Restaurant Week Sep 2013 closed for me with Baluchi at the Lalit Ashok. Now, it wasn't completely my choice, but there are two decrees you generally can't oppose, one of God and the other of your Dearest Mother. So, when she picked the place, despite being skeptical about the food, I had to agree. My mum did go through the menu and preferred this place over a couple other North Indian serving places listed in RWI. A fellow foodie friend later pointed out it was a Thali system and that only made me more jittery about the place.
Anyways, we landed up on that Friday afternoon. The one boon of a five star is things like Parking get taken care of. So, we handed over the car and headed inside. There was some humdrum around the hotel, since a conference was happening and they seemed to have just broken for lunch. The restaurant we had booked however was absolutely empty. We got to choose our table and picked something with a view of the lawns.
As we were seated, we were handed the drinks menu and picked two mocktails. I asked the waiter for a menu for the Thali (since I had forgotten precisely what it consisted of) and he said they had no menu! This is amazing - I've made almost 8 visits overall across three Restaurant Weeks and I've always been handed a menu even if it is a fixed course. They always have a special RWI menu, even if it is just a stingy printout from a desktop inkjet. However, this place didn't deem it necessary to hand out one. I was further ticked off when the waiter was just unable to explain what the thali would have. How is 1 soup, 1 paneer starter, 1 paneer curry, 1 lentil, Pulao supposed to substitute for A mixed vegetable and tomato based soup, a Sarson Paneer Tikka, a Lahori Paneer which is wrapped sheets of paneer, Dal Bukhara and Zafrani Pulao? Let's also forget the many other things he didn't mention - I managed to pull out a menu from the website using my phone, just to make sure what it was that was going to arrive at our table. The meal consisted of:
Vegetarian Thali Menu
Subz Masale Ka Murakkat
An extract of selected vegetables, delicately blended with exotic herbs and spices
Dhuan Aur Sarson Ke Paneer
Smoked cottage cheese chunks marinated with yogurt based masala
Lahori Paneer Ke Parchey
Thin slices of grilled cottage cheese rolled over in rich cashew based gravy
Wah Wah Khumb
Quick Kadai Flipped mushrooms with goat cheese and onions
Bhuna Saag
A traditional pan seared spinach, fenugreek and khatta saag
Dal Baluchi
Baluchi signature! Our specialty Dal prepared overnight with lots of care to perfection
Zafrani pulao
Ulta tawa paratha
Zaffrani Rasmalai
(Pictures attached at the end)
The soup was decent, well tempered and I'll agree it was boiled and cooked carefully and slowly to perfection. The thali arrive with two pieces of the Ulta Tawa Paratha, Some Sarson Paneer tikka, little bit of salad on the side, the curries and the Rasmalai.
The Saag was a little too thick for my tastes but someone who loves spinach will love this curry. If you do look closely at the Paneer curry, you'll see the sheets of Paneer stuffed with some masala and then ever so carefully placed in the gravy. I was at once impressed with the concept as well as presentation. The Dal Bukhara - supposedly their signature dish, is Black lentils cooked overnight and then finished off with spices and cream. This was definitely the star of the Thali and definitely something you shouldn't miss if you come in here even for an a la carte meal.
Chef Lakshmi came and chatted us up a bit about how we liked the food, what we found lacking. I spoke to her about the Ulta Tawa Parathas being extremely filling despite not being too large and she told me that it is a special preparation, wherein if they use 2 kgs of Maida, they use 2 kgs of Ghee. I was intending initially to ask for another piece, but after the description of these measurements, decided otherwise! She did bring in more plain rotis however and that worked just fine.
We finished with the rotis and asked for the Pulao, which was a beautifully crafted each-grain-separate Pulao, with evident and visible strands of saffron and fried onions strewn around. A little sweet however, as were all the other dishes as well. I suppose it is the nature of the cuisine they serve and the cream, dry fruits, nuts, saffron, rose water, etc., turn everything to a mildly sweet tasting dish.
The Rasmalai was okay. Not really anything spectacular to write home about.
Service was not up to the mark of what you expect of a five star. There was no chutney for the starter or raita for the Pulao served - everything had to be asked for. A waitress even randomly walked up to us, asking us how our food was with the least air of discretion. Definitely disappointed with this aspect of the experience.
The bill overall for the two of us worked out to be Rs.2950 including Bottled water and the two mocktails. Very steep for the quality and quantity served I'd reckon. Also, I did manage to catch a glimpse of a flyer which spoke of an Express Lunch which is EXACTLY the RWI menu for the same price. I'd definitely recommend you not to book the place for RWI and visit it otherwise. Food-wise also, the Thali takes away from the whole essence of a fine-dining experience. I'd consider re-visiting for the Dal and some Kebabs maybe, but definitely not during RWI again.
http://www.zomato.com/review/ZbBkn
Anyways, we landed up on that Friday afternoon. The one boon of a five star is things like Parking get taken care of. So, we handed over the car and headed inside. There was some humdrum around the hotel, since a conference was happening and they seemed to have just broken for lunch. The restaurant we had booked however was absolutely empty. We got to choose our table and picked something with a view of the lawns.
As we were seated, we were handed the drinks menu and picked two mocktails. I asked the waiter for a menu for the Thali (since I had forgotten precisely what it consisted of) and he said they had no menu! This is amazing - I've made almost 8 visits overall across three Restaurant Weeks and I've always been handed a menu even if it is a fixed course. They always have a special RWI menu, even if it is just a stingy printout from a desktop inkjet. However, this place didn't deem it necessary to hand out one. I was further ticked off when the waiter was just unable to explain what the thali would have. How is 1 soup, 1 paneer starter, 1 paneer curry, 1 lentil, Pulao supposed to substitute for A mixed vegetable and tomato based soup, a Sarson Paneer Tikka, a Lahori Paneer which is wrapped sheets of paneer, Dal Bukhara and Zafrani Pulao? Let's also forget the many other things he didn't mention - I managed to pull out a menu from the website using my phone, just to make sure what it was that was going to arrive at our table. The meal consisted of:
Vegetarian Thali Menu
Subz Masale Ka Murakkat
An extract of selected vegetables, delicately blended with exotic herbs and spices
Dhuan Aur Sarson Ke Paneer
Smoked cottage cheese chunks marinated with yogurt based masala
Lahori Paneer Ke Parchey
Thin slices of grilled cottage cheese rolled over in rich cashew based gravy
Wah Wah Khumb
Quick Kadai Flipped mushrooms with goat cheese and onions
Bhuna Saag
A traditional pan seared spinach, fenugreek and khatta saag
Dal Baluchi
Baluchi signature! Our specialty Dal prepared overnight with lots of care to perfection
Zafrani pulao
Ulta tawa paratha
Zaffrani Rasmalai
(Pictures attached at the end)
The soup was decent, well tempered and I'll agree it was boiled and cooked carefully and slowly to perfection. The thali arrive with two pieces of the Ulta Tawa Paratha, Some Sarson Paneer tikka, little bit of salad on the side, the curries and the Rasmalai.
The Saag was a little too thick for my tastes but someone who loves spinach will love this curry. If you do look closely at the Paneer curry, you'll see the sheets of Paneer stuffed with some masala and then ever so carefully placed in the gravy. I was at once impressed with the concept as well as presentation. The Dal Bukhara - supposedly their signature dish, is Black lentils cooked overnight and then finished off with spices and cream. This was definitely the star of the Thali and definitely something you shouldn't miss if you come in here even for an a la carte meal.
Chef Lakshmi came and chatted us up a bit about how we liked the food, what we found lacking. I spoke to her about the Ulta Tawa Parathas being extremely filling despite not being too large and she told me that it is a special preparation, wherein if they use 2 kgs of Maida, they use 2 kgs of Ghee. I was intending initially to ask for another piece, but after the description of these measurements, decided otherwise! She did bring in more plain rotis however and that worked just fine.
We finished with the rotis and asked for the Pulao, which was a beautifully crafted each-grain-separate Pulao, with evident and visible strands of saffron and fried onions strewn around. A little sweet however, as were all the other dishes as well. I suppose it is the nature of the cuisine they serve and the cream, dry fruits, nuts, saffron, rose water, etc., turn everything to a mildly sweet tasting dish.
The Rasmalai was okay. Not really anything spectacular to write home about.
Service was not up to the mark of what you expect of a five star. There was no chutney for the starter or raita for the Pulao served - everything had to be asked for. A waitress even randomly walked up to us, asking us how our food was with the least air of discretion. Definitely disappointed with this aspect of the experience.
The bill overall for the two of us worked out to be Rs.2950 including Bottled water and the two mocktails. Very steep for the quality and quantity served I'd reckon. Also, I did manage to catch a glimpse of a flyer which spoke of an Express Lunch which is EXACTLY the RWI menu for the same price. I'd definitely recommend you not to book the place for RWI and visit it otherwise. Food-wise also, the Thali takes away from the whole essence of a fine-dining experience. I'd consider re-visiting for the Dal and some Kebabs maybe, but definitely not during RWI again.
http://www.zomato.com/review/ZbBkn
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