Friday, December 28, 2012

THE TABLE, MUMBAI

EQUISITE AND REFINED CUISINE
 
Fine dining without being over the top…there is little about The Table you can fault!

Located just around the corner from the famous Taj Hotel in Colaba, this casual fine diner offers foodies like me a place to savour globally inspired cuisine - community style. Interestingly an old Irani restaurant occupied this space previously and is now transformed by New York based architect, Tarik Currimbhoy. What caught my fancy here were the long Burma teak community table and a floating mezzanine with its musical notes shaped railing, giving it a Bombay style San Francisco inspired wine bar look. To complete the perfect meal, the restaurant’s exclusive wine list of hand-picked international and indigenous wines selected by the celebrated Naveen Kotyankar complements the innovative cuisine and provides an elegant atmosphere for a relaxed evening. His unique idea of serving wine by the half glass allows one to appreciate and try more of the elaborate selection of wines. We raised a toast with the Italian sparkling ‘Prosecco’, before moving on to our whites and reds with the meal.
Chef Alex
Coming to the food, as I mentioned the menu is globally inspired which reflects the collective experiences of Executive Chef Alex Sanchez, Consultant Chef Joey Altman and Executive Chef Viraf Patel, and changes daily depending on availability of the best and freshest produce. It has influences of the San Francisco style of cooking which is translated through sourcing fresh local ingredients and ensuring each dish is distinctively unique in flavour and texture.
The menu consists of small and large plates, out of which my vote goes all out to the ‘Roasted Red Beets, Goat Cheese, Orange, Mint & Pine Nuts’ salad and  ‘Zucchini “Spaghetti”, Almonds & Parmesan or Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage-Brown Butter & Toasted Hazelnut’ in the vegetarian offering and ‘ Boneless Chicken “Wings” with Chilli-Garlic Sauce’ and the ‘ Yellow fin Tuna Tataki with Avocado, Icicle Radish, Sesame Vinaigrette’ in the non-vegetarian part of the menu. Share your plates like we did as all are gratifying. If you are in the mood for a burger try ‘the Table burger’ an you can make it more healthy by choosing a sesame bun just like me.
To end on a sweet note go for the ‘warm Chocolate Tart with Jaggery Vanilla Gelato & Morello Cherry Sauce’ while sipping on one of the dessert wines or a cuppa hot coffee or green tea along! I feel that over the years, this restaurant will blossom into much more than a restaurant, becoming a way of life, a melting pot where life imitates art, and often, the other way around. Warm service by smartly dressed waiters makes their showmanship even more enjoyable.

 

FAST FACTS
Ground Floor, Kalapesi Trust Building, Behind Regal Cinema, Apollo Bunder Marg, Mumbai 400039
Tel: +91 2282 5000/01/02
Operating Hours:
Lunch / Sunday brunch: 12pm to 4pm (last orders at 3.30pm)
Champagne High Tea: 4:30pm to 6:30pm
Cocktail Hour (including bar snacks): 6pm to 8pm
Dinner: 7pm to 1am (last orders at midnight)
Meal for two: INR 2,000 without alcohol.

FOOD: 4.5
AMBIENCE: 4.5
SERVICE: 4.5
VALUE FOR MONEY: 4.5

 
published in FNL