Africa Magica at Barbecue Nation, Gurgaon

As I disembark from my car to attend the African food festival at Barbeque Nation, I am greeted by a parking attendant who has got a cricketer look alike sun screen all over his face. It left me wondering why the guy was most oblivious to the looks he was getting.

Then we approach the entrance where there is a huge cutout of a lion. To go inside, one has to go through the lion’s mouth. As we step in, we see more white paint on men dressed in leopard printed shirts. Then it struck me that they were dressed in tandem with the African theme. The whole restaurant was done up in cutouts, there was a printed feather and a tribal hat for all the customers to wear and even the menu cover for the festival had a border of animals and green grass.

The menu had very African sounding dishes – Marakesh Roll, Peri Peri Chicken Tangri, Waka Waka Naan just to name a few. During the course of the meal, some waiters dance to an African song and Shakira’s catchy Waka Waka. The waiters also go and sing the birthday song, both in English and Hindi, on the table of any person celebrating his/her birthday there. We got to hear it thrice during the course of the evening.

The minute we sit down, a hot barbeque is put in place in the centre of the table. The waiter explains to us that we can customize the flavours of the kebabs by using different basting sauces already placed on the table. What follows are a battery of kebabs – veg and non- veg both –  some on skewers on the grill and others served one by one on our plates. If one opts for a non- veg meal you are served all the veg kebabs as well (so that makes it 17 starters leaving soup, salads, main courses and desserts aside).

Though all the kebabs are very African sounding, they are far from authentic. All are fresh, served hot and tweaked to suit the Indian palate but tasty nonetheless. Not to be missed in the veg are Shakalaka Lychee, Crispy Corn and Marakesh Roll (beetroot) and in non-veg, Mutton Gilafi Seekh, Peri Peri Chicken Drumstick, Chicken Wing in Barbeque Sauce and Belafonte Prawns.

The Butternut and Shallot Soup was creamy with a nutty flavour and I enjoyed it more than the Bushman’s Duck Soup with orange zest which was spicy.

I must confess that out of 16 main courses, we could only try 2-3 as we were too stuffed with the starters. So a word of caution – go easy on the starters or you won’t last till the main course. Even though they have crab in the menu, my friend could not eat it as they could not serve a crab cutter even after being asked to do so.

I couldn’t help but notice that this place was packed on a Tuesday by 8 pm. I was told that most of them are regulars. Bottled Bisleri is served to all and cocktails are the cheapest I’ve had anywhere @200 Rupees. Another surprising thing is that the parking attendant refuses to take a tip however hard you try. Worth mentioning also is their hands on manager and very attentive serving staff who make sure that each customer leaves happy. The chef was also circulating and seeing to it that nothing ran short in the buffet.

Other than a wide variety of desserts, they have a separate Kulfi Station where one can customize their kulfis with a lot of available choices in toppings (sauces, canned cherries, coloured sugar balls etc). They serve six different flavours of kulfis –pan, fig, mango, malai, kesar pista and chocolate. But the basic component of creaminess is absent from the kulfis and one can totally avoid the toppings.

The 8 year old restaurant with a 165 seating is on two floors and doing roaring business, festival or no festival, with a lot of people waiting outside to be seated. If there is one thing you can expect here, it is value for money coupled with decent food and good service.

The African Festival is on from the 22^ndApril to 10^thMay. The Early Birds (customers arriving before 7.30 pm) and the Late Birds (customers arriving after 10 pm) both get a rebate of Rs. 184/- per head. Otherwise, the rate for a veg buffet is Rs. 921/- and for a non-veg buffet. Rs. 1,044/-. Children below 6 years of age are free and a couple with one kid does not have to pay for the kid’s meal.

Ratings out of 5

Food: 3.5 | Ambiance: 3.5 | Service: 4 | Overall: 3.5

Meal for Two without Alcohol: As mentioned above| Alcohol: Yes | Credit Card: Yes|

Timing:11 AM to 11 PM| Wheelchair access : No

Address: Ground Floor, Ansal’s Shushant Plaza, Sushant Lok, Block A, Phase-I, Sector 28, Phase 1, Gurgaon

Telephone : 0124-6060000