Located on Havelock Town, The Four Leaf Clover is an Irish inspired restaurant that opened up a few weeks ago. They're still settling in and testing their menus so this is only a first look at what they have.
The Food
Their menu is meat heavy with some really interesting menu items like Dublin Coddle, Irish Lamb Rack, Glazed King Salmon etc.
We started off with Calamari in Chili Oil (Rs. 700). They could have improved in terms of presentation because it was just chunks of calamari fried and tossed on to the plate. The dish wasn't warm and the batter had started to become slightly soggy, so it didn't taste as good as we expected.
We wanted the Signature Chicken but was told it was unavailable so we went with the Pan Fried Chicken (Rs. 850) they recommended. The highlight of the dish was the gravy on top. Without it, the chicken was simply a steamed chicken. However, together the sauce was excellent with a tangy richness that really helped salvage the chicken.
The mango salad on the side was really good too which was a naturally sweet addition to the dish. The steamed veggies were nothing special. The starter buns, on the other hand, were superb! They were warm, soft and had a slight crunch to it as well.
The Pasta Fungi (Rs. 600) again, did not have the best presentation but it tasted better than our dishes. The pasta was cooked well and covered in an abundance of cheese sauce. It was supposed to come with button mushrooms, black mushrooms, and abalone mushrooms. As you can see, we didn't get any of that.
The Drinks
They have an open bar but no alcohol yet. They did, however, serve fruit juices and mocktails.
The Avocado Juice (Rs. 350) was absolutely delicious, albeit a little sweet. The thick consistency and the texture were enough for me to gulp it down. It was definitely my favorite out of everything we tried. It certainly didn't need as much sugar but hopefully they dial that down in the future.
We also tried the Virgin Pina Colada (Rs. 450) which was also a winner! The delicious citric taste of pineapple was very strong with a creamy texture of the coconut cream coming through. Their drinks menu is really strong, I can't wait to try the cocktails.
Service and Ambience
Their service was really slow. It was frustrating because the waiters wouldn't even make eye-contact with us, in case we asked them to take our order. After they took our order, the food took about good 40 minutes to arrive.
One thing that really left a bad impression was the fact that the images of dishes shown on their Instagram account aren't actually the ones they serve. A few of us dropped in a few days before this first look, where we specifically asked for a burger shown on their Instagram, only to be served something completely different.
That being said, once we were done, the owner came and asked us about the food and what they can improve which was really nice. She explained that the service was slow because there was a PHI evaluation going on in the kitchen.
The place impressed us as soon as we entered. The Irish color palate, the beautiful wall art, comfy seating and the best of all, the leaf-shaped skylight with classic Irish bottles of beer and wine hanging from the roof. You can spend hours here with free Wi-Fi and get your work done, especially since they have USB charging ports and plug bases under every table aligned with the green couch.
Conclusion
The Four Leafed Clover is still in the process of getting their training wheels off, so we're not going to be too harsh. The areas for improvement are quite clear: presentation, speed and quality of service, and following best practices on social media so that diners don't come in with unrealistic expectations.
