Restaurant review - INDIA ON MY PLATE

Fortune Hotel, part of the prestigious ITC group is well known for its excellence in service. The beautiful property located on Sohna Road, Gurgaon has opened a new restaurant INDIA ON MY PLATE and extended a warm invitation to me for its media preview on 16th July.

The restaurant theme revolves around different Indian cuisines under one roof. They serve variety of specialities from each Indian state, blending in authenticity and great taste. The USP of the place is LIVE ghazals by renowned Gharana sensation who also sing songs requested by guests. I thoroughly enjoyed the ghazals of maestro Late Jagjit Singh sung by the artist. What a perfect way of spending a weekend!

PR Shuddhita and Shrea gave us a tour and history of the restaurant, sharing their speciality with us. India on my plate has a spacious indoor seating on second floor of the hotel, overlooking a pool outside. The aesthetics on walls showcase the royal maharajas and maharanis from ancient times, adding more cultural value to the place.

Neer More

Ram Laddu

The courteous waiters started with traditional welcome drink named ‘Neer More’ which tastes like rasam. Partly tangy partly salty, the spices burst into your mouth as you sip this cool appetiser. 'Últe tawe ka khakhra’ coupled with an array of chutneys accompany it.  

Tilwali subz seekh - My favorite

Starters flowed in and each item on the plate spoke of a true Indian experience with the finest blend of spices. My order of veg starters comprised Ram Laddu, Rajma Galaouti, Tiwali subz seekh, dahi kebab, bhutta mutter shammi and pudina paneer tikka. I skipped the Nilgiri Cheese Dosai as I made space for main course. Nawab’s style Rajma Galaouti was simple crispy bite and little spicy just like the Nawab’s form. Awadhi style Tilwali subz seekh and dahi kebab stood out in the entire platter. Tilwale seekh gets a full 5 on 5 from me.

Rajma Galaouti

Cranberry mocktail

Hyderabadi combination of corn and peas made on tawa- Bhutta mutter shammi was the second best. I found Ram Laddu- stuffed moong daal deep fried served with radish and green chutney- okayish since I am not much fond of this. Maida roti layered with ghee accompanied the starters.

I sipped cranberry mocktail along the starters. Unfortunately this mocktail turned out to be quite sweet and not so refreshing.

Being the first day of the restaurant, the staff was quite busy with their hands full of orders from every table. Main course arrived after some delay while I enjoyed the live music and virgin mojito. Oops virgin mojito was not upto the mark. It was overloaded with sweet.

Beautiful bar in the middle 

Rasmalai

 I liked the copper utensils for serving dishes which completes the Indian concept palate. Be it chutneys in copper bowls or main course in the copper carriers, the presentation looked great! I opted for veg dum biryani that came on a plate covered by an edible veil for “dum”. Choley Darbari biryani was nicely prepared with all spices measured flawlessly. I loved the daal tadka which is also said to be the speciality of Fortune. Imagine a simple yellow daal turning out to be the best item of lunch!

Marwad famed Dahi aalu achaari is another unique item in vegetarian menu which is made by potatoes simmered in pickling curd. A nice tangy punch feels heavenly.  

The last item in main course was Amritsar’s Paneer Kasturi. The color looked tempting however the dish wasn’t much exciting. Husband enjoyed his non veg meal of mutton curry, chicken chettinad and gosht biryani.  

Amritsari Badam Phiri

After a hearty meal, I was full to the core but an Indian can never turn down desserts. Hehe

Husband had Rasmali and I chose Amritsari badam phiri. Former tasted way better than Phiri.

Shuddhita in her conversation told us about Indian Cuisines that would be presented rotational basis. The thaali would be unlimited, priced at 500INR only. This gives me more reasons to visit INDIA ON MY PLATE again in future. What’s better than pocket friendly authentic Indian food at a great place like Fortune Excalibur?

Ambience- Very comfortable, warm and cheerful- 5/5

Food presentation- 5/5

Experiment with cuisines- Good attempt- 4/5

Staff- Very courteous, polite- 5/5

Anything missing – I missed salad. May be it can be included. I also found the ‘health consciousness’ factor missing. However, health has not been the focus of Indian cuisine, so Fortune kept it at bay. May be they can introduce a section for health conscious ones like me.

Palmyra Restaurant - Innovation at its best

Smiling Chef Somnath

Fine dining at Palmyra restaurant, in Hotel Bristol, Gurgaon turned out to be our best experience ever. In spite of the fact only veg food was served during Navratra, the absence of non veg food was not felt at all! The credit goes to Chef Somnath Porel, who made his way to our hearts with his innovation at food.

Reach him on twitter at @Chef_Porel

The spread comprised Daal Makhni, Stir Fry Vegetables, Makhana Kaju Matar gravy, Paneer Butter Masala, Veg Biryani, Potatoe. Needless to mention, there was a huge layout of salads, curd and sprouts for the health conscious ones. Let me save the best for the last. So I will come to desserts later.

With Bon appetite we tried tasting everything from the huge platter, ensuring not to regret later by missing anything nice.

Dofinose potatoes

The most interesting pick was Dofinose Potatoes.  What looked like Lasagna tuned out to be a potato dish! With the first bite of it, my eyes started looking for Chef Somnath wanting to ask him the recipe of the fabulous item. He acknowledged our query and revealed the recipe. The layers of raw potato, spread with cheese & spices were baked and simmered together, letting the starch of potatoes act as the binding agent. It tasted fantabulous! Had never seen or thought of a unique recipe before this!

Somnath loves to experiment with food and his skills were clearly seen in the dishes served. He wanted to give a twist to more dishes, but was asked by the manager not to go overboard since too much of experiment is also not welcome often.

Chikpeas and aubergine tagine

Chickpeas or choley what we have at usual restaurants is always spicy and loaded with fat. I always visualized choley in Punjabi style tadka and spices. But here Somnath gave a surprise twist to chickpeas with so much creativity. Eggplant, tomatoes, capcicum in the dish of chickpeas and auberbine tagine which traditionally is stew of spiced meat and vegetables prepared by slow cooking. Somnath had smartly replaced meat with chickpeas. Now, who in a restaturant wants to have an eggplant? You surely can’t say no after tasting this! The preparation was light, not spicy and very well prepared. We savored every bit of it.

Kaju Matar Mushroom Makahana

Stir fried vegetables made with baby corns, broccoli and red bell pepper was another mind blowing item. I can have it as snacks for my hunger pangs! The dish was in low salt while the vegetable stock acted as the soup. I also went gaga over the colorful Kaju Matar Mushroom Makahana. As I started to feel hungry again while writing this, you would feel the same just by looking at the pictures!

Paneer Butter Masala and Daal Zaafran were the usual but without fatty cream or hot spices. The veg biryani was the best with the right amount of spices and aroma. Somnath agreed Biryani is not about oil. It’s the combination of flavor, color and appeasing aroma that should keep you asking for more. He had ensured less oil and calorie in every dish he prepared. A health conscious chef who also had the heath of diners in mind.

Banoffee Pie

Now coming to the best spread and revealing the surprise- Desserts! Chef Somnath’s magical touch to sweets were fascinating. The one I loved the most was Banoffee Pie. After relishing the whole portion, I ran to Somnath again asking for the recipe. (I just could not stop myself). With base of biscuit crumbs, he layered the glass with caramel, mashed banana, dry fruits, muesli and whipped cream. The first bite I took rendered me speechless. I dug into it till I gorged the whole of it, only wishing to have more but wasn't able to.

While hubby enjoyed the Red Velvet Tiramisu, I tasted a bit of it. Less sugar content and absolutely light, it melted in mouth. With a full tummy, I gave kalakand a miss, though had a bite of the yummy rabri with jalebi. I over ate that evening completely ignoring my calorie intake count.

As a food blogger, I rate the place an easy 4.5 on 5. While a good ambience of a restaurant for fine dining is a minimum requirement, it cannot be ignored while rating the restaurant. Many restaurants don’t bother to look after the seating, which should be upto a certain level making customers feel easy. At Palmyra, the seating was comfortable, lighting was pleasant and the service staff was excellent. One can dig into a huge variety at this restaurant.

Highly recommended place for fine dining.