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IN NEW AVATARS
Elan (left) has a somewhat chequered history. It was originally called Lodhi when the hotel it is located at was called The Aman. On The Waterfront (above) is a lovely restaurant and the kitchen really is firing on all cylinders open in or why they selected this low-ceilinged room but they’ve done their best to cheer it up though I thought they needed to re-examine the lighting. The Artusi menu is vast: some Emilia-Romagna dishes, some Italian standards, lots of pasta, lots of fish and lots of meat. They could, in my view, dispense with about half the dishes on this menu and focus on what they do well. And perhaps they will. Oscar wants the restaurant to have a slow-burn beginning and does not plan a big-bang launch till after the monsoon, by which stage, they will have got the food right. I thought I’d start with some of the most-ordered dishes at Italian restaurants all over the world to see where they were pitching their food. Their Rigatoni Carbonara was unusual – a Carbonara sauce usually accompanies a long pasta – and interestingly presented with crisp slices of bacon. I was not so convinced by their pasta with ragu, a sort of more authentic take on the Bolognaise sauce that is now a global staple. Oscar says that this is how his mother makes it – in which case, she eats a lot less salt than the rest of us. A fresh pasta was simple and home style though not particularly delicate. Mains were less successful. They do a Chicken Milanese because they can’t find good veal in India. This is fair enough (Maritime in Bombay does a perfectly acceptable chicken version of the dish) but on the night I went, the plate should have been intercepted at the pass and never allowed to leave the kitchen. The frying was wrong and the crumbed surface was covered with black burnt splotches. There was nothing wrong with a Bistecca Fiorentina (US beef of some kind though I’m not sure it was really US Prime) but I’d ordered it medium rare and it was over cooked by the time it got to my table. My guess is that it was fine when it left the grill but kept cooking on the journey to my plate. These are teething problems. In time, the chef will get the frying temperatures right, will adjust the seasoning and will work out how much a steak continues cooking once it leaves her kitchen. The restaurant had hardly been open for a week when I went and the kitchen will take time to settle down. Plus, all the other eminent critics who have raved and raved about it must have had better experiences. So perhaps I was just unlucky. I do hope though that the Balcons can get
their act together. Delhi needs more standalone restaurants like Artusi. And at these prices, there isn’t much room for error (I paid just over `13,000 for two including a bottle of Chianti) You may not have heard of Elan. The restaurant has a somewhat chequered history. It was originally called Lodhi when the hotel it is located at was called The Aman. Now, DLF has sold the Aman chain but has kept the Delhi property and renamed it The Lodhi. So obviously, they’ve had to rename the restaurant – hence Elan. There have been other changes too. First, the Aman’s Spanish restaurant became On the Waterfront and was run as a separate operation from the hotel by Prasanjit Singh and the team from the (also DLF-owned) Set’z. Since Prasanjit has moved on to become a restaurant mogul in his own right, DLF has combined all of the hotel’s food and beverage operations along with Set’z. They continue to be run by Prasanjit’s old team, including Suveer Sodhi, who I have known and admired from his days at the Hyatt’s China Kitchen. Suveer and team have turned On The Waterfront around. I had a delicious lunch there two weeks ago and though nobody in the kitchen still knew how to operate the robata grill properly, the desserts were better than ever: a Floating Island was a thing of beauty. They’ve had to work harder with Elan which is part Indian-restaurant and part coffee shop. Of the coffee shop stuff, a plate of bangers and mash was good and comforting but there was so much wrong with the Shepherd’s Pie that they should not even bother to improve it but should just take it off the menu. The Indian food was hit and miss. The kebabs were a mess (sort of sub-Kwality levels of cooking) but a lasooni palak, a tadka dahi and some missi rotis were all good. The standout dish however was a duck khurchan (they called it Tawa Duck or something like that) which I’ve never had before anywhere else. Desserts were a flop: kulfi masquerading as Indian cassata, etc. The problem, I think, is that Setz was never known for its Indian food. This team has limited Indian food expertise and though it is doing its best, it will take a little while to find the right balance. Till that happens, go to On The Waterfront. It is a lovely restaurant and the kitchen really is firing on all cylinders.
Artusi could, in my view, dispense with about half the dishes on the menu and focus on what they do well
MAY 18, 2014
COMFORT FOOD
Of the coffee shop stuff at On The Waterfront, a plate of bangers and mash was good and comforting
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