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I’ve heard
of its existence since the day I arrived in Ahmedabad years ago. Back then it
was a very popular restaurant and given its locale, it did not come as a
surprise to me. I had visited this restaurant several times in the past and the
service and staff had always been good. The food however failed to impress me. Not
that it was bad but it just lacked the wow factor. So when I heard that the
place had been revamped, I thought wow, about time it moved with the times. So when
we were invited for a tasting, I leaped forward.
They have
redone both, the interiors as well as the exterior of the restaurant and it
looks really suave now. The modern art on the walls of the restaurant provide
it with the much needed appeal. The tiny windows with intricate frames and wooden
shutters look really nice. All in all, they set the mood for you as you enter
the new place with new expectations. The menu too has been given a makeover and
that was what I was more interested in, since I wanted to know what dishes have
been dropped and what new cuisine has replaced the old one.
Coming to
the seating, it is quite comfortable if you adjust the distance of the table to
your chair on your own. Its quite doable sine the furniture is quite light and
so that should not be an issue. Different people like the distance in different
way so you cannot really blame the restaurant.
I’ll start
by giving the ratings to the food first and then explain the reason for the
same.
è Cucumber mint mojito - 2/5
è Berry San Francisco - 2/5
è Burmese Khow Suey Bowl – 4.5/5
è San Marino Cappuccino – 2.5/5
è Lebanese Platter – 4/5
è Leon Style Cottage cheese – 4/5
è Fauladi Paneer Tikka – 2.5/5
è Fattoush Salad – 4/5
è Lasagna – 1.5/5
è Mexican Twist Blast – 2.5/5
è Massaman Curry – 3.5/5
è Chiang Mai Noodles – 2/5
è The Avengers – 3/5
è Paneer Shaan-E-Nawabi – 2.5/5
è Paneer Dhaniya Korma – 3.5/5
è Laziz Kofta – 3.5/5
è Subz Begum Bahar – 3/5
è Bread Basket – 4.5/5
è Nawabi Biryani – 2.5/5
è Brownie Fruit cake Fudge Sundae – 3.5/5
è Orange Flavoured Darsan – 2/5
è Faluda – 3.5/5
è Gulkand Gulab Jamun – 2/5
To begin
with, both the drinks felt very syrup-y. you could taste the cucumber in the
cucumber mint mojito but it was the syrup and not the fresh flavor that you’d
expect of a drink. Also, there was no mint flavor whatsoever because the
cucumber syrup had masked all the other flavours in the drink. The same was the
case with the berry san Francisco. It was more like a strawberry-colada. Strawberry
syrup in coconut milk. None of the drinks felt refreshing, which is what they
are supposed to feel like especially at the start of the meal. On the contrary the
berry drink was quite heavy. You don’t want to order that before your dinner.
We loved the
Burmese Khow Suey bowl. It came with an array of ingredients, some fresh, some
fried that you could add as toppings to your soup and the quantity too was humongous.
The flavours were fresh and subtle and nothing was overly done. So that is a
dish that I recommend, i.e. if they are consistent with the taste, you’ll definitely
enjoy this one. The second soup, san marino cappuccino, had no flavor of coffee
or espresso whatsoever. It tasted more like a coconut rasam, so I don’t know the
basis behind this nomenclature.
The Lebanese
platter was a delight to look at. They had served sliced of pita along with
crispy flat bread which was accompanied by labneh and hummus and some sort of a
tomato dip of theirs. The dips went well with the breads. We also liked the
leon style cottage cheese which was a stick of paneer with some sort of spinach
filling encrusted in bread crumbs and deep fried to a golden perfection. The mayo
sauce however, that was served alongside, did not do the dish any justice. It went
perfectly well with the green chutney. The fauladi paneer tikka was good to
look at but too dry to swallow on its own. The best of all was the fattoush
salad. Fresh and aromatic. Loved the combination of the ingredients. It would
have been a 5/5 if they had an appropriate amount of dressing for the same.
The main
course was kind of a disaster. The world cuisine i.e., not the indian main
course. The lasagna had a very Punjabi taste to it which was weird. The sauce
felt like a Punjabi gravy and it had ingredients in it that weren’t supposed to
be there. The pasta was al Dante but that did not really matter since the sauce
wasn’t what we expected. The Mexican twist blast again belonged to the category
of visual delights but unfortunately, it had very few Mexican ingredients and
did not taste Mexican at all. Also it was more of a Hodge podgy kind of a dish
where you could not taste the individual flavor of any ingredient. A bad dish
that had a wonderful presentation. We were given the masssaman curry which
again was a coconut overkill and I don’t know why that was given as there was
nothing to which we could add the curry to. The chiang mai noodles were cooked
perfectly but again had the distinct coconut flavor to it, which isn’t an issue
the whole dish in itself lacked flavor and felt very bland. The avengers is
their version of a sizzler sans the hot plate. It did taste good. It had patties
that were covered in different sauces which went well with the other accompaniments.
The indian
main course was way better than it’s other counterpart. However, we could not
feel any major difference in the gravies of any of the subzis. The taste was
good, a typical Punjabi gravy with different attractions, some had koftas while
others had paneer but the base, even if it had a different colour, felt the
same in taste. The breads were amazing however. Be it the naan or the paratha or
the roti, it was all very good. The nawabi biryani was a miss however. It was
plain old pulao that needed more punch and regulated flavor. Better avoided. There
was a dal darbari on the menu but that never arrived so I cannot comment on
that.
The desserts
were a mixed scene of both indian and western and also a mixed scene of
deliciousness and blunders. The faluda and the fudge sundae would be the ones
that I can place under the category of delicious where as the orange flavoured
darsan and the gulkand gulab jamun were a disaster. The darsan did not have any
distinct orange flavor to it and the quantity of the fried ice cream was too meagre
compared to the chips they had provided with it. the gulab jamun was huge to
look at but I guess that is the reason for it not getting soaked to its core
with the sugar syrup making it hard and dry at the center instead of how it
should have been, soft and gooey.
If you want
to have an indian main course with good soups and salads, this is the place for
you. But if you are a fan of the vivid varieties of the world cuisine, it could
be a complete hit or miss for you.
Bon Appetit!
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