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Kitchen of the China Kitchen |
Hyatt has fast become the screaming choice of the majority
of Delhi Wine Club members despite the higher costs even
with DWC specials. The food quality, service with a smile,
the personal warmth and the lack of 'attitude' have made
it a Darling of the Club (the club boasts of many Friends
of the Club).
When Sourish Bhattacharyya wrote an article
on The CK (or TCK as the management would like to popularise
the property) in this newsletter sharing his ecstatic and
orgasmic (temporarily borrowing the term from another well-known
food writer) experience with the food, the pressure was
on for the Club to organise an event here.
With all good intentions and willingness
of Prasanjit Singh, the affable EAM and the carte blanche
offer of Roger Lienhard, the charming and generally-smiling
General Manager, there was a problem of mechanics- how to
find place for 30-40 wine guzzling aficionados when the
restaurant is choc-o-bloc full on week nights and the Sunday
brunches are packed with 140 visitors oscillating between
various dishes and the Champagne Rose (which I would like
to believe was based on my implicit recommendation followed
by Team TCK).
With great deliberations, a compromise
formula was worked out- a Saturday Lunch for 32 of the fastest-finger-first
members, in the PDR (for some of us who spend more time
in the public domain, it means Private Dining Room and with
the spending power of the denizens growing exponentially,
this is the fast-growing sub-set of any restaurant worth
its Champagne).
The smiles of confidence on the face of
every staff once you entered the restaurant seemed to be
singing Hum Kissi Se Kam Nahin. The Menu was mind-blowing,
the view outside the PDR was beautiful- there was natural
beauty of trees and garden from one PDR and several sun
bathing residents from the other- not to mention the perfect
table setting in a classic style with the chilled Rolling
Semillon-Sauvignon from Australia (importer: Sovereign Impex)
in perfect attendance.
Takashi Sugimoto's Super Potato might not
have this aspect in mind while designing the $3m restaurant
but the foyer, carved out as the serving area, between the
3 PDRs, (each can seat 10 comfortably) 2 of which can be
combined into one, was the perfect spot for aperitifs and
tete-a tete as also a funnel that sucked in the unsuspecting
members entering the mezzanine area where an informal wine
related inanimate discussion was being held over this glass
of dry Rolling Semillon Sauvignon.
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Peeling of the Peking Duck |
Champagne is usually the cooling act for
our events and helps one get ready for the dinner coming
up. But the Chinese food here goes so well with Rose Champagne
that we had made it the queen of the show this afternoon
and the main protagonist. The endless menu was divided into
three parts; the Rolling Chardonnay shared the honours with
the first set of Main Course dishes. Though a typical oaky
Australian Chardonnay, it was adequately well matched with
the food. .
Queen Laurent Perrier Rose was served with
the second set of main dishes. LP is world's highest selling
Rose and not without reason. Needless to say that the Global
Tax Free- imported moniker was the beloved of men and women
alike and there were shouts of ' dil maange more.' A pre-despatched
memo to members that there might not be refills on this
one, was a saviour. We are equal opportunity wine drinkers;
we give an equal opportunity to tasting different wines.
This dictum was grudgingly accepted by the club members
at this event.
On an earlier occasion, while tasting some
of the dishes I had felt that Champagne Rose was a perfect
match with most of the dishes in the restaurant including
Peking duck, crab, fish and beggar's chicken. I would still
maintain that view if I didn't have their Fried Rice with
Smoked Bamboo Shoots, Green onions, vegetables and fragrant
garlic rice, the last dish on the course. The rice with
smoky aromas paired so well with the Australian spicy, medium
bodied Rolling Shiraz that it would make a royal combo-the
equivalent of dal chawal when one is in a mood to devour
light meal. It was also a very good match with the spicy
lamb.
The Menu was a real saliva jerker even
to look at- but if you were a non-vegetarian. The vegetarians
did feel less salivated though they had the added advantage
of going outside the box and order whatever they wanted
if they felt the fare was not 'feasty' enough for them.
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Dessert Platter |
The distance and height from the kitchen did tell on the
service to some extent. The food was not at its piping-
hot best and the service was not as immaculate as it has
been on previous occasions. One wondered if on earlier occasions
the staff did walk that extra mile as the super boss-GM
was present. We will just have to hold another event with
exactly the same menu but with Roger present to conclude
the experiment scientifically; he had just come back from
his overseas trip the evening before and could not join
us for the lunch this day.
David Briskman, designated as the official
thanker of the club made it a point to walk down to the
kitchen and thank the big team of the Kitchen for winning
hearts of the members through the stomach.
The CK has a lot going for it and would
be well advised not to let the Chinese chefs out of their
site till they fully transfer their talent to the Indian
counterparts. The quality and style has to be stabilised
and standardised. Undoubtedly, the restaurant then will
sustain its leadership for the next couple of decades. Just
as Bukhara at Maurya Sheraton (oops, ITC Maurya now)
has established its mark as the best Indian food restaurant
and Hyatt's La Piazza hasn't gone out of style after serving
Italian cuisine for a decade, The China Kitchen can look
forward to stay the Hero No.1 in the 5-star category restaurants
in Delhi for the Chinese cuisine.
Click
Here For Menu
Subhash Arora
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