A 120 seater restaurant in Noida Sector 63. If that continues to remain open for more than a year, they must be doing something right. And, they have been around for a year. The first time I got their invitation was almost six months back.
But I have been to other restaurants which have the same format – impressive range of grilled starters, a more extensive range of main course and desserts. The started are served on the table, with a live grill at the center of the table to enhance the experience. You get the picture, you must have been to one or the other.
So, once you are seated and see the beverage card on the table, it is a pleasant surprise. Grilled mocktails. I had never heard of any such thing before and I was also curious why they kept it a secret. It was not mentioned in the Zomato menu.
Anyway, I tried the Winter slide and the Barbequed Projkas, both of which were awesome, though a tad too sweet. The winter slide was a grilled pineapple drink, mildly flavoured with pepper. The Projkas had grilled lemon and mint leaves, though none of the elements were overpowering, the combination was delicious.
Given the range of things on offer, it is difficult to write comprehensively about the food. So, let me just cover the ones I remember. First, the grilled pineapple, which is awesome at a few places, was tangy with a coat of spices. Caramelization makes the top layer sweet, that was missing in this case.
The tai pai fish was one of the better offerings. In a light Chinese sauce the fish was delicate and nice to bite into. So, was shanghai chicken. Both came with mild sauces and soft pieces. The lemony garlic prawn did not taste of lemon but I did not complain. There was a light coating of spice and that is how prawn should be served, nothing to ruin the mild flavours of the fish.
Murg tikka jalandhari was melt in mouth. I took multiple bites of the chicken and asked for an extra helping. It was shameful that among all those dishes, I had to love the chicken! Pesto grilled vegetable was too spicy and too much of pesto mush to taste anything else.
Bhutte ki Shammi kebab was soft and broke at the touch of fork. Quite a mess to eat but do you want a shammi that does not do exactly that? I was impressed with the texture – grainy, moist and a little browner at the top.
The starters always fill you up at restaurants based on this format. Main course was only for sampling. So, I literally dipped a spoon into all the dishes and tried. The rajma was very good, the corn palak was not, the bhindi masala was good, the lotus stem curry was not. As with the starters, the Chinese dishes in the main course were superb.
As per the desserts, the gulab jamun was very good. The beet root halwa was different but thankfully, didn’t taste weird. There were cakes, bakes and chocolate desserts on offers but I was at a point where I could not even look at food. So, I gave up.
The overall experience was overwhelming. The service was prompt, the food was majorly good, I will remember the mocktails mostly. Best of all, it is value for money and when a friend comes from out of town, an absolute treat.
