The new menu at Smoke House Grill lives up to its claims of pushing the -- Epicurean -- envelope
The new menu at Smoke House Grill lives up to its claims of pushing the -- Epicurean -- envelope
THE thing with most restaurants that claim to be experimenting with food is that they are really not. Which is why, even before the introduction of the excellent new menu, Smoke House Grill (SHG) was ahead of most by a whole fork and knife. 
Smoke House Grill is making use of latest kitchen technology to
experiment with flavours
Really, it was about time that smoking -- a technique ubiquitous in Indian kitchens -- was used to offer something exciting. Now, SHG has taken a step further and is making use of latest kitchen technology, like dehydrators, vaccumisers and foamers to experiment with flavours that you may like, love or hate, but simply will not be able to ignore.
Though the menu promised intriguing opportunities -- Braised chicken legs with Lindt chocolate, Pumpkin and Miso ravioli, even baked chocolate with porcini ice cream -- I stuck to the rule of only eating and drinking all stuff smoked. For appetisers, I ordered the Smoke House Prawn Cocktail with avocado salsa and Figgin Chicken in Goat Cheese Tart. To accompany my all-time favourite Smoke House Melon Mojito, I tried the duck tacos
(tasted as interesting as they sound), oatmeal covered Brie cheese (deliciously sinful) and exploding chicken (a must-must-have) from the bar menu.
As is evident, even the bar menu snacks at SHG are not run-of-the-mill. Something, the good-humoured CEO and MD Riyaaz Amlani says he strives to achieve in all restaurants. Something, I can tell from having eaten at many of his ventures, he means in earnest. I was impressed with the prawn cocktail as I was worried the smoking would mar most of the taste of bland prawn meat but it did not. While the Figgin Chicken in the goat cheese tart was (pun unintended) smokin', the goat cheese overpowered the fig, despite me accompanying every bite with the fig sauce on the side.
I was full and satiated (any foodie will tell you these terms are not interchangeable and times when they can be used in the same breath are rare) but of course, I had to try some main course. I wanted to eat the Norwegian salmon with smoked aubergine pat ufffd, but the prawn cocktail was more than enough for a seafood fix in one meal. I decided on the smoked duck with raspberry emulsion and braised vegetables and did not regret my decision. Though I did not fully appreciate the meat cut up in four and scattered all over the plate.
While I was strongly recommended the warm cheesecake I ordered the Kirsch flavoured flourless fudge and the hazelnut mousse torte (only because I wanted to test the hazelnut). The mousse has a consistency I crave for everywhere I eat it but have never found until now. I only now recall the menu said it is served with chikoo ice cream but I was not served any. Which, as it turned out, was a good thing -- I am sure I would not ignore chikoo for hazelnut any day, and I don't know if I like mousse with ice cream. Though I did appreciate the ice cream with the warm, sumptuous fudge and the morello cherry emulsion.
I had to rest for 15 minutes just to let the humongous amount of food I had consumed. And while doing so I realised I could recall all (really, all) the flavours too. The chefs at SHG can decide which of the two is a bigger
compliment.
Smoke House Grill
Food: Awesome
Service: Attentive
Ambience: Good
At: North wing, VIPPS Centre, Plot no. 2, Masjid Moth, GK-II
Timings: 8pm onwards
Ring: 011-41435530-32
Meal for two: Rs 2,000 (minus drinks) plus taxes
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