Souq Bistro & Grills, Ahmedabad

Souq Bistro & Grills
BG 10, Ground Floor
Acropolis Mall,

S G Highway,
Thaltej
Ahmedabad
079 6555550


I've been wanting to visit Souq's newest offering - Bistro & Grills, ever since I got invited for their soft launch, but couldn't visit as I was out of town. We do enjoy the food at the Souq at Vijay char rasta, but are not so keen on the food at Alpha One Mall food court.

The call of fusion African, Mediterranean and Arabic food was quite irresistible and the glowing reviews on zomato, only increased my anticipation. Since we finally left home on Saturday at a decent hour to be able to eat lunch at a regular restaurant (only coffee shops are open after 3pm), there was absolutely no hesitation in heading straight here.

The minute we walked in, we fell in love with the place. The overally shades of blue, the mason jars filled with pickled vegetables and spices along one wall of the restaurant, the lentils/dhals filled glass compartments were all so beautiful, as were the lovely patterned tables, that you can see in my pictures.

For starters, we ordered the mezze platter (390/-), which had a selection of pita stuffed with falafel, brown bread, lavash, veggie crudites, garlic mayo, green pea hummus and babaghannoush. The falafel was much better than that served at the Vijay charrasta outlet and the green pea hummus was an interesting twist, the babghannoush though is better at the original location.

 The fried calamari rings (395/-) were average and not something we would order again (not enough added flavour and served with a very simple mayonnaise).

The honey mustard chicken bratwurst (295/-) was interesting, but the roast garlic mashed potatoes they were served with, was divine.

For main course, I had the hammerred bistecca (buffalo not beef - 440/-). the meat was soft, but it still needed a sharp knife to be cut and surprisingly they said that they did not have any steak knives in the restaurant. If you are serving steak, then you need to supply customers with steak knives, otherwise the meat gets really messy, a regular knife just can't cut into steak.

The prawn custard with Indian salmon (550/-) was something different and had an unusual presentation and my sister and husband quite enjoyed it (I'm allergic to prawn veins and don't have prawns outside the house). My husband loved his peri peri chicken (410/-) It was not as spicy as the original recipe calls for, but I guess it has been toned down for the Ahmedabadi palate. Next time, I will request them to make it extra spicy for us.

For desserts we had the chocolate molten cake (210/-) which was decadently gooey, but slightly salty, I suspect they used salted butter instead of white butter in the recipe.

 The creme brulee (210/-) was tasty, but the crust on top didn't have enough sugar and wasn't freshly torched, so it didn't crackle the way a good creme brulee does. Also the sutard was slightly more scrambled than it should have been. (which happens when you use too much heat when cooking the eggs in a custard)

The vanilla panacotta (220/-) was served surrounded with a citrus reduction. A very mild dessert, low in sugar, so great for people who are watching their weight or their sugar.

The desserts were quite good and a departure from the Upper Crust desserts served at the Vijay Crossroads outlet.

The food is expensive (around 3000/- for 3 people), but its worth it to be able to sit down and enjoy a great tasting meal in this lovely restaurant.

Rating : 4.5 / 5


Edited on 26 Jan 2014 to add:
We visited them on Sunday for their heavily touted brunch. The brunch was partly served at the table and partly as a buffet with one or 2 live counters. The best part of the brunch was the live music.

The worst part was that they only served brunch and nothing a la carte, so if you are going in a group and one person isn't hungry enough for a full meal, that person has no option but to choose from the brunch and pay full price. (649/- for veg and 749/- for non-veg)

There were 4 hot veg and 4 hot non veg starters served on the table including prawns. But service was horridly, horribly slow, the veg items would appear rather quickly but the chicken legs and prawns took almost 20-30 minutes between servings.

The brunch included 6 salads and 6 dips of various origins with a variety of breads. There were also some mini burgers and mini sandwiches at the buffet table with some grilled vegetables as sides.

There were 4 veg and 4 non-veg main courses including lamb, chicken, fish and a seafood paella. Eggs and pasta were being freshly prepared at a live counter.

The menu listed 6 desserts, but most of them were over by the time we were done with our meal. The chocolate brownie was the only one worth eating. The chocolate fondue and Mehlabeyya custard were over by the time we got to dessert.

Its a large spread, but it makes sense to go early and go hungry, if you really want to appreciate the whole brunch.