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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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