I travelled to Pune, India for a business trip last August. To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive at first because well, India has a reputation for being unsafe and I didn’t really like Indian food, but I was pleasantly surprised to find my opinions flipped by the end of the trip.
My teammates Evelyn, Yan Ming and I rode a plane from Singapore to Mumbai, after which we rode a car to Pune for around 4 hours. What I found interesting was that the roadside shops, buildings, traffic, and even the way everyone drove reminded me so much of my home country, the Philippines.
I was also quite amused by a lot of interesting signs on the sides of the road, like: “If you’re married, divorce speed” or “Donate blood, but not on the road.”
Radisson Blu Hotel
We stayed at Radisson Blu Hotel at Kharadi, and I must say their service was impeccable, and so was their food. I highly recommend this place!
Their servers are so attentive. One time for dinner, I ordered a mojito which I thought was too sweet. I made a face and remarked about that to my friends, when suddenly a waiter showed up and asked me if I disliked the drink, then asked if I wanted them to add lime to improve its taste. I didn’t even need to call him over!
On our second day there, we each walked into our separate bedrooms to find a cute heart-shaped towel formation on our beds. We each took a photo, and they laughed about how I was so clearly the blogger because of the way I took mine – it’s the third one, by the way.
Their breakfast buffet has a decent spread of international and local food, including live stations where you can order freshly made bread, pancakes, or eggs. However the food was mostly the same everyday, so you might get bored of it after awhile.
They also have really good coffee, because they have an actual name brand cafe on their premises. I often ended up drinking two lattes each morning, just because it was so delicious.
And then on our last day, we had to check out super early at 4am, and normally that means you will miss out on breakfast at your hotel, but they made free sandwiches upon our request and even had some coffee and pastries out for anyone else who needed to be out before 6am.
Food
Some of the best food I had in Pune was surprisingly from our own hotel. We worked odd hours – 12 to 9pm, so sometimes it was best to just eat dinner at the hotel. On their ground floor restaurant they had yummy local and international food. My favourite was something called paneer mirch masala, which I loved so much that I ordered it again for lunch on another day.
The Great Kabab Factory
The best restaurant at Radisson Blu is The Great Kabab Factory at the third floor, which serves a reasonably priced buffet at 1199 INR per pax. Unlike the traditional buffet where you have to get up and help yourself each time, at TGKF elegant service is delivered to your table serving one dish at a time.
The Great Kabab Factory is an Indian specialty restaurant offering a unique dining experience to its guests. Using recipes combining the ancient with the contemporary, TGKF brings delectable kababs from all over the Indian sub-continent. At The Great Kabab Factory, you will experience mouth-watering kababs prepared in seven different styles, roasted on the tandoor or on a sighri, shallow-fried in a tawa or a mahi tawa, deep-fried in a kadhai, steamed in pots, even grilled on a stone.
The Great Kabab Factory Website
One night, the three of us decided to check it out because it had been recommended by Gaurav, a local colleague, and we were so hungry because we hadn’t eaten anything since having a small wrap for lunch.
We ended up being so wowed by how delicious the food was that we ate to bursting and regretted it. 😅
We preferred the appetisers to the mains, and the great thing was after all the appetisers were served, they asked us if we wanted to repeat anything, and of course we had to have a few, like the galouti kabab (such soft meat!) and the prawns (the umami!).
Then the next week, Yan Ming and I were invited to a dinner with the bosses and it turned out to be at this same place. 😅 We didn’t mind, at least now we knew which dishes to prioritise.
Boteco
We were pleasantly surprised to discover that some of our Singapore colleagues also happened to be in Pune while we were there, so of course we had to go out for dinner one time.
Vivek has been to Pune several times because he has friends living there, so he served as our guide and brought us to the more happening part of Pune, which is not where our hotel was. He brought us to a Brazilian restaurant called Boteco, and their rooftop bar had twinkling lights and looked cozy.
We ordered a meat platter and vegetarian platter to share, and we were shocked at how big they were.
After dinner we went to a couple of other places for drinks – The Bar Stock Exchange followed by Elephant & Co. The former was a dead place with overly loud music, while the latter was full of locals chilling and chatting in the garden. The latter was a microbrewery where they let us try some of their craft beer before we ordered. I had some really delicious fresh cider.
After midnight, the place was still so full. One of the servers went around to all the tables and politely asked the people to leave because they were already closing, but nobody wanted to go. By the third or so time he came to us, he almost looked like he wanted to cry, poor guy, so we finished our drinks and made a move even though we were still having a lot of fun catching up.
Toit
Calvin was another Singapore colleague who also happened to be in Pune, and he invited us to dinner with his local colleague Nitesh.
They brought us to Toit, this really beautiful microbrewery which serves local and international food and freshly brewed beer. They let us try some of their beer before we ordered, and I really loved Tintin, a pale ale which was so refreshing. I normally hate beer, this is probably the first beer I have ever liked.
The food was not bad, and I so loved the cheddar cheese filled peppers that Nitesh ordered!
Punjab Grill
Pune has a gigantic mall called Phoenix Marketcity. We went there a few times to go shopping and grab meals. Zara is around 20% cheaper there compared to Singapore, so it’s worth going.
One of the restaurants in the mall is a fancy-looking place called Punjab Grill. I went there by myself during Sunday when Yan Ming was at the hotel resting because – oh yes, this is a warning – he had stomach issues. We don’t know if he had accidentally drank tap water somewhere or he is just not used to eating too much rich food all the time or he just has a weak stomach – but the locals always warn visitors not to drink tap water because non-locals are not used to it.
I ordered butter chicken and cheese nan and both were very good.
A few days later, I came back to this restaurant with Yan Ming in tow and to my surprise, the usher still remembered my name! See what I mean about Indian customer service?
Grandmama’s Cafe
I chanced upon a super cute instagrammable cafe inside the Phoenix Marketcity mall.
They serve pretty good international cuisine and make a good really thick hot chocolate that is similar in consistency to the famous french brand Angelina.
Rainforest Bar
One night, we ended up at this bar in Phoenix Marketcity which is open till late. It’s like stepping into a forest complete with the sound of a babbling brook and a huge canopy of leaves overhead.
They have an extensive menu but for some reason I accidentally ended up ordering butter chicken again, for the third day in a row. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose, the name was different on the menu! But it was butter chicken indeed, but the difference is that its meat has a smoky taste, which I loved.
I also ordered cheese naan and it was so cheesy that Yan Ming thought it didn’t go well with the main course because it stole the show – but I didn’t share his opinion because I love cheese and I thought it was the best cheese naan I had ever eaten in my life. Once in a while, I still have cravings for this cheese naan. 😢
Partying with the Locals
One of the global big bosses happened to be in Pune when we were there, so we got invited to a party for the whole Finance department which was held at 1st Story, a restaurant in Four Points Sheraton Hotel.
We ate a lot of delicious appetisers and drinks, then the local team decided to hit the dance floor and pulled us along. We were amazed at the dance moves they pulled, especially this one guy who turned out to be a choreographer before. They were so energetic and even managed to get the big bosses to dance as well!
But while I do enjoy dancing myself (I am Filipino after all), I get tired easily these days because I’m not a twenty-something anymore, I guess? So eventually Yan Ming and I ducked out and just hung out near the food. When the youngsters tried to get us to go back, Yan Ming said, “Just avoid eye contact!” 😅
I admire their energy, really, and it wasn’t just me. Mandy, another Singapore colleague who also happened to be there, commented that she was amazed at how everyone just took to the dance floor because that doesn’t happen in Singapore, or a lot of other countries. Once again, this struck me as something that India shares in common with the Philippines.
There was one more party of sorts that we attended, though. It was a mini celebration of someone’s birthday when they got him a cake and then proceeded to smash his face with it.
The moment it happened, I suddenly remembered that my friend AA had told me about this custom which she had witnessed when she was also in a business trip in another part of India years ago.
The locals told us that this is a newish tradition that was invented by millennials.
Half Day Tour
Pune isn’t really known for being a tourist spot, actually. Most locals would recommend going on a hike at the nearby mountains instead of going on a city tour, but Yan Ming and I are not very active people, so for our one weekend there, we decided to book a half day city tour through Klook, and Calvin joined us. A tour guide and driver came and picked us up from our hotels in a car and we went around to see a few tourist spots.
Unfortunately the best one – Aga Khan Palace – was closed that day, so we just saw Pataleshvara Cave Temple, Lal Mahal, Shaniwarwada Fort, Tulsi Bagh market, and Dagadusheth Halwai Ganapati Temple.
I went inside that last temple to say a prayer to the Hindu God Ganesh, who is known to grant wishes.
After the tour, we went to Cafe Good Luck, which is one of the popular local haunts, and had good cheap local food, including keema, butter chicken, and its famous butter bread with tea.
Our tour guide told us to try the onions with lime, which I did, and to my surprise, I found that their onions are sweeter and not as strong as regular onions and it actually tastes refreshing.
I would like to conclude this super long blog post by saying: I am really glad I had a chance to visit India.
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