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Photos By:: Adil Arora
 The Grill Room at the Lalit is the only restaurant which is not mega-sized. It used to be located on a higher floor earlier with a riveting view of Lutyens’ Delhi on one side and an open kitchen on the other, even 25 years ago. French Chefs used to come as guest chefs and often one was stationed as the resident chef for a while. Although the food trends have been changing in Delhi, Charles Donnadieu was hired from France as the Corporate Sommelier to boost the wine programme for the group. A low-key, soft-spoken, passionate wine professional, he added the French touch but the wine lists kept drifting away from French wines because of availability and high prices.
He has been quietly and steadily working for over 2 years with various French wine regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone Provence and Champagne, tasting 100’s of wines, visiting the vineyards and meeting producers and distributors. The objective was the same- how to get and sell more French wines at better acceptability and affordability for the customers and offer them a unique experience with every cuisine.
We congregated at the coffee shop Le Petit Cafe which is on the way to The Grill Room-on the same floor as the swimming pool. We had planned to meet at a cosy corner by the poolside for aperitifs but the sultry weather forced us to move indoors to the more comfortable area where the Petits Grain de Folie’ Vaucluse VDP from Domaine Lapigeade 2014 was served with snacks. It was a fruity and off-dry wine that could have handled spicier snacks even better  than the Triangles or the mushroom and chicken Vol-au-vents. The wine seems to have reached its peak and the downward journey has started with freshness being the victim.
The Grill Room has been a favourite restaurant for years, especially for its enviable location and the beautiful vistas and one gets an initial shock on entering the present avatar. The smaller 32-cover restaurant is well laid out but has no windows. Gone are the beautiful vistas of New Delhi from the top; instead there are decorated walls. Charles explains that the whole floor where The Grill Room and Blue Elephant were located are being combined into one mega Pan Asia restaurant for Japanese/oriental food with the hotel owned label OKO, already rocking in their Bangalore, Chandigarh properties.
Same wine continued inside the restaurant with goat cheese and fresh California grapes-an excellent match. But the first sip into the next wine, Champagne Baron Albert Brut and everyone forgot about the past location and the earlier white wine with a lot of appreciation for this bubbly made from Pinot Meunier. What added to the high was the excellent garlic grilled prawn that matched ideally with the crisp nicely chilled champagne with fine bubbles. Flavour of garlic added complexity on the palate. A great combination that!
 Although the food and wine theme was French, we had decided to add Pheni Paratha and Ghilafi Kebab with the slightly sweet Petits Grain earlier. Due to oversight, these were not served initially but as we sat down the Restaurant Manager obliged us by getting a few portions from the Baluchi Indian cuisine restaurant and they were really savoured by everyone-the supplies had to be reinforced, in fact.
The next dish was equally awesome and well paired. Domaine Lapigeade Les Sables AOC Ventoux 2014 matched the Caribbean Jerk BBQ Chicken thanks to the delicious sauce that made it very compatible with the red wine. Carignan, Grenache and Syrah, the 3 popular grapes of South Rhone make this wine slightly spicy, warm and quaffable. Domaine Lapigeade AOC Beaumes de Venise 2013 is a natural sweet fortified wine, Vin doux Natural (VDN) made in this region for two thousand years and is a special dessert wine which had its fans because of its sweetness and nice acidic balance.
The menu was limited but the dishes selected were exquisite and well paired with wine by Charles. The wines selected were exclusive-since for now, they are available only at the ‘The Lalit’ group of hotels in India. Charles has worked hard to select the wines as a part of the French wine bouquet of around a dozen wines from Rhone, Bordeaux and Provence and of course Champagne Baron Albert.
As promised, members were invited Post-dinner to Kitty Su, the chic night club in the basement, that used to be Annabelle years ago. The well controlled crowd made it look like a safe and enjoyable place for people a few years younger. Besides great music the highlight of this place from the wine point of view is that Champagne Baron Albert is available at an incredible price of Rs. 5,000 a bottle including all taxes, making it a great venue for Champagne lovers.
What the Grill Room might have lost in ambience, it has gained in food quality and impeccable service thanks to its enthusiastic manager, Aman Gujral. The service, especially the wine service, was exquisite with every wine at perfect temperature. But there was a pang of nostalgia as one felt that a part of the good-old Grill Room was missing, just as the likes of Bali-Hi and Chinois, the pillars of nightlife and excellent food during the 1990’s that have vanished with the changing times. However, there were expectations and excitement about the new restaurant OKO opening in November and the view from three sides would be unique with the multi Pan Asian cuisine promising something to look forward to.
Subhash Arora
Gallery Menu Video (Part 1) Video (Part 2)
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