Absolute Punjabi

I am a self confessed foodie and love eating out, much against my family’s liking! I had heard much about Punjab Grill from my peers and family friends, so decided to try it out.

Indian food generally gets my fancy, Punjabi food in particular, because of the unique flavors it has to offer, so this was a real treat. Some of my friends and I visited the Punjab Grill at Saket’s upscale shopping location – Select City Walk for dinner. The restaurant here is divided into two parts, one is an interior seating which is air conditioned and the other one is in the open which is partially covered by a canopy and does not have air conditioning. However, to deal with Delhi’s heat, the outlet has used some sort of water sprinkling system, which combined with powerful fans brings in the feeling of cool air blowing around you. I found this very amusing, as the water drops that come out of this system are so fine that they do not fall on the people sitting in the restaurant or the food on the table, yet keeps everyone from sweating. A brilliant concept, I would say!

As always, we had not made any reservations, a BIG Mistake (my impatience gets the better of me)! We were courteously greeted by one of the fine hostesses who politely inquired if we had any reservations? Looking at the crowd outside and inside the outlet, it seemed overflowing with guests. We told her, we did not have any reservations and wanted a table outside on the Terrace, however were informed that there was a 20 mins waiting. We decided to get our table registered and check out the retail outlets to create a wholesome appetite. In about 15 mins, we received a call informing us of the availability of our table. Once at the restaurant, we were greeted by a fine young gentleman who took us to our well laid out table on the terrace.

As soon as we were seated, one of the servers promptly asked us if we wanted regular or mineral water. We asked for regular water which he got within seconds (I judge the service level of any restaurant on the basics such as greeting and offering water!) along with a menu for us to decide. We decided on feasting on the main course and not order too many starters. However, having heard about their Salmon Tikkas and Dahi Kebabs, these were our obvious choice of starters. Along with this my friends had ordered for the Chaas and I had asked for the Shikanji. The Chaas was just about OK (as stated by my friends), but the Shikanji was well prepared and perfect to douse one’s thirst. It took about 15 mins for the starters to be served, but it was worth the wait. Both these dishes exceeded the much hype created by my friends and our expectations. The Salmon has a distinct flavor of its own, which at Punjab Grill is completely out of this world and unlike anything I have had before. I had no idea that one could make kebab using curd; the Dahi kebab really amused me, as it was in perfect shape without having cracked or broken while serving and brilliant in taste. For the main course we had ordered the Raan, Dal Punjab Grill, Malai Kofta and the Guchi Pulao. I was very impressed with the prompt service offered here; as soon as we were done with our starters, the server cleared our respective plates and laid the table for the service of the main course. Shortly after which we were served our food, the aroma of which was just divine. The Raan was well cooked with perfect seasoning and could be had using just three fingers and a must try. The Malai Kofta was good, although was a bit heavy on the fat and can be avoided. The dal had a very unique flavor to it and very different from the ones available at Dumpukht and Frontier. But the Guchi Pulao is out of this world and something I have never experienced before and definitely something worth recommending. Post our main course, we were absolutely stuffed and did not have space for any desserts, however, my weakness for Kheer got the better of me. The kheer here is nice and thick and much like any other however does have a unique flavor to it and can be tried.

The portions at Punjab Grill are just perfect and these dishes managed to quench our hunger for fine cuisine. I hear they have opened in Mumbai as well and highly recommend this place; however PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU MAKE A RESERVATION.

All in all, on a scale of 5 (obviously 5 being the highest), I would give the food a 4.5, service a 4, the decor (not something that really impressed me, except the concept of the Terrace) a 3.5 and an overall experience of 4.

Location:

3rd Floor, Select City Walk, Saket Business District, Saket, New Delhi

Phone - 011-41572977

Manré Maza & Manré Meze

OK, before I get into sharing my experience at the famous (and insanely expensive) F&B joint – Manré, let me just say that as much as I love trying out new cuisines and experience new places, this one particular joint really did not do too much to impress me!

Manré, has its origins from a small town in the Champagne region of France. Now, for a bit of education on this region, sparkling wine produced in this region is named Champagne, not only because of the name of the region. The development process of these wines use a particular methodology called Methodé Champagnoisé and is not necessarily dependent on which region it is developed in, in France, till it is made using this process. It is only then, that the sparkling wine can be termed as Champagne. So basically, all Champagnes are sparkling wines, but not all Sparkling wines are Champagnes!

So, coming back to our topic of discussion, Manré is named after this town in the Champagne region of France. It was the brainchild of Ms. Ramola Bachchan and her partner KD Singh and was set up with the thought of offering to Delhi, what it had been missing for a long-long time – a luxurious dining out experience of international standards (ACCORDING TO THEM, NOT ME).

Now, what I found really fascinating was that Manré is situated in the MGF Metropolitan Mall in the Saket area of New Delhi. Great location, one would wonder! But what got my attention was that, MGF is not a mall I would usually go to (I love City Walk, like a million others in the city {its next door neighbor}) and frequent it more often than any other shopping area in the city; but then that’s me!). The entrance to Manré has about 2 – 3 bouncers (welcoming staff!!!), or maybe it was a rare occasion to have been stopped a multitude number of times since I had visited this place with female company on Christmas eve!!!

Anyhow, coming back to more important things - the ambience, the food and the service of the place. The welcome experience, as elucidated above was not worth remembering. Once you manage to get through the ‘welcoming staff’, you are directed to the elevator which takes you to the 4th floor. Off at the floor, there are as many staff clueless of what needs to be done, as there are guest’s (atleast the 1st timers). Now, Manré has been developed as a great party place, but what I fail to understand is why would they mix fine dining with loud music (the Lounge Bar)? I’m guessing the obvious – a lot of place, too much money to invest and no clue how to utilize it and develop a great place!

After being seated at the ‘completely deserted’ restaurant (except for the staff present!), we waited for almost 10 minutes and then had to call for someone to server us the basic first – Water! Now, ideally, this is something I would not usually nit-pik, however, considering there was no other guest present or being served, one would not appreciate having to ask for water and that also after 10 minutes of being seated. That’s the first thing everyone offers guest’s when they come home, correct me if I am wrong!

Having decided what we would like to have for dinner, we waited, yet again, to gain someone’s attention to come and take the order. Anyhow, the place was so loud that we, amongst the three of us had to talk loudly to understand what the other was saying and the order taker had to personally come to each one of us to take our orders. Guess where the noise was coming from? The lounge bar adjacent to the fine dining restaurant!!!

Once the food finally showed up, it was the least appetizing as far as presentation is concerned and decently luke warm, nor was the flavor that great. Infact, I don’t even remember what I had (which is a rarity). By now I am aware that I completely sound like a whiner and a narcissist pig, but when you are paying the kind of money that Manré charges, these are the basics one would expect!

Alas! Having heard so much about this great place, its sufficient to say that it fell way beyond short on the expectations, service and the food meter, for sure.