Flying Elephant, Park Hyatt, Chennai - New Menu Tasting

This being my first visit to this illustrious multi-level restaurant, I was eager to explore what the "Flying Elephant" has to offer the Chennai audience. This event was to introduce us to the new menu being brought out by the Park Hyatt team and was on an invite.

About 

The interesting name is surprisingly a reference to Lord Ganesh's lore. Once you step into the restaurant, your eyes are sure to be kept busy with the variety of sights this place has to offer. The setup is eclectic and refreshing to say the least.

Beautiful Design; tables set along the atrium's perimeter

The "Bedroom" - a private dining /  meeting area with its own steward overlooking everything. - Available on reservation

The Italian Open Kitchen

Indian breads being prepared

Shakin it up!

You'll see a cozy den in a depressed alcove on the ground floor adjoining a small bar. The den even houses interesting books to check out during the quiet hours with a drink.

The general layout is one interspersed with see-through kitchens and dining spots varying in  grandeur and detail.Like the red and gold embroidered Sindoori sheesha artwork adorning one section and the high-ceilinged second level with cane basket lighting that seems to evoke the orient. 

While the ground floor houses a dessert bar, the 

upper level has a vibrant Italian and Indian section with chefs shimmying away, moulding the respective breads before letting the ovens take over.

NB:

Comtemporary singer Thelma Hynes is now performing every day till the 15th november after 7 pm. Was nice to hear her live rendition of both older and more recent hits during the dinner.

Appetizers

Set menu for the night

The appetizers started off soon enough. We scanned the set-menu given to us and could see that the chosen dishes represented various cuisines with more steamed and braised items than fried.

Focaccia - a must try.

The first item to arrive on the table was a rousing loaf-like Focaccia that reminded us how scrumptious well-made bread actually is. Warm, delicately crusted and topped with hints of Italian seasoning, we couldn't help ladling the smooth salsa onto the fresh bread slices and chomping away.

Singapore Slaw salad - crispy vermicelli, pickle ginger, taro and apricot dressing

A huge portion of this salad was mixed in front of us adding the seasonings along with some crunchy peanuts too. Most Indians would feel at home eating this vermicelli based salad with refreshing bites of the ginger julienne and apricot dressing giving a fruity sweetness. The dish had a good bit of moistness.

An extra large portion of Singapore Slaw Salad

Table Decor

Tandoori Tarboose - Charcoal cooked watermelon, hung yoghurt chilli marination

Seeing this item on the menu, I was eager to see how they'd pull it off. In a few minutes, we heard an approaching sizzle and the portable tandoor was placed in front of us. The hung yoghurt's thick profile helped it coat the watermelon without dripping away. The heavy smoke was also adding its own flavors to the chunks. Chef mentioned he'd incorporated a kind of chilli into the marinade too which explained the surprisingly mouth-watering spiciness emerging as I bit in. Definitely a interesting take.

Steam Pork and prawn Shumai

This soft-shelled Shumai, a Chinese dumpling with roots in Mongolia was well-made. The inside was meaty yet smooth in texture. I gobbled one in its entirety and could feel the faint crunch and fishy flavor from the Swordfish rue (eggs). 

Wok fried chicken, Nonya chili sauce

This was probably the most "familiar" dish to us, chicken wok fried in Nonya chili sauce, very tender to the bite. An uncomplicated, easy-to-love Thai eat; lightly sweet and smoky with the occasional bite of lemongrass that kept things sprightly.

Cocktails

Sweet Child of Mine - : - Chocolate White rum, Cointreau, Triple Sec n white cream - very savoury

LA Woman - : - Whisky, coconut cream expresso; note the coffee bean!

Main Course

Seabass fillet within the shell

Branzino in crosta di sale e erbe - Roasted Seabass

Branzino in crosta di sale e erbe

Roasted Sea bass in sea salt and herbs, parsley baby potatoes, wilted spinach

The first dish in the main course was the healthful Roasted Sea bass whose sizeable fillet was enclosed in an outer shell and baked till nice n crisp. The pastry shell serves the purpose of keeping the moisture and flavors locked in. The fish was indeed delicious with the grits of sea salt adding to the satisfaction.

Ossobuco di agnello alla milanese

Lamb ossobuco "milanese style", saffron risotto

This Lamb Ossobuco was made from a hunk of a portion brought it from New Zealand! Slow-cooked for more than 7 hours to yield a melt-in-the-mouth texture that went well with the very creamy Saffron risotto whose flavors also served to mellow the prominent lamb flavor. More variety in the texture would have been lovely too.

Wok fried tofu with Singapore chili sauce

Silken tofu, tomato, onion, curry leaf, chili sauce 

I've never had good tofu before so this was a first. The silken tofu struck me in terms of its jelly like consistency and the Singapore style curry which had lemongrass was a good match with the jasmine rice served alongside.

Zaitooni khumb achari

Pickled olives, button mushroom in pickled gravy

Seeing pickled olives in an Indian gravy definitely piqued my interest and I was expecting a standout dish here. The Zaitooni khumb achari gravy was tasteful by itself, but the briny olives were a brilliant addition to it. We had the choice to have this with the jasmine rice and the flying naan but the rice proved to more well-suited.

Flying naan

This one was more a flatbread than a typical naan. An indulgent twist to the usual placid naan, it had quite a bit of chatpata flavors with cheese added on! Beautifully risen as well. Good enough to be be had on its own!

Dessert

Warm chocolate, almond and peanut butter brownies, peanut butter ice cream

This one was simple, homely goodness; freshly made and scrumptuous. Not too chocolatey. Prepared in a cast iron skillet, it aided to hold the heat for longer yielding a nice warm brownie.

Caramelized banana cake, soft serve ice cream

This one was superb. Simple, perfectly made; moist with the pleasing flavor of banana. The flambeing gave it a nice caramel note with a bite from the leftover alcohol. 

All-in-all a very good dinner with stand-out dishes! Combine this with the amazing ambiance of this place and you've got a nice evening to look forward whatever be your taste.

Robusta Kitchen, Wallace Garden, Chennai

Khader Nawaz Khan (KNK) road is host to most of the top brands across Chennai. You'll find posh outlets like Haagen Dazs, Amadora and the like along the row of restaurants in this area. Wallace Garden is the area parallel to KNK and is equally good. Robusta Kitchen is located surprisingly right above the famous Sandy's Chocolate Laboratory. Having been invited here to try their menu, it was interesting to try a vegetarian menu as a change. (Usually stick to my preference of non-veg)


Robusta Kitchen is on the second floor with some tables overlooking Wallace garden. The place being very new was still occupied by lots of guests. It seems its already quite popular with the vegetarian crowd as we saw some big groups eating too. There's the usual 4 seater tables which can be joined together in case you're a bigger group. That's what they did for us.

Entrance area of the restaurant.

So without further ado, lets talk about the food! The restaurant gave us the choice of ordering what we wished from the menu instead of a set-menu. This is good because shows that they can cook any dish in the menu confidently.

The menu needs a note: It's full of differently spelt items! A bit hard to read honestly because of the spelling and capitalisation but they have a simple explanation for every dish so it's fine.




The Lemon cilantro Souper

This one was thin and chock full of flavor. On first sip it seemed like the salt level was high but then the strong citrusy flavors kicked in and made it a flavor-bomb. A soup for those who like fresh, strong flavors.

Next came the Cheese Fondue Platter comprising Potato Wedgies, crisp vegetable cutlet sort of item and some healthy veggies. The cheese gravy was served hot and it was nice to dip these crisp lil eats into it and have a bite. 

AfgHAAN' Sexotikka: This funnily named dish packed quite an impact on all of us. From the lightly smoky paneer enhanced with the flavor of green and red peppers, the silken soft paneer was a delight to bite into. The paneer dishes at this place were all made with very fresh n soft paneer, so they were all a delight to have.

My- Zzarella Fritters


These freshly fried fingers of cheese, literally mozarella cheese breaded and fried. Although the dish was bland that's how a cheese flavor lover would appreciate this item. Salt level could be higher as well personally.

Desi Empanadas This was basically samosas, named with a twist and they were medium sized. Nice thick n crunchy shell and with a slightly spicy inside. Good stuff.

The French way with Cheese and Gravy

Another full-of-cheese dish for those who love the crunch of taters n cheese. Not as heavy as expected because most of the cheesiness was from the warm cheese gravy that also melted the grated che

Paneer Picka: A solid paneer starter dish, solid because of the lovely paneer I was talking about. The marinade was good too. 

Broccoli and Almond Dumplinger 

Decided to try one of the dumplings and this was a healthful one. With the slight flavor of broccoli and almonds, it was an interesting one, although mildly flavored. The fiery accompanying dip was quite hot. 

The Arrey Beta Dudeles which was our Maggi noodles cooked in Arabiatta sauce, carrot, corn n peas. The sauce gave it thickness but the underlying flavor was mostly maggi. Will be a good bet for those who like Maggi but I felt it was a bit confused in flavor and strong. 

The OverLOVEd Exotica Pizza

A thin to medium crust pizza with lots of cheese and every veggie out there including mushrooms, sweet corn, onions and peas, which some don't prefer in their pizza. I liked the bite of mushroom slices in there. 

Vegetable Biriyani

The manager recommended us to try the biriyani at this point since he said it would as yummy as a non-veg biriyani! Well, that was quite a claim so we had to test it. :D The biriyani arrived, and yes it was quite good for a vegetarian biriyani but still the flavor that meat imparts which makes meat biriyani unique was obviously missing. Still a pretty good attempt! Again, forgot to try the raita etc.

Oreo Shake

This cream laden oreo shake was lovely, not a thick shake but not light either with the flavor of oreo clearly in there.

Alfredo Pasta

This was Penne in Alredo sauce and it was made nicely. Not too clunky with thick cheese, I just had a bit to taste since I was getting quite full now.

CHILL-I Paneer: This was a proper Chilli Paneer, super crisp, fresh paneer and a tinge of sweetness from the sauces used. Would go very well on its own or with vegetable fried rice.

Red Velvet shake

   Finally it was the turn of the desserts to arrive, and they            came soon enough. The Tiramisu needed some definite            improvements in the flavoring and texture of the cake              however which we conveyed to the Chef, both the shakes        were quite good however. That concluded this nice eat-out      at Robusta! Will probably be back here with vegetarian            friends who want to eat at Nungambakkam.

Wharf 2.0 at Radisson Blu Temple Bay, Mahabalipuram, Chennai

Wharf - a level quayside area to which a ship may be moored to load or unload

Considering the meaning of this revamped resto-bar, the Wharf 2.0 does good justice to the tag. It reminded me of the Goan shacks I'd recently been to about a month back although those were much larger this one was elaborately constructed.















The main section has a huge central open cooking area where chefs can be seen doing prep-work n cooking and around this are sections of 3-4 tables.

There's a seperate bay nearby where cocktails and alcohol is made. Around the property there's a wire fence separating the hotel from the sands. The waves are only about 20 meters away so that sound is constant. There are also solo tables under their own thick straw roofs.

                              The set-menu: This was on an invite so this meal was on-the-house.

The decor was all lovely, all natural on the outside.

Relaxing by the bay beer in hand

Nice outdoor seating

To get to the restaurant one has to ride a buggy from the main entrance for about a minute! The hotel has a pretty large footprint and they grow some herbs and veggies too that are used for the dishes!

We chose a table with the best view of the beach and the Chef presented us with a set-menu for the noon.

While waiting for the first dishes to arrive we decided to try a cocktail from the coastal themed cocktail menu. I ordered the Beach Punch which was just what I needed in the balmy setting. A slightly strong mix mellowed at the top with coconut cream and Malibu, adding to the coconuttiness! Remember to give this one a good mix if you want the taste to be uniform though because of the plentiful ice. It was served in a lovely hammered brass mug that somehow suited this drink.

The pretty cocktails we tried! CW from top: Beach Punch, Hurricane, Big Wave and Sunkissed

The Amuse Bouche came in soon enough, surprisingly it was balls of rava with a green garnish! Interesting twist.










Now the menu itself was themed on the elements; Air, Earth, Fire but water was missing in our menu although it's represented in the restaurant's menu.

The starters constituted Aloo Shakarkand ki chilgoza ki tikki which was accompanied by a thick peanutty sauce and a mint one. This Earth inspired dish was a good start with a pleasant sweetness emerging and going well with the peanut dip. An easy eat.

The chef decided to surprise us with what has to be their Southern house favorite, Sutta Kozhi Milagu which had that lovely lipsmacking home-made spice flavor and the chicken supremely tender; a fresh, well-made dish. Sutta Kozhi means "Roasted chicken."

Another Wharf 2.0 Special that made its way was the Panko Crumbed Calamari with Walnut Thyme Spiked Aioli. Calamari was well-enclosed in a thick a super crunchy shell of panko crumbs. A nice crowd-pleaser and scrumptious to pick off one-by-one with the aioli.

Woody n Stone plating provided some Instagram-worthy shots!

The soup arrived now and it was a Thai Matcha Green Soup. It was poured into a receptacle-like bowl and looked, well, it just looked like an uninspiring green liquid. But the first sip of this creation was like a taste of home, scenes of the Pixar movie Ratatouille come to mind where snooty food critic Anton Ego has his taste-buds and mind blown. Hitting the right notes in terms of consistency, richness and that "green" broccoli flavor, without even slightly overdoing any one of those. Bet the Matcha tea made it healthy too! The bowl of accompanying fresh breads made for a soul-satisfying soup-sipping session.

Generous portions but we were too full!

Next came the "Fish chunks in an elephant garlic & mustard spice combination" (Inspired by Fire) which was nice enough, the chunks of fish were quite big so that they could be skewered easily without coming apart. A light mustard bitterness accompanied the fish. Would be a healthy eat to munch on with a chilled pint!

Fish chunks in an elephant garlic & mustard spice combination

The Corn Marinated chicken lemon pepper and celery Buerre blanc (Inspired by Air)

The Corn Marinated chicken lemon pepper and celery Buerre blanc (Inspired by Air) with its smoky peppery outer layer came with a satisfying sticky/smoked rice.

Khatte meethe aloo (Inspired by Fire) didn't make any impression although it looked beautiful. Being char-grilled with skins on, they'd lost most of their moisture and the flavors weren't really there.

Bhute aur gajar ki seekh (Inspired by Fire) was a crunchy, light subtly sweet seekh made from Carrots and corn-presumably grated.

Dal Makhani and Vegetable curry were served alongside naans. Dal Makhani had that tinge of sweetness and was nice with the buttered naans. There's always sachets of Amul butter kept on the table.

Finally the dessert which is Organic Turmeric and Palm Jaggery Frappe Mousse arrived. We shared one portion amongst the four of us since we were properly filled up by now. This was an interesting dessert, faint taste of the Turmeric while the sweetness from palm jaggery gave it a smokier profile than just sugar would. There were touches of pepper too distributed unevenly throughly the dessert. A subdued, dare I say, healthy dessert.