It’s not often that we find ourselves on St. Clair West, but last night we were moving with purpose: trying out Pukka for the first time. The reviews said it was Indian fusion, with solid wine pairings. So yeah, we went to that.

First, though, we had a drink at their sister location down the street: Concession Road. Again, solid wine selection (Nellie had a glass of rosé; I had a Closson Chase Pinot Gris) and the menu looked interesting enough that we decided to come back soon.

But the main event was Pukka (which was packed!) and it didn’t disappoint. We started with a trio of sharing plates: “gunpowder” king prawns with moong bean salad + pineapple chutney; tandoori calamari with coconut chutney + citrus salad; and chicken 65: south Indian fried chicken with chili + tamarind curry leaves. Nellie stuck to her rosé and I had a Viognier, before we moved on to a Vermentino and Riesling respectively. The wines were clearly hand-picked for this food, which was just nicely spiced (not hot).

We had glasses of Pinot Noir and Tempranillo with our next order: the garam masala duck breast with blueberry +chilli-lime curry, along with rice and naan. By this time we were totally full, and took most of the duck & rice to go. It’s in our fridge and I am going to eat the hell out of it tomorrow.

Of course there was no room for dessert, but since we were that far west we decided to swing by Midfield on our way home and continue the wine adventure. Nellie kept drinking rosé (!) while I let Giuseppe guide me wherever he wanted. That turned out to be a Trebbiolo, a Sancerre Rouge (which claimed to be 100% Pinot, but tasted to everyone as if it must contain some Cab Franc), and a German Pinot Noir.

Wineventure: complete!

.:.

Cover photo from pukka.ca