Pure

Rest: Pure
Loc : Taj Lands End, Bandra Bandstand
Meal : Dinner

Pure is a place i have been wanting to try for a long time and we finally made it there after months of planning and canceling. The restaurant is fairly different in terms of target audience, surprisingly in Bandra where this may or may not work.

The place is brilliantly designed, all white but with a section which is all black and candle lit. I personally prefer the black section. The menu is a mix of Italian & Continental but is fairly limited. One can choose from the a la carte or the two tasting menus (3050+ taxes p/p for or smaller menu with matched with wine or scotch at 4000 pp)

I usually prefer going for the menu and that is exactly what i did.

The first thing we recieved was the amuse brioche which was watermelon, goat cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar. A palate cleanser, which is on the house. brilliant! It looked like Salmon to me.

The bread service was some grilled bread with a dip, i cant recall it but it was not too bad! nothing spectacular though.

The avocado carpaccio came highly not recommended, when our server asked us to try it we said why we werent. He brought out a portion anyway so we could make up our own mind. Well, it was bland, even with the drizzle of balsmic vinegar and cherry tomato a taste could not be found.

Appetizer was baked goat cheese with croutons in a tomato sauce. The goat cheese was incredible, a taste that would envelop your entire mouth. The croutons it came with were interesting. However i think the tomato sauce it came with, which was meant to be spicy was more on the sour side, which did not add anything to the dish.

The grilled white & green asparagus was served on a bed of olive paste. While slightly on the ordinary side the taste was pretty on the money, the olives were incredible and added a great dimension to the asparagus.

Baked Lasagna, i know its a cop out to really order lasagna at a place like Pure but the other was a spinach and feta cheese filo, while i love the idea of spinach and feta i don't like filos. The lasagna was a complex dish,flavors hidden under the spinach, goat cheese and the pasta and the veggies.
pasta by itself was bland, the sauce was sour but the whole thing worked as a dish.

The porcini mushroom & black truffle risotto, a dish that is done at Vetro (with wild mushrooms i think) and it did not work at all. Completely bland, banal. No taste to it, nothing hidden anywhere either.

A side order of mashed potato with pepper & parmesan. Wow. This should be a bloody entree, it was effing brilliant.

The wife had a pomegranate juice, which was well pomengranate juice, glass of a Tarapa Sauvignon Blanc was not bad. I was looking forward to a glass of port but was too full to go for it.

Overall: I personally think the restaurant is badly marketed as a organic food experience, the experience is about the taste & ambiance and not about ingredients. The ambiance and service at Pure is very much on the higher end, therefore marketing it as 'organic' seems unimaginative. They have all the ingredients, they just need to fine tune and buff up somewhat so they can deliver what they seem to promise.

The food really needs work, it is either too bland or lacks flavor, i understand we Indians like heavy tastes but i am sure we can appreciate subtlety however i draw the line at blandness.

It took too long to get the dishes out which is usually fine by me. However they should work on having some more palate cleansers, maybe sorbets or throw in some more bread to keep people from passing out due to hunger. The menu desperately needs more volume, throw in another course to add depth.

The pricing is extremely high, Indigo is def a lot more value for money and the food is better there as well.

Service : I think Pure offered the best service i have had in a long long time. Not only were they well trained, offering insight and suggestions they wanted to do a good job. Bringing out the avocado just so i could try it for myself and forming my own opinion was a brilliant touch. When they found out we didn't like the risotto they removed it from the check and hearing it was our anniversary they brought us a WHOLE cake (which we shared with them)

the food might not be great but service like this is hard to find. I think restaurateurs should pop into Pure to learn how clients need to be serviced.

I would love to go there once again and give them another shot, maybe discuss things with the chef before picking my dishes. Most of all, go there for the service.

Food : 6/10
Service : 10/10 (A first on this blog in 4 years)
Damage : Catastrophic 4942 ($100)

Pure
Taj Lands End Hotel
Bandstand, Bandra (W), Mumbai
Phone 66681234