Angry Birds And Footballers

Not content with your mum buying their freezer-to-fryer chicken nuggets or owning English Premier League (EPL) club Blackburn Rovers, Venky’s has now decided to expand its empire further with a chain of fast food centres across Mumbai (they’re in Pune too), one of which opened in Bandra two days ago.

Here, in this intensely red cafe that plays Michael Jackson, screens Blackburn Rovers commercials and houses an open kitchen, they sell combo meals much like the ones you see at McDonalds (with almost the same price tags) made using their own pre-packed chicken products. While the staff seems a tad confused about which food items can be served at the cafe and which ones are available in frozen form for pick up only, we think these first-day wrinkles should be ironed out over the next week.

Information Nuggets

We started out by ordering the barbeque wings, glazed with hot, peppery and thankfully not super sweet sauce, which turned out to be quite tasty. It was a bad move turning it into a combo meal though, because the wings came with too-oily potato wedges. Also a decent option is the tender grilled chicken that comes on skewers.

The burger here is banal, a disinterested hunk of meat slapped between two buns and slathered with mayo. A few greens and onions, an optional slice of cheese, maybe even some mustard on the side, would go a long way in making it more appealing. While the chicken burger was still edible, the vegetarian version (the only non-meat option on the menu) packed with peas couldn’t get more than a bite out of us. Other fowl options include chicken lollipops, kati roll, garlic and pepper roast chicken and hot dogs.

Our biggest grouse with Venky’s Xprs is not the quality of meat – you know you’re signing up for chicken from a packet when you walk in – but the lack of innovation. Maybe they could take a pointer or two from your mum who might make a Venky's snack out of the freezer, but serves nuggets with tartar sauce or adds mint chutney to the kati roll. Just a few home truths for Venky.  

Getting there: Venky’s Xprs, shop no 6 and 7, Muzzafar Manor, Waterfield Road, Bandra (W), Rs 80 for a grilled chicken burger.