Monday, November 01, 2010

Tote on the Turf - Menu Relaunch

Tote on the Turf has been a popular venue ever since its launch last year. I have been there on a few occasions and have always enjoyed its modern design and laid back ambiance.

One of the things i always found wanting at TnT was its lack of risk taking with regards to the menu. The food was good, the menu itself quite expansive yet it lacked a degree of imagination which one would expect from an Akerkar restaurant.

So when i received an invite for the relaunc of TnT's menu, i was quite excited to check it out. My visits to TnT can be found here, here and here

The bar talent at TnT is pretty accompalished, never had trouble with my cocktails there. The Mojito was refreshing.

The wife ordered some pink, pomengranate monstrosity which i sipped while she was in the powder room. Very nice..

Now, to the good stuff. The salad, fruits, olives, greens in a sweet drizzle with feta cheese. The greens were bitter and offset by the dressing. The fresh, feta gave it just another dimension. One of the best salads i have had the pleasure of meeting and eating.

A relatively safer choice by the wife, the tomato soup was not bad but lacked bite or a memorable aftertaste.

The Gnocchi was one of the first courses we chose, it came with onion rings and an onion sauce. It worked quite well as a whole, you had to mix up the sauce with the gnocchi, i enjoyed this dish. Not very complex in terms of taste but still pretty good.

Baked camembert with garlic toast, rosemary potato and some greens. Wow, a great concept, executed well. My chief gripe with this if you can call it that was that the set of cheese was just too large. The dish worked very well no doubt but another addition to the montage would have impressive.


Aah, the creamy, mushroomy fettuicini, what can i say about this except bravo. A few kinds of mushrooms in a mushroom sauce, seems like overkill but it was not. Worked very well, a heavy dish with just the right portion size.

A hunk of paneer in a leek sauce with a chilli salsa. Again, a better sum of its parts this one. The salsa was incredible and totally elevated this dish to another level. Smart move to limit it to a smear, going overboard would have been excessive.

The tiramisu, was okay, no great shakes. Their ice cream was melting and therefore i got an Orange sorbet. this is not on the menu but if you like a sweet tang to your sorbet, ask for this. It will rock your taste buds.

I would also highly recommend skipping dessert and getting their cheese platter, it is the cheese platter against which all others are measured.

Overall, my thoughts, the menu this time is def more interesting than the old one. There were some old staples, namely the pizzas (which are fantastic here) and some new dishes. The focus on the grill continues which is a good sign. I am hoping one of these days they experiment with the middle eastern side of the Mediterranean.

Possibly one of the largest dining spaces outside a 5 star and packed to the gills, they get full marks for attentive and friendly service all around (i wish i could say the same for Indigo Deli, a place i frequent more than any other)

The prices too have gone up a notch, so be prepared to pay for the good stuff.

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : Was there via invitation.

7 comments:

Kalyan Karmakar said...

feels good when a favourite delivers time after time right? seems very tempting

Priyanca Vaishnav said...

Gaurav! back after a long time to your blog. uhm, a request this time though - i want to do a parallel - "Eating out in Hyderabad". Yes just moved to hyd, and the food's been making me rave. Can I? Can I? Can I? [read: please! please! pretty please?]

Priyanca

Gaurav said...

KK, you will like it, they have some interesting dishes for carnivores. I enjoyed my evening out immensely.

Priyanca, go ahead.. its a free country. You dont need my permission :) good luck.

Anonymous said...

Hi Gaurav,

I am a closet foodie, because i am forever on a diet but love reading about food and new places to eat at.

I loved the detailed reviews you do with photographs of food inserted. But I have a small grouse: You seem to have your favourites and I think you keep going back to them. Would love you to try newer places and review them.

Kasturi said...

And I have no idea why it shows me as anonymous - Kasturi

Gaurav said...

Kasturi,

thanks for your comment.
guilty as charged. but in my defense i am not a restaurant critic.

the blog is a byproduct of my eating out not the other way around.

since i go out and pay for the meals out of pocket, i prefer going places that will offer a good experience. many a time that boils down to tried and true places.

i am trying to build in some variety though... if you compare the previous years posts to this years, there is def a lot more variety this time around.

keep writing.
cheers

Anonymous said...

Great post! I’m looking to make some changes in my own eating habits and learning to cook, so I appreciate your insight a lot! Thank you. I recently stumbled upon this blog like I did yours and I thought your readers may appreciate it: http://burisonthecouch.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/food-for-thought/

I’ve started to look for blog help more regularly and I think I’m going to add your blog to my list as well. Thanks for the post!

-Amy

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