Robert De Niro trains the gun on you; Jim Morison gives cold stares and a cassette player awaits for a cassette to play, but it’s hard to find one. The atmosphere sums up the mood of Matchbox Pub and Grub at Hauz Khas Village, a restobar that borrows heavily on themes and inspiration from the ’80s and ’90s. Posters of gun-toting Hollywood characters, iconic rock and popstars, comic covers of childhood heroes like Tintin, Batman, Chacha Choudary; photographs of the 1983 cricket World Cup victory moments and odd artefacts from the era define its interior.
Pubs start off bragging about their ambience, food, drinks and music, but some tend to neglect one important point—hospitality. With Hauz Khas Village turning into the gastronomy district of Delhi, and the party on the weekends getting bigger, hospitality is often relegated to the margins. This is where Matchbox scores. In a place where opening of new restaurants is a “constant”, hospitality should hold Matchbox in good stead. Leading the show is first time restaurateurs Amit Panda and Mahavir Mohanty. Both go very enthusiastically about their job and are always present on the floor, which adds to the hospitality quotient. They have a third partner Siddharth Suman, who is on and off the scene.
Matchbox has both closed and alfresco dinning area. The open area leads up to the view of the parking lot. Don’t go by the “parking lot”, there are quite a few trees around—a thick bunch of bamboos stand by—adding to the serenity.
Artwork is present on the menu as well. Done in a tabloid style, the menu tells the cultural background of most dishes and drinks. All put together in one, it starts with the starters and ends with the spirits. The owners say the idea is people tend to read newspapers backwards, hence drinks at the end.
Apart from the usual alcohol and beer brands, they have the choicest of cocktails like Martinis, Mojito, Sangria and in-house specialities like Fragrance, an aromatic mixture of vodka with watermelon, lemon and pineapple juice served with lemon wedges. There aren’t many options in mocktails, making it a place more suitable for “high spirited” people.
For starters turn to page one, and there is a bit of everything from everywhere. From the Italian stuffed mushroom with herbs and cheese, oriental chicken lollypop with Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce to Lebanese style rolls. The co-owners belong to Odisha and they have brought some flavours from their region in the form of the good-old prawn, mutton and chicken curry. Though, both Panda and Mohanty vouch for their Vindaloo, it is yet to measure up to the taste that some shacks offer in the Arambol beach of Goa. Rest of the menu offers quintessential feel of dining in a pub with pastas, pizzas, burgers and egg-based dishes. Matchbox shows promise and hopes to glow brighter with time.
Meal for two with drinks Rs. 1,600, without drinks Rs. 1,100.
Address: 30,1st Floor, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi, India 110016, Ph: +91 9891917473