GREAT VIEW, GOOD FOOD

Seasonal Taste, The Westin Mumbai Garden City

A visit here had been on the cards for a long time so on Saturday we braved the traffic (fortune favours the brave -- it took only 45 minutes for the 6-7 km ride from Andheri Lokhandwala which normally takes 60-75) and reached there for a kind of family evening. Prior reservations ensured that we got a table overlooking the breathtaking view of the Western Express Highway; the traffic it does look extremely charming when you are not stuck in it! And the brilliant lights of the city, one could get quite romantic!

But as I said, this was a family evening, so romantic thoughts were quickly pushed aside in favour of the more earthy pleasures of eating. We discovered that the buffet was laid out in 4 sections -- salads and cold cuts, Indian hot food, Oriental hot food, and desserts. So we started with the soups, the Indian section had a Red Kidney Bean Soup and at the other end of the restaurant the Oriental section had a Cabbage soup. Both were veg, though for the diehards, on the Oriental side they had kept bowls of chopped prawns and chicken which you could add to your soup and make it non-veg. This was not too bad, though I prefer the meat to be cooked in the soup for a while. No one tried the bean soup from the Indian side, so I can’t say anything about it.

The salads were Great, with a capital G, no other word for it. Particularly enjoyed the lamb with caramelized onion, and the oriental chicken salad, even sampled the roast beef salad (juicy!). Nice cold cuts, not too much variety but delicious, and the pepperoni was not drowned in either salt or fat, as it happens in so many places. The assorted sushi added an interesting touch. And a nice cheese platter, again not too elaborate but with the brie and the low-fat cream cheese raising the standard well above plebeian.

For the main course we stuck to the oriental side. The live counter whipped up a couple of yummy hot noodle dishes, with a slathering of asparagus and broccoli for the veggies and chicken and prawn for the non-veggies (the same chicken and prawn that went into the soup). The Thai Green Curry (veg, but you were welcome to bung in the chicken and prawn here too if you wanted, although again they could not absorb the flavours) was tangy and piquant, although a mite cold by the time they could send the steamed rice to the table (the buffet had only fried rice). By this time we were so full, (and also saving space for the desserts) that we could do no justice to all else – I think I have to go back for the Indonesian chicken stew. And oh yes, the Basil fish was yummy, too!

And so finally to the desserts. There was a great profusion of them, all very good, none spectacular. My pick was the blueberry baked yogurt; there was another very nice one but its name tag had vanished.

The bottom line? Fairly priced I would say, you get good value for your money. The service, or lack of it, could take some getting used to; we Indians after like being helped around the buffet. And I have to go back, not just for the stew and all the stuff that I already mentioned, but for the entire Indian spread and many of the desserts that I did not get to try this time because of “capacity constraints”. And of course, for the view and the romance!