved towards more chilly
and spicy flavors and the Barcelos flame-grilled, peri-peri offering brings out
the 'best-in-class' spicy fare that would naturally tickle the Indian taste
buds.
"We are very confident that with a combination of
superior service from South Africa with the blend of peri-peri flavors, we will
bring to the Indian customer, a world-class casual dining experience. With a
growing awareness towards tasteful yet healthy dining, we at Barcelos, aim to
focus on the health and nutritional aspects of food, apart from the tastes and
flavors." Rohit Malhotra, GM
Operations, Barcelos, said.
India is a growing market where consumer preference keeps
changing. People of India are now more educated about hygiene and healthy
foods. The consumer is more aware about the nutritional value of a product,
before purchasing it. In today’s day and age, the gen-next is much more aware
of brands than before and is more focussed on the health and fitness aspects.
This is where Barcelos, as a casual-dining healthy eatery presents a great
option for the health conscious Indian youth, to look at healthy and nutritious
food avoiding saturated fats like oils and butter, with virtually no adverse
affect on taste.
Vegetarian dishes on the menu include Peri-Peri Paneer, salads
like avocado-pesto, and Portuguese specialities such as cataplana, trinchado and picantte besides
other signature dishes. Chicken and fish loyalists are not forgotten in the
menu which is vast but neatly divided between Appetisers, Dips and Salads,
Shareables, Portuguese Perfections, World's Healthiest Burgers and so on.
If you happen to be in Khan Market, hop over to Barcelos and try
some Peri-Peri Chicken with a choice of tangy lemon, mild peri, veri peri and
supa peri sauce. Spicy and succulent, it's as good a Peri-Peri Chicken as can
be. The vegetarian Espetada or skewers of mushrooms stuffed with feta and
cottage cheese are also worth a try.
Done in tones of green and brown with wooden flooring on two
levels, Barcelos portrays a chic yet warm and casual feel. Furnished with
plants and bright paintings from African Artists, it is ideal for youngsters as
well as family groups.The world maps on the walls imparts an old world charm to the whole place.
We, TWCI-The Writers Collective of India was invited to the outlet today for the launch of the most
innovative Black Burger. Barcelos, used a variety of food colors made with organic natural
ingredients like spinach etc. ( trade secret) in sizeable proportions to bring
out its unique variant . "Somebody had to introduce it here and we did
it," said Rohit Malhotra, the GM , Barcelos India. "It is very
beautiful to look at and during our introductory tasting session, people loved
it. And yes it’s really, a very good Burger.
As per my foodie analysis, this innovation has more
to do with the cosmetics of the product. This is a good change by breaking the
monotony from the regular brown burger. The Black Bun with white sesame seeds
is awesome, soft melt in the mouth with nice and earthy flavor, the marinated chicken
breast inside is succulent with grilled aubergine (eggplant) slices to make it
creamier. I loved it thoroughly…… The vegetarian counterpart is also available.
We also tried the himalayan trout, a cold water wish which they specially source fresh every couple of days. It was grilled to perfection with nice flavors of peri peri sauce as per our requirement. though you can add ass much chilly as you want on the table. The chicken platter which has wings, drumsticks etc. and a garlic bun with chicken livers in their different sauces was also good but a little too sour to my pallete.
I recommend Barcelos though, since the rooster crows in your city and its the only restaurant which serves authentic Portuguese flavors and yes African too.... If out of Delhi, keep an eye out for it - Barcelos has plans to expand into
other cities over the next couple of years.
Barcelos
57, Khan Market
Timings :11 am-11 pm
Phone : 011 4350 5270
Cost of a meal for two: Rs 1,200 - Rs 1,500.
Written and Compiled by : Vickrham Vicky
Pics By : Vickrham Vicky