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 · Pheni Parantha with Vijay Amritraj (VA) Reserve Collection White
· Fish Tikka and Mutton and Chicken Seekhs paired with Grover Zampa Brut Rose and VA Red
· Mutton Rogan josh and Daal Baluchi with Grover Zampa Chene Reserve
· Gulab Jamun and Paan Kulfi with Grover Zampa Brut
Not your standard Menu for an Indian restaurant at a 5-star hotel, you’d think! But Charles Donnadieu, the corporate Sommelier had smartly paired dishes with wines from Grover Zampa on an evening last week for a small group of guests invited jointly by Grover Zampa and the restaurant to taste the delicious Indian cuisine by Chef Tyagi paired with a few premium labels from their portfolio. Karishma Grover, the winemaker attended the evening and presented the wines in a casual, affable style, mixed with her witty humour.
Charles is passionate and committed to introduce and pair Indian wines with the cuisine at this restaurant. No wonder, he helped Baluchi win the Award by the delWine Excellence Awards for being the best 5-star Indian restaurant serving Indian wine.
Not that he had to scratch his head a lot to make the evening happen. The Nannery Bar where they have innovated to bring out at least a couple of Indian breads to another level, a set is already listed in the Menu with wine. A basket of breads with a glass of wine paired with 4 breads is priced at Rs. 1000.
The Pheni paratha sprinkled generously with sesame seeds might enrich you with 4-digit calories by the time you are weaned off the most delicious Indian bread in Delhi. But today, the experience was enhanced with the spiciness of the fruit due to Viognier in the white Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection. A good test of judging how good your will-power is, trying to stop at one half-size paratha of around 3.5-4 inch diameter- and this was just the Amuse Bouche- a la Baluchi.
As we walked towards the table for 16 set in an inside corner of the restaurant, I noticed the swanky wine cellar which is on your right as you enter the restaurant. It did not look overcrowded at this time of the year because the excise policy has been not conducive to fresh supplies. In fact, it had been totally choked earlier as the new policy had been announced and until the labels are registered, the importers or domestic producers cannot swing into action for at least till the end of month- certainly not before Diwali.
 The restaurant was quite busy- The hotel guests and Indian cuisine loyalist of the restaurant, according to Charles. Grover Zampa Brut Rose and VA Red Wine were served in quick succession with pleasantly plated fish, chicken and mutton kebabs. Both the wines were clean and drinking smoothly on their own but Rose Brut was paired well with fish. VA Red was absolutely a perfect match with VA Red, tempting some to order more of the same kebabs. I wanted to try mushroom galautiBut i= kebabs to try to validate yet another time that mushroom matches very well with red wines like Shiraz. The kebab was incredibly delicious, melting in the mouth with a potpourri of delicious spices lining the palate but when I took a sip of the VA red, it washed them down and leaving a surrealist impression in the mouth. I was not surprised when Karishma who had tried a piece at my insistence loved it so much that she joked with part false excitement, ‘my life has taken a new meaning after this moment!’
The best was yet to come!
The main course had what we normally find in a north Indian home for a meal- Mutton Rogan Josh and Daal Baluchi served with Grover Zampa Chene Reserve. I am not a fan of red meat and normally avoid it in favour of lighter textured meats like fish or chicken. But the Chene Grover Zampa with a blend of Tempranillo (60%) and Shiraz (40%) matured in French oak casks for over 15 months, cried for a properly matched full bodied food and there can be hardly a dish better than the mutton rogan josh. The curry of the josh seemed to have the real ‘josh’ with the succulent and soft pieces playing the major part in the symphony. I could perhaps have the whole meal with the pheni parantha and the curry of the rogan josh. That I could have a bowlful of daal by itself shows how delicious it was.
Dessert was a soothing paan ice-cream and sinfully rich and delicious gulab jamun. Pairing this with Zampa Soiree Rose Brut was a bit of a disaster though. No explanation given by Charles was comprehensible by me. There is an implicit rule, if we can call it, that the sweetness of the dessert must be balanced with the sweetness of the wine-neither should overpower the other- here gulab-jamun was the sugar daddy. Most  people left the bubbly on the table. I have often wondered about the fetish of trying to serve dessert wine with Indian dessert-especially where there is hardly any match. Charles felt my angst and quickly fetched a tasting portion of Beaumes de Venise. Though slightly tannic after-taste, it went extremely well with gulab-jamun.
Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost (movie hasn’t finished yet)
A normal human would go home and record his or her excitement on the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and WhatsApp. But there was still time for hospitality and so we accepted Charles invite to visit their night club, Kitty Su which is extremely popular in Mumbai and doing well in its new Avatar at The Lalit Delhi. One of the few places in town, if not the only one, where the hotel has a Champagne Lounge where the only bubbly served is champagne.
Since it was a Global Champagne Day, I agreed to stop by the Lounge and check it out while our Mimosa was under preparation by the mixologist. Mimosa might not have been the best in town but the prices of champagne are perhaps the lowest. You can get a bottle of Devaux D for as low as 5,500 AI (that includes over 30% of taxes and surcharges). Piper Heidsieck at Rs. 6,500 (AI), Drappier at Rs. 7,000 (AI) and Taittinger at Rs. 7.500 (AI) are possibly the best-value champagnes in Delhi.
The Lalit Baluchi is really making efforts to make Indian wines popular with their cuisine and the evening was an excellent indicator that Grover Zampa would make a happy partner with their cuisine, the disastrous dessert-wine pairing notwithstanding. If you visit the restaurant and see Charles or Chef Tyagi, do say hello to them and say ... Jai Ho!! They will know you are a friend of Indian Wine Academy.
Subhash Arora |