Ground Zero, Pali Hills, Mumbai: Great Finger Food at Affordable Prices

The Bar at Ground Zero Nestled within the busy lanes of Pali hill, right on Hill road lies C’est la Vie, a popular place for locals around the area. The place houses a gym, a terrace sky lounge and a café called Cocoa café on the ground floor. Recently the place has also added another feather to its cap by opening a new lounge called Ground Zero. I decided to pay the place a visit on a slow Wednesday at around 8.00 pm and was the only patron at the lounge when I reached. The first thing I did was the question myself on the choice of the date and kick myself hard on you-know-where; but I did forget that it was Mumbai and plus it was Bandra so no crowd was anyways expected before 9 pm.

Having overcome my initial doubts I immediately asked for a drink to settle down and started my food experience. The drinks that we chose to begin with were a virgin Grape Fruit Mint Cooler (Rs.200) and a Tender Berry Mocktail (Rs.250). While the grape fruit cooler was a mojito style minty cooler with strong grape fruit flavour, the Tender Berry mocktail was a crushed ice drink which tastes like a Pina colada with berry flavours and looked curiously like Gelusil on ice. What surprised me greatly was that despite the place being marketed and sold as a lounge, the service staff offered me a mocktail to begin my evening instead of the regular drinks.

Moving on we tried the Corn Cheese Seekh Kebabs (Rs.200) and Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers (Rs.200). The kebabs were very silky and melt in the mouth – I have seldom eaten a vegetarian kebab with such delectable flavours, credits to the chef. The Jalapeno poppers unlike the popular bite sized versions, was a complete jalapeno with a crunchy coating and center filled with cream cheese, making it an interesting bite and certainly a good snack to accompany the drinks. Another drink was soon ordered to tackle the heat caused by the poppers and I chose a Fresh Pomegranate Martini (Rs.450) and on the owner Nikhil’s insistence, their popular Long Island Ice Tea (Rs.500), both the drinks hit the right spot, though my heart went out more to the Long Island Ice tea as the Tequila and the vodka in the drink made for quite a heady cocktail.

We tried a sampling portion of the Chicken Wings tossed in Chilli Sauce (Rs.250), Chicken Tikka Bruschetta (Rs.250) and a Rosemary and Thyme Murg Tikka (Rs.350), all the three dishes, though having the same common protein, were amazingly different in their taste and execution. I found the chicken wings a bit underdone, but the sauce coating with its intense garlic and chilli flavour, despite being too spicy to my taste, had that pull which makes one want to keep licking the sauce despite its heat. The chicken tikka bruschetta was a regular bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, rosemary, cheese and chicken tikka bits topped on crispy bread pieces, the tikka did add to the dish but didn’t elevate it to any special levels. The Rosemary and thyme tikka was undoubtedly the star on the table. The chicken pieces were succulent and juicy and cooked to such perfection that they could be cut with a fork and the fork sliced through the chicken as if it was soft paneer. The tikka base was like the regular malaai tikka, but with the added herbaceousness of rosemary and thyme took the tikka to a wholly different level. We also tried the Garlic Tossed French Fries (Rs.250) which are crispy fries tossed in crispy garlic, interesting take on the regular French fries.

The only disappointments of the evening were the two pizzas – Pepper, Chilli and Mushroom Pizza (Rs.325) and Bolognese Pizza (Rs.350) perhaps because of a malfunctioning oven, both of them came out undercooked, the Bolognese a bit more than the vegetarian one and we decided not to insist on the same. Instead we went for their Veggie Burger (Rs.275); I must say I have never made a smarter decision in my life. Despite being a die-hard carnivore, I found myself fighting with my partner over the bigger share of the burger. The burger patty, unlike other patties was made of minced vegetables (Carrots, cauliflower, green peppers etc.) and made into a patty topped with the usual topping in a burger bun so soft that I could squeeze it all the way without it cracking or falling apart not any crumbs falling out of place. In short pure burger heaven!

What really stands out about Ground Zero apart from the food is its aggressive pricing and their extended happy hours. The happy hours run from 6 pm till 11 pm from Sunday to Thursday and from 6 pm till 9 pm on weekends. The most expensive dish on their menu is a Seafood platter at Rs. 500 and the rest of the dishes are between Rs.200-Rs.350 which considering the area, the ambience and the food quality is quite a steal. The drinks are equally priced very competitively at Rs.350-400 being the average range and with the extended happy hours, the cost cuts down to a half. Oh by way, before I close, I must add that by the time I left the place at around 10.30, the place was packed with at least 85% of the clientele being pretty females and I am bound to muse that good times are surely in store of this cosy little lounge in the days to come.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Food: 3.5 |Drinks : 3.0 | Ambience: 3.5 | Service: 3.0 | Overall: 3.5

Meal for two:Rs.1200 – Rs.1500 (With Alcohol)| Alcohol: Yes | Credit Card: Yes | Happy Hour: 6 pm till 11.00 pm Sun-Thu, 6 pm till 9.00 pm Fri-Sat Timings: 6.00 PM to 1:30 AM|