The Table

Rest : The Table
Meal : Dinner
Loc : Colaba 

I have long considered The Table to be the best restaurant in the city, the ambiance is lovely, black and white floors, dim lighting, jazz music. I only wish they had a zinc bar it would have been damn near perfect.

the menu is fairly eclectic and adjusts according to what kind of ingredients are available. for the most part the menu hasn't changed in a while. they do the small plates tapas style selections as well as larger main's, i am not a fan of the setup but they make it work. 

they do some great fresh bread, just loved it. 

the truffle fries are an evil creation and must be had. MUST. 

Roast Veg Tacos were fantastic, a little on the spicy side but the best thing ever, i had to literally pause after taking a bite. Served with a side of some excellent fresh salsa and not so great pico de gallo.

got a side of asparagus and parmesan because i couldn't help myself. okay, the rosemary potato would have been a better choice. 

The Lasagna Verdi was Ricotta and Spinach pasta in the most delicious sauce. Stunning little dish this was. Rarely have i seen a lasagna basked this well, usually it falls apart the moment you begin to cut it. 

the weakest dish of the evening was the spaghetti. Its unfortunate that restaurants serve this version where they create some sort of a stock base, it never works. Smoke House Deli used to do a brilliant aglio olio which was then replaced by this version and called boss style and it sucks. 

In any case, the meal was stellar despite the weak pasta. I wish they had a slightly larger menu.

The portions on the large plates could be slightly larger as well, they were just about adequate. Place does a mean Old Fashioned and an even meaner Margarita, do give them a try.



Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage : 3200 for two without drinks.

Arola with Chef Sergi Arola

So every once in a while, the sun shines on me, JW Marriott has brought Arola Restaurant & Bar to life by converting a corner of their hotel into a pretty snazzy eatery. The lights are dim, the space comfortable and the bar stools impossibly high.

The concept is of Spanish/Tapas style individual dishes to be shared by the table, more appetizers then courses, mostly Catalan/Spanish but not strictly limited to the area. The Marriott already had 3 restaurants, a humongous coffee shop, a bar and a night club. To add a relatively risky proposition  like this is laudable. Pity they are in Juhu.

I had the opportunity to dine with Sergi Arola himself and its not everyday that one gets to hang with a Michelin Star chef (although its my fourth 'star' meal and second time hanging with a star chef in the last twelve months)  the man speaks his mind and is passionate about his food.

Not to judge a book by its cover but Sergi has a vibe that is more of a rock n roll biker than two star Michelin chef.  Even more interestingly the man has trained and worked with both Ferran Adria & Pierre Gagnaire which is the equivalent of being mates with Superman & Batman.  

While I waited for the rest to troop in i sipped on a delicious Sangria and noshed on even more awesome olives.

In no time at all the party had accumulated, my fellow diners were a fun food and booze loving bunch.  @CulinaryMuse1 @nikhil_merchant @MissShwe @Manvi22 @romibites, @shweta_m89.

Interestingly enough, one of the first things brought out was a bunch of Naan's served with salsa, salt, olive oil and cloves of garlic & no instructions of what to do. Sergi mischievously kept deflecting when asked how to go about it.

There really is only one way, you rub the oil, then the garlic, sprinkle some salt and then salsa on to taste. Frankly, i couldn't stop, i just kept going after them Naan's. Its a great way of being faithful to the concept yet incorporating local dishes/ideas/produce.

The salad was tomato, onion, olives with olive oil, the dish was all about freshness, frozen ingredients and it would die pretty quickly.

The eggplant carpaccio was okay, a little bland but not bad overall.  

The Patata Bravas were deranged, sauce and cheese and potato.. bite sized little babies would do all kinds of wonderful things when popped into your mouth. Impossible to stop at one.

The desserts again were okay, the lemon sorbet was uneven and much too hard, the chocolate looking thing was actually possibly tamarind based which was weirdly good an the chocolate soufflé thingy was on the money. 

Overall, the place has a very nice ambiance, the drinks are great, especially their Gin bar and the decadent gin and tonic served in a huge goblet with a burnt orange peel. That thing will shake the sadness out of you. The food is interesting, I didn't get a chance to look at their regular menu but from what we were served the dishes are middle of th road.  The flavour profile is relatively weaker and I think the Indian palate will struggle and find them bland.  On the one hand i think Indians need to up their game and accept newer flavours like they have for Teppan and Sushi but from the restaurant point of view, some dishes might need a tweak as well.

Without a doubt it is worth a look. 

Le Mill - Cafe Pico

Le Mill is an oddly located store which  houses furniture, clothing, a  florist and an outlet of Cafe Pico.

Cafe Pico has lately been on an expansion spree and have also set up at the horrid Phoenix Market City.

Anyway, Le Mill is located in Masjid Bunder, which is actually about 10 mins from where i live but having never been there it took us about 20 to locate the place.

Located in an old mill, the place is a smashing, if we had more offices like this, the city would be a lot more fun to work in. The mill structure has been retained and the old worn out industrila motif has been carried significantly forward.

The architect was a year junior to me in high school. 

The menu is plenty interesting, like most popular restaurants/cafes in the city, it too has a strong Mediterranean bent.

The salads especially are very interesting and on the money.

We were there on Sunday and they were serving a Sunday Brunch which was culled from the menu.

A little disappointed by that but it is what it is.  The staff however were willing to get us items for the menu if we so wished (we didn't, i hate pushing chefs to do things the don't want to)

The Fritata, was okay. Fits in well with the menu but not the strongest of flavours.

The Orange Juice was prfct, had more than a glass, and it would have made a kickass mimosa (one should definetely try a Mimosa at Indigo Deli made with Malta Oranges, smashing.

The rest of the brunch was the usual suspects, a bunch of egg preparations, french toast, muesli, eggs sunny side up.

 Smashing pancakes with a side of maple syrup. I wish they served some fruit compote but they didnt have any. We made our own little strawberry spread with fresh strawberries they were serving.

This was the poached figs with pecorino i think, again not bad at all, bitter leaves, sweet figs and a regulation cheese. Not bad.

The Barley salad with some cherry tomato, french beans in a sort of lemony dressing, was very summery. Went back for seconds.

 They also serve mains made to order, the one we shared was a pesto main, which was not too bad, a little under salted but that was easily remedied.

Overall, The Cafe Pico is a victory of design, rather than the usual, overly laid out spaces one tends to visit nowadays, this one is the other way, quite under designed which makes it very interesting  to be in and around.

However, the food is imaginative and actually pretty decent, worth a go, perhaps the other locations will be in keeping with the theme. Price wise, the restaurant offers way more value for money than similar places and we need more evenly priced locations in this city.

Maybe its compensation for the trek one must make to find it.

Food : 7/10
Service : 7/10
Damage : 800pp for brunch Non Alcoholic Beverages (250 for OJ & a can of Sprite)

(Something is seriously wrong with my template, ergo why the pics and text are a little out of whack)

Amaedus

Rest : Amadeus Meal :
Meal  : Lunch
Loc : NCPA, Nariman Point

Having finished a much delayed meeting at Nariman Point, we were thinking about a spot of lunch, parking woes meant Status was out of the question and i did not want to lunch at my club (MCA-Garware) because i end up there often enough with my dad.

The wife loves Amadeus and since the rest of our schedule had been thrown out the door we decided to head on there to check it out once again. I have written about Amadeus before so i wont go into the decor which is high end.

Amadeus has a new lunch gig going, they call it the flying buffet which basically means they bring out the appetizers, mains and desserts to your table. You choose from a shot of soup, three starters and three mini mains and two desserts. If you think that is a lot, you would be right.

While the bread itself is not too bad, the herbed butter is awesome, especially the spicy tomato butter. The whole thing disappears in about three minutes.

That looks like a little heart of balsamic vinegar with olive oil.. its my fav dip for bread, mixing the two. 

a giant delicious glass of iced tea, reminds me of those giant glasses one gets at Blue Food restaurants.. pity Blue Foods cant do a meal to save their lives though.

Started off with fried corn, which tasted creamy, not bad but the portion was huge. The Catalan potato, was spectacular, brilliant heavy handed flavour, tongue numbingly good. Proceeded to wolf the whole thing down.

Jalapeno and goat cheese pizza, brilliant, there were some pieces of sweetish onions thrown in there for good measure. Very well done.

The Gazpacho was terrific, a tad spicy but terrific. They need to serve larger portions of it, was at a party eons ago (perhaps at Indigo Deli) where they served gazpacho shots, thought the same thing then too..Good Gazpacho deserves larger portions.

The crepes three ways were spinach, avocado and Sicilian.In all honesty, i would have preferred all three of the Crepes to be Sicilian as it was brilliant, a little spicy but nonetheless brilliant. While the spinach was not bad, the avocado was bland. 

The paella was decent, tasted pretty good, however i am not a paella fan, would have been happier had they served one of their tagines. The wife loved it enough to want to make paella at home..

Grilled veggies (not pictured here)in Romesco sauce was basically like a Spanish Pesto sauce, not bad, i loved that the veggies were crispy. 

Chocolate ice cream with almonds and something orangey.. not bad though i had to strain to find the hints of orange.

The kahlua tiramisu was deranged, spectacular, if you ant to know how good it was, the wife said it was almost as good as the tiramisu she had in Milan (against which all tiramisu is judged)

Overall, the ambiance is nice, the service quick and friendly, the lunch seems to be popular too as i counted about 50-60 covers while we were there.

The food is good, the appetizers were fantastic and could have been a meal in themselves.

The entrées were not bad but definitely the weaker part of the meal. A little more finesse here and the meal would go from good to great. The dessert too was top notch.

Amadeus is a strong choice for a business lunch/working lunch, you do not have to get up to get food and there is enough choice to keep you interested. Price wise the lunch is way cheaper and more value for money than an Indigo or a meal at the Oberoi next door but its not cheap.

Be advised that the portions are HUGE, you would be lucky if you made it to dessert.

Food : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Damage: 2250 (850pp)