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Bar Etc
THIS RESTAURANT HAS NOW CHANGED TO: PUNITHA'S
The ex King Balti and East Street venue has now been re-named and re-branded as Bar Etc and it offers a little bit of everything...
I had no idea what to expect when we turned up because I hadn't spoken to anyone who had been there previously and it hasn't been open that long.
First impressions were good. It had a bit of a French cafe bar feel to the place and was loosely separated into bar tables, chairs and sofas at the front and restaurant tables towards the back. The atmosphere was very relaxed with your suit wearers and city fans mixing quite happily and enjoying their surroundings (not that city fans can't wear suits but you know what I mean...). Clientele was mostly couples or small groups.
We went on Saturday night and the restaurant area was very busy. Like anywhere else at the moment, if you want to eat between 7 and 9 on the weekend you will need to book in advance. I would imagine that you would be ok on weeknights though.
There are two different menu options to choose from which surprised me a bit. You can choose from the tapas menu or the buffet menu. Unfortunately the tapas menu wasn't being served when we got there so we had no choice but to go for the buffet. As it turned out I wasn't disappointed as for 8.95 you can eat as much as you like/can.
There was much more choice than I was expecting and you can choose from Indian, Italian, Oriental etc etc there is also a full salad bar chips and loads of rice on offer. I filled my plate with a bit of everything and although I can't tell you exactly what I had I can tell you that it was all very tasty and well prepared. I definitely had some curry that was along the lines of a Tikka Masala that was good and there was also some crispy beef that was better than a lot of the stuff you get from your average takeaway. I was stuffed after that but you can go back as often as you want.
Service was okay. We did get messed about a bit but we were a party of 17 which is always a nightmare for your average waiter. I was disappointed by not being able to go for the tapas (which I am a big fan off) but the buffet exceeded my expectations so I came away happy.
I would recommend this place and would go back again. You'll have a good night etc...
Posted by Mark 17th October 2003