Lion's Gate Restaurant, Darjeeling: An Amazing Afternoon with Cocktails

    Darjeeling is an amazing hill station and a great restaurant to go and have some good meal and drinks would be an icing to the cake. Lately I have been going to several restaurants, pubs and cafes trying their food and experience. The sad story about Darjeeling is the highly talked about brand of restaurants have degraded their quality of service and food which is really sad.

      I had heard a lot about this place called Lion's Gate restaurant and after a lot of friends recommended me to visit this place, day before yesterday I chanced to have a visit.

     It was a Thursday afternoon, a weekday and I chanced to go visit Lion's Gate. The location of the restaurant seems pretty amazing, located just in Chowrasta, the hub for youngsters and tourists to hangout. The restaurant was pretty spacious and had an indoor and outdoor area. Since there was pleasant sunshine, I took a seat outside. The view from the outdoor dining area is absolutely breathtaking overlooking Sikkim and Tiger hill. 

    As we sat down, a really friendly wait staff came up and presented the menu. The choice in the menu was limited. I was planning to go for some beer when the waiter recommended to try their cocktails which wasn't mentioned in the menu. The waiter recommended us few cocktails though it was limited, we settled for a cosmo and a blue lagoon. After a while, we were served colourful cocktails, in a martini glass which looked great. Though it may not seem like a completely well decorated Cosmo like the one's in the pubs in the cities, for a place like Darjeeling, Lion's Gate pub had amazing cocktails. Well, yes as appetizing as it looked, it tasted great too.

Cosmo and Blue Lagoon at Lion's Gate, Darjeeling.

     As we sat there with our cocktails, we ordered a platter of cheese pakora as well. The place had quite a number of people even though it was a weekday and an afternoon so I wonder the place would be quite crowded in the weekends. The pakora was delivered a little late but the wait staff was really hospitable enough to inform us that the food would be a little late due to some technical difficulties in the kitchen. Well, it was quite okay for us as the staff was honest enough to inform us rather than keep us waiting and the experience there was great enough that we didn't even mind waiting.

     As we were done with the cocktails, we ordered a bottle of Budweiser, which was in our table quickly and the cheese pakora was served as well. The cheese pakora was really amazing. It wasn't like a typical mozzarella croquette but more like a cottage cheese pakora with the great flavour of cheesy yum inside. 

    As a conclusion to the restaurant review, the experience in Lion's Gate, Darjeeling was absolutely great. I personally, as a blogger and a foodie, am very critical about food and it was quite sad that none of the restaurants in Darjeeling was delightful. As a guest dining in a restaurant and having a meal or drink, all one wants is great food, drinks and friendly service. The restaurant had a limited choice in the menu but the food was delicious, the drinks were amazing, the staff were friendly and the location and view was breath taking. 
   An experience like this one would certainly make me look forward to visiting this place again and again and probably would be hitting this place for another great experience this weekend. Kudos to the management team and staff of Lion's Gate restaurant for running the restaurant so well. Thanks!