Love At First Sight At Flechazo, Doddanekundi

The Spanish word ‘Flechazo’ translates into ‘love at first sight’. Flechazo, the Mediterannean-Asian restaurant near Marathahalli, promises to make you fall in love with it, the same way, right from the word go. When a friend recently invited me to visit this relatively new restaurant, it was, indeed, love at first sight for me, too.

Location

Flechazo is located above the Surya Nissan showroom in Doddanekundi, near Marathahalli. It isn’t a tough place to find, quite visible from the main road.

The restaurant is quite popular with employees from the number of IT firms that it is surrounded by, so getting a table on week days can be quite tough. On weekends, too, the place is heavily populated by families and friends. Prior reservation is advisable, if you plan to visit here.

Valet parking services are available.

Cuisine and concept

Like I said before, the restaurant serves Mediterranean-Asian food, catering to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. There’s something for everyone here – from chaat, sushi and tapas to mezze platters, pasta, pizza and daal makhani. And, of course, there are some gorgeous desserts to be tried out, as well.

Flechazo aims at making the dining experience of its patrons an enriching one. Once you choose one of the two types of buffets it offers – vegetarian and non-vegetarian – you are served bread sticks with an assortment of sauces as well as pita bread with a variety of dips. Then, you pick your choice of cocktail or mocktail, while you are served assorted starters. The non-vegetarians are served shawarma at the table, while there’s grilled pineapple for the vegetarians.

There’s a Food Shots counter where you can grab bites of food off a conveyor belt.

The ‘Food Shots’ at Flechazo – here’s where you can get your bites of sushi and chaat, and everything in between!

There’s a live pasta counter, where you can request for a customised-to-your-tastebuds plate.

At the wood-fired oven next to this, you can make your own pizza (read: don an apron and a chef’s hat, roll out your pizza, choose your own toppings, and shovel it into the oven, posing for pictures simultaneously, too!).

On the left: The wood-fired oven where you can make your own pizzas, in the back. In the front is the live pasta counter. On the right: Why you should be making your own pizzas!

There are a variety of breads that you can choose from at the Breads counter, where you can fill up on soup of your choice as well.

Then, there’s a wide choice of dishes for main course. There’s also a counter serving a variety of chaap for the non-vegetarians, and soya chaap for the vegetarians.

Vegetarian dishes that were part of the main course, at Flechazo

At the live dessert counter, you can watch as your jalebis are fried in a wok of hot oil right in front of you, or your cake pops are decorated with colourful little baubles.

The live dessert counter at Flechazo!

There is also a well-stocked refrigerator, from which you can take your pick of Indian desserts. And, as if all of this isn’t enough, you can choose the flavour of ice cream that you want, and watch it being made before your very eyes, at the Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream counter. To bring back sweet memories of childhood, there’s also a live gola counter, where you can order for an ice gola of your choice to be made for you.

Phew!

Ambience

The eatery has a busy, yet warm and friendly vibe to it. Seating is comfortable.

The decor is simple, yet quirky and pretty.

The kitchen here is open, so you can watch all the action within. It can get a little noisy and hot near the kitchen, but then, the little discomfort is totally worth in, just for the experience of looking in.

Plenty of photo-ops available at this place – be warned!

The food and drinks story

Here is a round-up of the food and drinks that I sampled at Flechazo.

Non-Alcoholic Fruit Sangria: I opted for the non-alcoholic fruit sangria, which completely wowed me with its presentation. The taste wasn’t bad, but not brilliant either.

The other friends dining with us picked cocktails, all of which were presented wonderfully well. Most of them were well received.

On the left and right are two of the cocktails that our team had. In the centre is the Non-Alcoholic Fruit Sangria that I tried out.

Paani Poori: I grabbed a plate of pani poori from the Food Shots counter. It didn’t really win me over, but wasn’t too bad either. Full marks for presentation, though.

Mezze platter: The mezze platter was absolutely brilliant. The pita bread was perfectly done, and every single one of the dips served with it was lovely.

Bread sticks: The bread sticks we were served were superb, with a hint of spice to them. All of the sauces that the sticks were accompanied by were just gorgeous.

On the left: The dips for the mezze platter, On the right: The assortment of sauces served with the bread sticks

Spiced Pineapple: The spiced pineapple was lovely, fresh and juicy, with a hint of cinnamon to it. It was grilled just right. However, the taste was more on the sweeter side – a little bit of spiciness would have worked wonders for it, I think.

On the left: A scene from the open kitchen, On the right: Pineapple being slathered with barbeque sauce, for the Spiced Pineapple

Crispy Corn: Spiced corn, deep fried till crispy – what is to not love? This was another dish that was executed very well. I loved it!

Cheesy Potatoes: These were absolutely stupendous – my personal favourite of the entire dinner, I would say. They tasted so scrumptious that I had to stop myself from eating only these, for fear of missing out on the rest of the items on offer!

Crispy Water Chestnuts: These were lovely, too. They were just perfect, crispy on the outside and juicy within.

Crispy Water Chestnuts at Flechazo

Paneer Tikka: This wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed. It was strictly okay, with the cottage cheese a tad chewy and the dish lacking in flavour.

Spring Rolls: I wasn’t enamoured with the spring rolls here, either. The outer shell was crispy and nice, but the filling seemed to lack flavour.

Farm Fresh Pizza: I opted out of the self-pizza-making, and requested for a chef-made one instead. The Farm Fresh Pizza I was served was extremely fresh, but, sadly, the taste didn’t blow me away.

Farm Fresh Pizza at Flechazo

White Sauce Pasta: I am not a great fan of white sauce in my pasta, but I really liked the way it was done here. The sauce was tasty, and the dish was executed well. There was a generous dosing of veggies in the pasta too, which I liked.

French Macaroons: The macaroons looked absolutely beautiful, sitting there in a gorgeous, colourful heap. I simply had to try them out! Sadly, though, they were quite flaky and biscuit-y in texture, lacking the softness that macaroons should possess.

A riot of colours at Flechazo! On the left: Assorted breads, at the Breads and Soup counter, On the right: French macaroons, at the live dessert counter

Brownies: The brownies here weren’t the best that I have had. They weren’t soft and moist, but crumbly instead.

Lauki Ka Halwa: This was super-duper gorgeous! The straight-off-the-stove bottlegourd halwa tasted delicious.

Piping Hot Jalebis: When there are jalebis being served piping hot, straight out of the pan, how do I resist? I tried out a couple of them, and they were brilliant.

Gulab Jamun: The gulab jamun was too good, too. Very well made!

On the left: My dessert plate at Flechazo, with a sampling of jalebis, brownies, French macaroons, lauki ka halwa, and gulab jamun. On the right: Orange souffle

Orange Souffle: The orange souffle here was simply gorgeous! I loved, loved, loved it.

Paan Ice Cream: There were several interesting flavours of liquid nitrogen ice creams to choose from at Flechazo. I opted for the paan flavour, just because this particular flavour has been on my mind a lot lately. It was so very thrilling to watch the ice cream being made fresh before my very eyes – a lot like magic, really. The ice cream was super-duper fresh (Had to be, right? It was made just then!), and tasted gorgeous.

On the left: My paan ice cream in the works!, On the right: The lovely paan ice cream that I had at Flechazo

Value for money

The vegetarian buffet here is priced at INR 500 (plus taxes), and the non-vegetarian buffet at INR 600 (plus taxes). I think that is absolute value for money, total paisa vasool, considering the huge variety of food you get to sample here, and the range of experiences that you can have. They have some ‘early bird’ offers as well, if you’d like to avail of them.

Overall experience

Flechazo is a lovely place to be at, with friends, family or colleagues. It is wonderful for team lunches, family parties, farewells, and birthdays (How did I forget to tell you about the little celebratory dance that the staff at Flechazo does when you celebrate your birthday here?! We witnessed one such gig, and it was so much fun!). I absolutely loved the feel of the place.

It wasn’t possible for me to sample everything that the place has to offer, on my one visit. Most of what I tasted here, though, was good, though there is definitely room for improvement as far as certain items are concerned. (Pro tip: I’d recommend hogging the beautiful starters here, as well as the gorgeous desserts, with just a customary sampling of the main course fare!)

I would love to visit again, with family, to experience more of it – I would sign up for that in the blink of an eye. Do visit Flechazo, if you haven’t already – highly recommended! Irrespective of whether your food preferences are vegetarian or non-vegetarian, you surely won’t be disappointed. Don’t forget to carry your camera along!

Code of ethics

Since this was an invite, I didn’t pay for the meal. The views expressed herein are completely my own, not influenced by anything or anyone. I don’t stand to receive any sort of gain by recommending this place to you.