Pirates on the plate

If you're in Gurgaon, stop over at Jolly Rogers. If not, fly to the Polynesian islands instead

French Polynesian food on a foggy English Sunday, I thought, while going up the 10 floors to Jolly Rogers in Gurgaon. A fusion cuisine, I was told, inspired by the small islands of French Polynesia, most famous being Tahiti and Bora Bora u2013 influences of the earliest settlements of Native American, African settlers and China. Islands that inspired the pirates theme in this all-in-one dining-terrace-cum-lounge, with a motto even, 'Haute food, Kool Drinks'. It has been a long time since I went to restaurant that has a tag line.


Jolly Rogers is on the ball with the DIY grill. The server can help you out, too

Cocktail capers
I chose a table in the dining area, opposite the live grill and overlooking the terrace. It was a lazy afternoon and I decided to go with whatever I was recommended instead of scrutinising the menu. Unfortunately, my server had no clue and quipped, 'everything is special here'. Thankfully, the chef did, and just in time: the mostly clueless staff, the neon lights (in the day) and an accompanying noisy group of friends had me thinking twice about eating at all.

He (the chef without a hat) recommended Oceanic chowder soup and the Polynesian Peanut Soup. While waiting for the soup, I ordered their special cocktail (all signature cocktails, in keeping with the pirates theme are dark rum based) Tiki Sour. As I sipped the rather ordinary drink served with a short straw, I couldn't help thinking that I was in a bar from the movie 'Cocktail', what with the Eighties music and OTT interiors. Not that it's a bad thing.

The chicken soup did not have enough of thyme and sherry it promised, but the coconut and potatoes made an interesting broth. The peanut soup was nice too, as were the breads, potato and rum (hardly) and raisin. For starters, I was given Baby Cho Cho (marinated pork skewers, are there any other kind?) and cumin lamb skewers.

Jolly Rogers is on the ball with the DIY grill, the server can help you but they encourage you to grill your own food. Nice touch, except that no one seemed willing to try it. The table on one side didn't want to stir fry their vegetables and called a server while the still noisy group needed three servers, which resulted in too much commotion u2013 while one grills, two people fetch the grill and table and set it up. Do the math.

Dessert-ed
The pork and lamb were well marinated as promised but the pork had no distinctive flavour. The grilled salmon for the main course had retained a raw fish smell and I could not eat too much. The grilled whole chicken breast had what I think was a cheese filling (it said nothing about a stuffing on the menu) which took away from the sherry reduction it came with. For dessert, I was recommended the fried ice-cream but I opted for the apple, pear banoffee crumble pie with cinnamon ice-cream.

The pears were uncooked (!) and the base of the pie was unbreakable (!!), though the cinnamon ice cream was good. What I thought about the dessert also applies to what I thought about Jolly Rogers: Has its heart in the right place but seriously needs to smoothen out the rough edges.

Jolly Rogers
Where: 10th floor, Time Tower, MG Road, Gurgaon
Timings: 12 pm to 12 am
Ring: 0124-4333555
Meal For two: Rs 1,800