Drive along Gachibowli-Miyapur Road towards HITEC City and a flash of colour and lights to your left will catch your eye. Hyderabadis hae long-loved the Mystery Rooms franchise taking the country by storm with their snazzy themed escape rooms — Hurt Locker, Cabin In The Woods, you name it, it’s there.
- USP: Interactive restaurant with escape rooms
- Where: Platina building, Gachibowli
- Cost for family: ₹1200
So enter Masquerade, their interactive restuarant decked from entrance to restroom to table with games, books, televisions and wild decor. For games, they have a digital dartboard, loads of video games such as Call Of Duty, Need For Speed and the classic board games like Scrabble. Primary colours with unusual industrial elements along with eye-catching wall-art make the place worth an Instagram or two... or five.
Masquerade interiors
Business manager for this particular outlet Ajay Sahani says, “With the IPL underway, we get quite busy. But we keep in mind that we have many families coming here so we wanted to keep the food accessible to everyone.”
Ah, yes, the food. Masquerade started us off with some crisp onion rings; as we bit into them (hot, hot, hot) cheese poured out. The perinnaise accompanying this appetiser is worth a second dip. This dish isn’t too salty or too onion-y while not being doused with oil. Alongside this, do try the salads, they’re refreshing and the lettuce is the good stuff — not the limp and pale stuff that doesn’t even look edible.
A salad at Masquerade
Moving on, we were presented with chicken drumsticks prepared in a tandoori-style. Upon closer examination, the cuts are stuffed with finely-chopped vegetables. Given there’s a family peg to this place, I imagine this to be an effective ploy to get kids — myself included — to eat their veggies. Commendable and tasty!
I’m not a fan of hard-shell tacos —— controversial, I know ——but Masquerade’s chicken tacos oozing with melted cheese and salsa are a win. Consider me converted for a minute.
Chocolate milkshake at Masquerade
By then, we were far too full to eat a single more bite but then a pizza stealthily makes its way to our tabletop, its fragrant cheese and fresh tomatoes instantly hooking us. We dug in and were instantly impressed with the margarita’s thin base and careful amounts of basil.
Don’t miss out on the heavy-hitting milkshakes; they’re a real riot.
Masquerade isn’t just pretty interiors. There’s a thoughtful curation and careful care for fresh ingredients to the menu mixed with its engaging interactivity which keeps crowds coming back for more.
