26 February,2010 11:55 AM IST | | L Romal M Singh
The city has many restaurants that boast of delicious seafood platters and dishes, if you're in the mood for the whole experience sans all the mess, however, head to this restaurant, on the outskirts of the city
The first thing that comes to a hard-core South Indian such as myself, when I think of seafood is -- strong spices; sour masalas; deep fried pieces of heaven that don't particularly look appetising, but do taste like heaven; lemon juice in abundance; mounds of soft white rice and probably a glass of buttermilk to end it all. Finesse and beautiful servings didn't seem to be the priorities on my list of must-haves, till now.
What started off as a really long yet relaxing drive, to one of the city's new suburbs nicely tucked away amidst the sprawling outskirts, ended in a meal that I can still remember. No points in guessing how amazing the ambience was! I almost assumed I was in some tropical paradise for a bit. The blazing sun lit up everything around me and the tinted glass cooled down the insides of the spacious dining area. Outside the sheer variety of flora caught my attention, the multi-coloured bird of paradise blooms made me want to huddle up in some corner and eat comfort food that didn't require too much of an effort. It's almost like the powers above heard my prayers and my meal began with a fruity yet wholesome fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice. Ah! What bliss!
What followed requires elaborate description, yet I shall try and summarize as concisely as I possibly can. We started off with the amuse bouchu00e9 trio -- a set of three appetizers, lobster on shallot and basil blinis (a yummy bite sized treat), prawn tempura with plumb chilli and black pepper compote (the normal Japanese delight with a heady sauce), and a seafood samosa with red chilli dip (an interesting seafood avatar of the always-loved kheema samosa). The appetizers could constitute a meal in itself if consumed more than once each, but I decided to move on.
The salad that followed was rather interesting with a mayonnaise base mildly flavoured with mango and ginger and rounded off perfectly with a red wine reduction. I found it very intriguing with such a mu00e9lange of flavours, but did feel that the mango could have done with a little more tanginess. A strong tangy salad dressing always does wonders and with assorted seafood being the salad in question, I'm sure a zestier mango mayonnaise would have been better.
I decided to then head straight for main course, and was served a rather refreshing grilled fish with pesto and white wine. The fish was grilled to perfection and a joy to dig into and what made it more of the crowning glory was the bed of Caribbean curried potatoes it was served on and the accompanying side of grilled vegetables.
Add to this wonderful meal, the balsamic reduction that topped it all off and you'll see why I was so impressed.
Tummy full and thoroughly satiated with good food, the desserts lived up to my every expectation. I was amused to be served an ice-cream that was salted and paired with a chocolate pie, but all my distrust melted away in the first bite. This is surely a must try.
My other option was a kahlua infused rasmalai paired with orange pannacotta, and was equally pleasing and good to taste. For once, fruity didn't win over chocolate and that's quite a surprise, even to me!
The meal was perfect and the ambience even better, the only thing missing was a setting and these guys seem to have looked after that too. Head to this venue every Friday and catch all this and much more. You can look out for live cooking stations, candle lit barbeques and grill stations, cyclic Indian live counters, anti pasti and dessert buffets apart from the delicious menu that I tried out. It surely is a nice way to start of a weekend full of positive promises.
At: By Hook or Cook, The Royal Orchid Suites, Whitefield
On: Fridays, every week
Priced at: Rs 499 inclusive of taxes and two beer mugs or one glass of sparkling wine
Call: 4251 2345
