022, the all-day dining restaurant at the Trident, named after the city's telephone code, is the place to go for a taste of the good life

Escaping to a world of high ceilings and expansive interiors can be reassuring: there's usually someone to pull out your chair and fold your napkin for you. The smiles, like the water poured into your very expensive glass, will be sparkling, and the interiors, much like the service, will be cheerful.

If God really does lie in the details, it might be time to seek spiritual solace in the soft pat of butter placed thoughtfully near your side plate. Warm bread rolls will follow, while you glance through the menu and wonder what it is you, "feel like today". Thin-crust pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven? Chicken Tikka Kebabs? A nice, juicy steak? At the 022, it's all about choices: lots of them. If you decide to spare yourself the bother of making a decision, the buffet is a good bet.

If you're feeling more-than-peckish, but less-than-famished opt for the Salad Buffet (Rs 667 plus taxes). Besides the salads, you get to choose from cold cuts, a varied sushi platter, cheeses, and Mediterranean dips. Iceberg lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes, gherkins, pickled cucumbers and croutons are some of the ingredients you can ask to have tossed in a salad of your choice or request instead for a popular one, which the chefs will have sent to your table.u00a0

The Dinner Buffet (Rs 1,289 plus taxes) offers Indian, continental and Mediterranean cuisine, and is decidedly lavish. Salads, pastas, pizzas, tikkas, hearty dals, biryanis and rotis are just some of your options. Not impressed? You could request for some pasta in an Alfredo sauce or a Bhindi Masala or whatever it is that you want.u00a0

The dessert counter has a staggering variety of options including cheesecakes, baked yoghurts, gulab jamoons, cakes and ice creams.
The cheeses and cold cuts are fresh, and the salads crisp and flavourful. Though, if we absolutely must nit-pick, the Baba Ghanoush and Hummus tasted a little tired.

The Mushroom Ravioli served in a hearty tomato sauce is a treat for pasta lovers. They also do some good Indian food. The tikkas, Dal Makhani, and vegetable korma-style dishes are popular, as a quick glance to neighbouring tables will prove.u00a0u00a0

O22 also has a sprawling lounge bar, a sushi bar, a wine-tasting room, and a two-storey, glass-encased wine cellar, which we're told houses 1,500 plus bottles of fine wine. For those looking for additional dining privacy, they have a central dining area as well.

Our verdict? 022 does some good food, the service is attentive and friendly (never mind the tedious namastes), and the air is definitely celebratory.
Is the place value-for-money? Well, we would have to say, that strictly depends on your pay cheque.u00a0

At: Oh-Two-Two (022),u00a0Trident Hotel, C 56, G Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E). Call: 66727777
Oh-Two-Two didn't know we were there. The GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for meals

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