25 January,2010 08:34 AM IST | | Daipayan Halder
Ravi Bajaj's wine bar, Soak, located on the upper floor of his studio in south Delhi is like an experience in a designer's boutique. The all-day bar looks good but there is very little you can buy and the staff members treat you as if they are doing you a favour. In a place where there are paper napkins on plates!
I enjoy an occasional glass of wine and so was looking forward to a bar which promised me great wine without having to buy the bottle. Anticipation proved to be my misery. Firstly, the wine list had only 10 white wines, 8 red wines, 1 sparkling wine and 1 champagne, of which only four of the white and five of the red and the sparkling wine could be ordered by glass. What's the point of a bar?
I was so irked I didn't want to order at first but when the server asked me I wondered if he had anything to suggest. "This is Ravi Bajaj's bar, everything is special here". I hate it when they say that. So, I ordered some red wine, whose name I don't recall because I didn't even have a sip. But not wanting to dismiss the bar entirely, I tried the tapas, the menu for which I had to ask for because it seemed to strike no one there to offer it to me.
You can choose from Soak style tapas (I ordered the wasabi marinated prawns), cheese and charcuterie (Honey glazed ham, slow cooked pork and potato salad) and a Piedina bar (Ham and Scamorza), all of which took too long to arrive and when it did, I wish it hadn't. The prawns were unremarkable, the honey glazed ham salty and I didn't have the stomach to taste the ham and scamorza. I asked for water, gulped a huge sip and rushed out to take a deep breath. Twenty-five minutes at Soak. Long enough to drown a man.
Where: Level 2, Ravi Bajaj Emporio, 1, N Block Market, Greater Kailash 1
Phone: 29235711
