Hidden amidst buildings, traffic and other such paraphernalia that define Rajagiriya resides a gentle white giant. Stark white against the backdrop of a greying sky, Jana Jaya City was destined for great things. Unfortunately, its time isn't here yet.
Lodged between rows of vacant lots within this great facade lies Rock Pot, a restaurant that's almost invisible online save for their Facebook page. Nonetheless, we'd managed to find it and decided to drop in for a little bit of lunch.
Ambience
The ambience at Rock Pot is pretty straight forward. It's essentially in the Jana Jaya City food court. So, there isn't much to say.
The only thing that separates this from every other food court in the country is (minus the lack of people) the view. Overlooking the flyover and the general hubbub of the city, the view from the food court is pretty great. Plus, the space was clean, and sparse. It's a pretty new experience for us – both unnerving and fascinating, we liked it.
The Food
The menu at Rock Pot is quite big. With options ranging from rice to pasta to even pizza. We decided to go with their Mix Biryani Fried Rice (Rs. 740) and Spicy Chicken Pesto (Rs. 690).
The Spicy Chicken Pesto was a wonderfully messy plate of spaghetti, drenched in what did not appear to be pesto, but some other form of pasta sauce and lots of chicken. Personally, I thought this plate looked pretty great. Vishvi didn't seem to think so. But, that's not the point.
With loads of bell pepper and tomato scattered almost everywhere and a rather meek sauce that was more cheese sauce than anything spicy, it was, at best, alright. The pasta was cooked al dente and it smelt like herbed heaven. But it wasn't as flavourful as we expected it to be – probably because we expected something rather spicy.
Tasting oddly like coconuts and leaning almost entirely towards the fried rice aspect of things, the Mix Biriyani Fried Rice didn't necessarily blow us away. While the portion size was enough for two and it had lots of meat involved, we didn't really dig the coconut-ness of the whole thing. But, if you like coconut in your rice and you prefer your food to be a bit on the mild side, this just might be the one for you.
Drinks
the drinks menu at Rock Pot is pretty limited. Spanning to just milkshakes and fruit juices. We went with the Date and Honey Milkshake (Rs. 350) and a Lime and Mint (Rs. 190).
The Lemon and Mint turned out to be a tall glass of very minty lemon juice. While it was slightly watered down, it was almost unnoticeable. Tangy, sweet and wonderfully minty, this would have been top notch if it wasn't watered down, but, was quite refreshing nonetheless.
The Date and Honey, on the other hand, was our favourite part of our experience here. Creamy, sweet and positively loaded with honey and dates, we loved it. If you have a pretty big sweet tooth, this is just what you should get.
Service
In terms of service, we can't really complain. The staff was friendly from the start and they managed to bring our food within 10-15 minutes.
Conclusion
Rock Pot is a pretty good restaurant to check out. The ambience is lovely, the drinks were great and while we weren't overjoyed by our Biriyani Fried Rice, we liked our pasta.
