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.

CaperBerry - Bangalore

Rest : Caperberry

Loc : Dickenson Road,

Caperberry is touted as one of Bangalore's more progressive restaurants. While they have the DNA and the menu is imaginatively planned, they certainly seem to have lost their consistency somewhere along the way. 

Located on the ground floor of an office building, the space is modernish decked out in green (appropriately) although nothing about the space stands out in particular. The wear and tear is pretty evident as well.  

started off with some bread, which was pretty good, with olives etc, i was not a fan of this olive oil dipping sauce mixture. it was a sweetish mess which did nothing for me. 

the new aged caprese was super intriguing and i had to try it. served with speherified mozzarella with balsamic and olive oil drizzle and a tomato  

the tapas platter was actually like any other regular appetizer platter. The fig and feta caviar promised so much, unfortunately yielded no taste. the spinach and parmesan roll, sat in a cheesy base and it was terrific, easily the best thing they served, the olive croquets were pretty uninteresting too. 

unfortunately, i was dining with others which meant i had to go along to get along and i could not order anything i wanted to. Considering my choices had already fallen flat i was in no position to force the issue. The aglio olio was pretty bland, which is a bit shocking for a dish which has garlic and chili 

the porcini risotto was served with a fried nugget stuffed with mushroom. both were kind of underwhelming. the dish just did not have any life in it, the taste was just not there and again rather blandish. 

overall, the menu is experimental but practical and has plenty of safe dishes for one to try.  i found the flavours to be lacking outright and can only wonder if its the case for the best staff not being in the house for a regular weekday lunch service. 

Food : 4/10
Service : 8/10

Damage : 2500 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. 

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)