How does a hotel celebrate? Especially something as big as the return of alcohol. Or even their anniversary. Or when both come together. There are simply many ways to celebrate, but the best of the hotels get their chefs to recreate something. A new menu maybe? That is how Park Hyatt, the home to one of the best restaurants in the city, is doing. A brand new menu at The Flying Elephant. It's no new menu with a tweak here and there. 75% of it is new.
Well, not just new, but a little push of the boundaries. A live salad. No, not a live counter, but the chef dishing it out and mixing it up on your table. The end result of all the theatre was a beautiful salad with loads of crunch. Well, I'm biased to anything that has a little crunch to it, but I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that the salad was fabulous. What else can you expect when you have Chef Teku at the helm and we're dealing with something called the Singapore Slaw Salad!
Grilling watermelons is now the in-thing in salads. An age old watermelon-feta salad recipe, is undergoing tremendous changes, some good, some not so good. Chef Balaji has a few tricks up his sleeves and he was reluctant to tell me how he got the watermelon grilled so perfectly that it wasn't dripping. Perfect cubes of watermelon dunked in a Tandoori Masala and grilled. Then served symbolically on a mini grill. With a spicy masala on top and biting into sweet watery watermelon to quickly bring the spice down, this is a beautiful new dish in a new menu. A first for me.
Two awesome starters - check.
And then the dish that got my eyes popping out. One of my favourite dishes, the Milanese Risotto with Ossobucco, was served in a restaurant without a resident Italian chef. A saffron risotto with a lamb shank cooked perfectly. The rice had bite and the lamb not overcooked, yet falling off the bone. I'm not sure how they are going to do this day in and day out, but I will be going back to try it once again. If I get to Milan, that is ONE dish that is on my bucket list. I am aware of only one other restaurant in Chennai that does this dish.
Baked Sea Bass. It's almost like the dhum we give our biriyani, just that the fish is sealed in a nice flour like case and baked leaving it to cook with its juices. Juicy, so juicy served with a minimal salad and the chef cutting it out on your table.
Two awesome main courses - check.
Dessert - :-(
I missed out on desserts on this invited chef's table since I had to head back, but I will update with the dessert really soon.
The new menu is live and The Flying Elephant is rocking!
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