Lockup, Gurgaon

Posted by Bite Me! May 09, 2016

Lockup, Gurgaon

A prison is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms as a form of punishment and are most commonly used within a criminal justice system. Besides their use for punishing civil crimes, jails and prisons are frequently used by authoritarian regimes as tools of political repression, to punish what are deemed political crimes, often without trial or other legal due process. In times of war, prisoners of war or detainees may be detained in military prisons or prisoner of war camps, and large groups of civilians might be imprisoned in internment camps. Knowing what a prison is and what it may look like , you can imagine our surprise when we heard of a prison themed restaurant that existed not far from where we stay. With a number of themed restaurants opening up every few days, this theme was definitely not what we expected at all. The restaurant is located in Vyapar Kendra in Sushant Lok, Gurgaon.

You will probably not be able to find the restaurant in the first place as the police jeep and name board board hanging outside almost make it look like a real prison from the outside.

Once you are able to locate it and enter the restaurant, you will be greeted by staff dressed in prison stripes. The restaurant itself is quite small and not as big as we expected but the interiors have been done up as one would expect a jail to be- dim lighting (more than enough to look around and identify the food your are eating), tables and chairs painted as per the theme which are placed in jail cells accessorized with handcuffs, bullets, keys and more.

The owners Rahul and Tarun went on to tell us that the idea behind the theme was a similar restaurant that they visited while they were in Tokyo. The restaurant is very family friendly -does not serve alcohol and does not play blaring music (Something that we appreciate because you can barely hear each other when you go out for a meal because the music is so loud in most restaurants). The best part is that it is open till 3 a.m. on all days!

The staff first brought us a round of mocktails and shakes that they are planning to add to the menu – Oreo Shake, Kiwi and Strawberry slurry and a Guava panna. The Oreo shake was everything that it should be- chocolatey, gooey and delicious! It had enough chocolate and oreos to make anyone happy :) .

The Kiwi and strawberry slurry was a refreshing change from the usualy mocktails. It was slightly sweet (from the strawberries) and tangy (from the kiwi) and the combination was fantastic.

I really liked the Guava panna but realised that not everyone may like it. It was prepared very well and tasted like aam panna, gol gappa paani and nimbu paani all mixed with the Guava as the base. I personally loved it.

LockUp serves Mughlai, Indian and Chinese cuisines and so we tried some of each. The Stuffed Tandoori mushroom were juicy and marinated well and the cheese cream filling was also flavourful and tasty.

The Dahi ke kebabs were light and crunchy but unfortunately the curd was a litle sour and so the overall taste was not that good.

The Mutton seekh kebab was well prepared and cooked well. I was told that the kebabs were prepared in house and not store bought and thus tasted really good and had the right seasoning.