The Inferno Room’s Hangover Brunch, Indianapolis IN

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So I know it has been a while, okay literally years since I’ve done a post on here again but that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it or missed having an excuse to go brunch hard with the people I love. In my time away we’ve moved, I’ve had a few jobs, hubby changed jobs twice, and we welcomed both furry and not so furry additions to our family. After being cooped up most of last year between new mom life and a global pandemic, I figured now that I’m vaccinated and starting to feel more comfortable going out to eat in restuarants again, why not take up the occasional keyboard and write about the places I get to enjoy again. Afterall any time I talk about the things I’ve missed in quarantine, restuarants and seeing people always top the list.

For this first foray back into We Brunch So Hard, a high school friend of mine Megz (you can check her adventures out over at http://livelifedecadently.blogspot.com/) and I went on a brunch adventure to The Inferno Room, where of course we ordered almost the entire menu plus a good sampling of cocktails. The Inferno Room’s tiki lounge decor and low lit atmosphere is exactly what I would want if I were hungover, so that definitely fit their late hangover brunch theme. Thankfully we both got to enjoy the brunch sans that malady, though upon leaving at the end the sunlight shocked us back to reality.

To start the cocktails were refreshing and delightful (The Inferno Room never disappoints on that front). My Tropical Mimosa was a seamlessly combined array of lovely fruit layers and didn’t clash with anything we ate. Megz Nasturtium Gimlet was light and grassy, definitely very unique and I LOVED the color (such and awesome emeraldy green)! We also love the flowers on so many of the drinks and dishes, they just made us happy.

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Our first food out was the Scallion Pancakes which were savory, crunchy, buttery goodness. Next the Spam Musubi is exactly what I was hoping for with the delicate sea taste of nori and tasty rice that could have been better compacted but was tasty nonetheless. After my terrible attemp at splitting it I definitely think we should have ordered two, but I did get to whip out my hand eating skills to gobble up the yummy rice. The Mofungo with pork belly was a nice, soft, no frills hash both savory and satisfying. I could definitely see the appeal of Mofungo for a hangover however the dish really didn’t need the kale salad. I get in concept of having some greens and veg to balance out the hearty hash though it felt unnecessary. The fact that tomatoes were in season and the pickled onions were super tasty are basically what saved it for the few bites we had.

Now the Pork Sung Buns were so perfect (probably my favorite item we tried).The slightly sweet, soft bread gave way beautifully with each wonderful bite. I really loved the onions inside that reminded me of White Castles griddled onions for their sliders (I know sue me) in the best way. I slowly savored every bite of this bun and was a little sad when I was done. Definitely thought that I should have gotten one to go for hubby when I was already on my way home. Overall this just makes me want to find more milk bread things as I’m sure they will add joy to my life.

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When the beautiful Mochi Waffle arrived on the table, you could easily have dismissed it as another good but standard brunch waffle. That was not the case mostly due to the awesome butter on the mochi waffle which beautiful and fruity lime the star of this dish. Great, springy texture of the waffle along with the fact that it was not overly sweet beautifully balanced with the berries. Megz also did the sweetest precision division of this waffle dish down to counting berries to be fair. I had to take a pic even if it didn’t quite capture the moment as I had hoped.

Our butter mochi started with honey that hits your palette then gave way to the crunch of the buttery, crisp crust against the soft almost creamy and chewy interior. Unfortunately the underripe mango didn’t add much but a slight fresh break of subtle tart fruit against the rest of this stellar treat.

My one disappointment was that they ran out of the mango lassi cake that was at least 50% of the reason I decided we had to come today. Sadly in the bustle of the brunch rush our server had forgotten we ordered desserts at the beginning of our meal with everything else, so we missed out on it. I hate to say that I was almost literally brought to tears by missing out on this until we found out it is luckily on their regular menu. That tempered my disappointment, and made me determined to grab it later this week (possibly with one of their great Spam Sliders).

Last up was another mimosa for me and Megz spakling mai tai that was light and boozy though maybe a bit too delicate for my stuffy palette (as I am still recoverying from a cold, not COVID I got tested twice last week to be sure).

All in all a great #outing with wonderful company and food. Here’s hoping we get to do more of these though I can’t promise it’ll be super regular. Until then stay safe and eat well friends.