Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Aer

Rest : Aer
Loc : Four Seasons Hotel, Worli

Aer is the hot new bar atop the Four Seasons Hotel, that part of Bombay has been threatening to become interesting for quite sometime, (the new Shangri La in Phoenix will open sometime next year)

Since retarded government regulations restrict us from using our beaches, the next best thing is to tower over them. Dome at the Intercontinental was one of the first rooftop bars, although Pearl of the Orient might take an exception to that.

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Aer sits higher than Dome and therefore offers a stupendous view of the city, its near perfect in almost every aspect regarding ambiance, views and its cool, minimalist architecture sits perfectly. They are also partly smoking, so carry your cohibas or buy them there.

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Table snacks are wasabi nuts and some sticky sesame seed thingy. Funnily enough they said they ran out of everything except the sesame thing. How can the Four Seasons run out of something? is it code for im too lazy to get it for you?

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The drinks are above average but not great by any standards. The Mojito was too sweet and couldn't taste the booze in it, the other two mock tails were again.. sweetish.

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There is a food menu, mostly middle eastern/Mediterranean. They have hummus etc, however like a fool i went for the mezze platter, thinking three of us could share it. turns out it was two pieces of falafal and 2 fried filo pastry stuffed with cheese served with what i think was muhammarah. It was not bad but come on.. 800 bucks for this? i dont mind the price but just DONT CALL IT A F******* PLATTER.

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All in all, the view is glorious, the space is divided into two terraces, connected by a passage. Bars on each side with all kinds of seating, sofas for groups and corner tables for couples.

Impressive layout. Now if only they could get their act together in terms of service. Because so far, nothing about the four seasons has been impressive.

The valet parking was a total mess, the bar took 20 mins to get us our drinks and we were seated right NEXT to it. The staff is friendly and apologetic but that is no excuse for crappy service. Add to that the ridiculous portion of my platter.. i was not a happy camper.

However, id go there again in a heartbeat simply for the view. It was truly impressive, we could see the Air India building on Marine Drive from our table. Now that is awesome.

Its not cheap either but then you don't go to a four seasons expecting value for money..

Food : 6/10
Drinks : 6/10
Service : 6/10

Damage 2700 for one cocktail, two mocktails and one appetizer.

Aer
Four Seasons Hotel, 114, E. Moses Road, Worli, Mumb
Phone: 66627434, 24818900


5 comments:

puja said...

hi totally agreee bout aer. whts d big point of giving smokers a better view. but hey no reservation:)

olive has become ghatiya after the new chef and menu. their lovely old pizzas r sad. hw come?

Gaurav said...

Hi Puja,

dont blame the smokers too much, i like a cigar everyonce in a while and am saving a cohiba for my next visit :)

Olive was never really about food, the food was just incidental. It was more about seeing, being seen and tabling the dishes, creating a presentation.

Food wise, they were never even close to the top, although they were not too bad.

With Tote opening its doors and being so popular, i am sure its extra pressure on Olive, maybe its begining to show.

I wonder how their Sunday brunch is faring...

Next time you decide to go to Olive, i recommend you switch to Tote :)

Adhish said...

+1 on the Tote advice Gaurav.

I wonder why there aren't too many roof top restaurants in Mumbai or even anything with a view. I can think of maybe 7-8 restaurants in the entire city.

Gaurav said...

Adhish,

I think part of the problem is the lack of solid venues and that real estate here is so ridiculously expesnive that no one wants to try anything even remotely experimental because the cost of failure is so huge.

And also, the added hassles of permissions and cops and all that unless you are ontop of a hotel which saves you additional headaches.

Nishant said...

thank you for the review..

was wanting to go here myself.

Though the prices, currently, seem prohibitive.

wondering what is the cheapest combination here? Beer + one appetizer? :S

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