BAKER'S DOZEN: Kipos - Eatery & Bar, Bandra

Bandra has quite a few good places to wine and dine. After a fruitful day of shopping, right from street shopping to big stores on the many roads and lanes of Bandra, you can plan a fun night here as well.

While I have been to many places to eat and to party in Bandra, my favourite remains Kipos. Not being a big party freak myself, I always tend to judge a place by its food and decor more than how 'happening' it is. While Kipos does not qualify for your average party club, it does turn into one post 10-11 pm.

The ambience is good, with spaced out tables. I like a place which isn't too cramped and atleast leaves me with some elbow room. The service is good and efficient. Over all, neat and tastefully made up.

The first time I went here was on a Saturday night, and luckily, we managed to get a table. The music was really good, and while everyone was up and dancing, the music still wasn't so loud that we we couldn't talk. I think this is really important, as not being able to talk AT ALL is a complete turn off for me, and has happened to me once at Astrix in Chembur.

The second time I was here was for dinner on a weekday, and the music was really loud.! However, we concentrated more on our food, and made the most of our time there.

Kipos has a good range of eats as well as drinks. I've tried red wine, red wine Sangria as well as the orange berry Caipiroska here, and all of them were great.!

Coming to the food, Garlic Chili Mushrooms are a must try!! I've become a big fan of mushrooms ever since I tried Garlic Butter Mushrooms at a restaurant in Goa (review later), and the mushrooms here were great as well. Dating a vegetarian guy makes you appreciate vegetarian dishes and flavours, which you wouldn't have tried otherwise.! Another dish we tried was the Veg Moussaka, which was a mash up of various flavours, and an ample portion size. Filled us up nicely.!

The next time we went, we were accompanied by my sister, and (thankfully!) I had a partner to share some non vegetarian dish with. The first thing we ordered was the Chicken Souvlaki. The chicken is great, and the tzatziki dip that they serve it with, is heavenly.! I really need to try the recipe for that.

Next we decided to try their wood fired pizzas, and ordered a Capricciosa, which was good, but nothing too great. While it was well prepared and had a lot of ingredients listed out, it didn't seem so flavourful.

As we still hadn't polished off our drinks yet, we decided to order Honey Mustard Potatoes, which were unfortunately a let down. While the presentation was really good, served with dip and garlic bread, I didn't quite enjoy it. While I was expecting something on the lines of glorified french fries, it was actually baby potatoes. It seemed really appetizing, but a mouthful of an entire potato didn't really excite my taste buds.

I will always go back to Kipos for the food first, and for the party scene second. The music they play is great, and Saturdays will give you an in house DJ. There is a dance floor, with a ramp in the middle, only for girls! There's blue lighting, which does give you a party vibe, without looking shady.

My rating for Kipos - 4/5