Noida enjoys the benefit of being very close to New Delhi, capital of India. This industrial town has seen tremendous growth over last 10 years, most of which could be attributed to the rapid increase in the number of IT companies operating from here. Some of the world’s greatest companies like Adobe, CSC, Cadence, ST, Freescale have their office located here. Courtesy all this, Noida has also lots of new age malls and great dining-n-drinking options.
I would write a short review of one of the resobar which is in Centre Stage Mall, Sec 18. The bar is called Maamouche and thats the first thing which I liked. I do not have a specific reason but somehow saying this name few times makes you feel good. Try it. Its located on level5 and level 6 of the mall, so away from the din and the has very quiet interiors. They do not play loud music, lighting is not very bold and seats are very comfortable. I have been there multiple times and mostly as part of large group. We have been able to negotiate a good bargain up-front (20 % flat discount on every thing) so if you are a large group, its good thing to know that these guys would be open for such a discussion.
They have a decent collection of wines and liquor and one can get good cock-tails. My personal favorite is ‘Hurricane’ which is a Rum based cock-tail. Interestingly they add a little JD to it and that gives it that typical whiskey tinge. At other times, I also had Pina Colada, Bloody Mary, Margarita, Long Island Iced Tea and I think I liked almost all of them. I have not had such good cocktails at other restobars/hotels of same repute or similar setting. In terms of beer, they serve Indian Beer as well as some of the popular imported Beer but thats limited to mostly season’s favorite. At the time of writing this, you can find Corona or Heineken. So not really a good stock but then Indian Beers fill the gap.
There is not much harm, any bar can do if one wants to have things like Jack and coke, whiskey on ice, rum and pepsi so there’s nothing to write about. You get most of your regular Indian whiskeys, rums, gins + some of the popular imported ones like Black Label, Chivas, Absolut etc.
Now comes the expense part. I have found that if one goes for a dinner-with-drinks, its a pretty fair deal. The food is good. I really liked their Russian Salad (cold chicken in white sauce). But if you want to binge then probably its not the best place to go. The ‘Happy Hours’ are well beyond 9 PM (I guess) and you get one free on two purchases. The good news is that this applies on Cocktails as well. Cocktails are also rightly priced (300 for a Hurricane, 285 for Bloody Mary) as long as you do not want to have too many of them. Also if you have time then its better to go a little early so that there is not enough rush.
Staff is polite and ambiance is non-clubbish. They also understand the fine art of hospitality and would most likely give you free shots of Vodka or of Icecream after you have finished your meal.
All in all, I would recommend a visit.