Rest : Souk
Meal : Dinner Loc : Taj Mahal Hotel, MumbaiSo it was our third wedding anniversary on the 5th, as excited as we were about it, we had no chance to even talk or mingle the enitre day as we were both extremely caught up. As the day wound up, we had to take a call on dinner, Souk @ the Taj, serving mediterranean which we both enjoy immensely or a set meal dinner at San Qi @ Four Seasons.
An hour before dinner we chose Souk, as San Qi just lot its appeal at the last minute (a great deal of it had to do with the hodgepodge options combining Japanese, Cantonese & Indian) or maybe we both just like mediterranean cuisine that much.
So onto the Taj we went, i have spent many hours in the lobby here, worn out after a night at Insomnia, so its a comfortable feeling to glide across the lobby as the housewives, busienssmen and travelers go on about their lives. Straight to the rooftop and you are at Souk, uncomfortable seating, weirdo lighting and obsucred views of the Gateway of India, the Taj could have done way way better.
The menu though is fairly expansive, covering a lot of ground and geographical expanse.
Started off with an amuse bouche of dill, garlic infused yoghurt, quite refreshing.
their table service consists of a hot sauce, tahini and a selection of crudites. very very yummy, unfortunately not replenished as much as we would have liked. Also, be sure to get some of their olives, stuffed with almonds. very cool.
We started with the mezze platter, which consists of two hot and two cold mezzes. While there were quite a few we wanted to try we decided not to experiment too much. We got the hummus which was good, the muhamrah which was excellent, the falafal was pointless, the spinach and garlic youghurt was again, pretty good.
I had an Italian white, which was fairly dry and average.
The bubbly was served to us complimentary (more on that later) Indian, semi dry(leaning towards the dry)
For the main courses we decided to pick one of our own, as well as choose one from a recommendation. The potato, spinach and cheese pancake was picked on their recommendation, it was pretty good, served with a heavy tomato sauce, it turned out to be a superlative dish.
aah, the tagine, what do i say about it. It was sweet with a tomato taste, thats pretty much it. Possibly the worst tagine i have ever had and i have had a lot, in quite a few countries between Morocco & Bombay.
Especially distressing as a few places in Bombay itself do great ones, it was upsetting to get this monstrosity.
Now, the comedy does not end here. We were asked about the food and we mentioned that the tagine was not good. The offending dish was taken back to the chef, ten minutes later we were told that the chef had found it allright and then, our f*******g dish never came back, if it was good give it back, if it was bad fix it...
This is part of the reason why i NEVER send dishes back, because chef may not like it and then i have to be the person to explain things and not everyone likes criticism, even if it may help.
Most chefs i have spoken to have been more than gracious to hear me out, I have had long chats about dishes with the chef at Peshwari who was flabbergasted i did not like their dal bukhara, to the point where he insisted we come back asap so they can rectify things.
Chef Bansi, downstairs at Starboard, chatted with me for about thirty minutes over our shared travles in Mexico, where we sat and discussed why Tex-Mex does not work and how the cuisine differs across Mexico.
So some people are open to it, some are not. To each his own...
For dessert we chose the rose petal ice cream which was highly recommended, rightfully so. it was delectable.
Overall, the food was good, not great but good but the overall experience felt considerably mediocre.
The ambiance is sort of allright, no real complaints, the view needs to be used better but it is what it is. The place itself was also fairly busy, so hooray for them i guess.
The good thing is that the mezzes were brilliant, the help when they could be found were sympathetic. When they heard it was our anniversary, they brought out a cake which was too kind of them, they also poured us two glasses of bubbly, possibly to pacify us. Which is what i expect from the Taj.
What i dont expect from the Taj is that, since i had decided on a Riesling for the evening but no one could tell me what kind it was (Kabinet, Auschlese etc) so skipped it and chose an average white from Italy.
The Tagine that i ordered, it was taken to show the chef that it was well, not very good. Now, the chef said it was fine but it never came back. It was also not taken off the check, so i didnt eat it, the chef didnt fix it but i paid for it anyway.
They still give you two freaking small pieces of pita with a mezze platter, you can order more at 125 bucks a pop. RIDICULOUS.
Even a fast food chain offers you two large pitas, so wtf is up with this. i dont buy the argument that people order a platter of hummus and then keep binging on free pita. Jesus H Christ. At 800 bucks a serving of hummus, i think i deserve a little more pita...
Olio, at Novotel had several dipping sauces and plenty of breads on service but i spent 3000 on dinner there anyway. What kinda thought process is this?
Dont make me hunt you down and ask you for some carrots and olives, just pay a little attention folks. I know you guys meant well, were friendly but that is no good to us if we arent being taken care off, dont upset us and you wont have to pacify us.
i had three apologies but i am still upset !
This is possibly the weakest restaurant from the Taj in terms of service and offering, sad because the food is good but it is horrible to find yourself spending 5000 to make an evening memorable and then ending up with nothing to show for it.
Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 5000 for 2 with one drink.
PS. This is our 3rd anniversary together, first we spent at Vetro at Oberoi which was mediocre food and no wine tasting, second was at Pure@ Taj Lands End, again mediocre food, fantastic service. So here, we get decent food and crappy service.. i think well stop going out for our anniversary from next year on!
Botticino however is a pale imitation (of a weak restaurantt to begin with) at best. The place is laid out well, in what is a gloriously designed hotel but the ambiance is more business without any cool factor or romance(for those that need that sort of thing)
The bread service was commendable, good stuff, variety of options, yet it was all about to go downhill from there.
The Minestrone was horribly bland. No taste, as a soup itself Minestrone is different from region to region and season to season. So when the chef came out and told me that this is possibly why i didnt like it, all i wanted to say was that no matter the ingredient, no matter the region, no matter the season, there is no excuse for something so tasteless !
The anti pasti was actually the only halfway decent dish. peppers, artichokes, olives, parmesan and mushroom. Not bad at all, pickled to perfection.
Both the pastas were highly recommended by our server, the pasta Paccheri was tomato, cheese mostly on a heavy pasta, the risotto was walnuts and cheese.
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