The newly opened restaurant Uzuri Deck and Dining in GK II is a place for refined foodies who seek beyond the regular fare, says Navneet Mendiratta 

That it has a celebrity chef on board has not missed anybody’s attention. But it is only one of its many positives. The newly opened restaurant Uzuri Deck and Dining is a place for refined foodies who are on a constant lookout for something that would test and appease their insatiable taste buds. The celebrity chef here in question is Guy Clark (a famous South African MasterChef finalist) and assisting him is celebrity student Rishim Sachdeva (he has worked under masters like Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck fame and Matthias Taubert).

In real, beyond the flashlights and expectations, what we do end up exploring is this exclusive place that offers its diners a very fine African-European cuisine that is wholesome and different at the same time. The food borrows extensively from the African flavours without playing too much with the hotness quotient and is largely epicurean in nature.

Housed in two levels and situated above the Market Café in the fast developing foodie hub of GK II (M-Block market), Uzuri makes no effort to hide that it is “not” your regular Mediterranean (read regular pizza or a pasta offering) restaurant. It opens with the dining area that is done up with African touches (a la jungle print furnishings, muted murals and walls dolled up with masks sourced from the native land) to complete the look.

The deck upstairs is more open and makes for lovely seating space, especially at this time of the year when the air is nippy and just right for a wintery outdoorsy feel. Being a weekend the space was full and I had to settle for the dining. My table overlooked the busy market street and was quite private. Honestly, no complaining there.

The first to arrive on the table was platter of in-house bread basket accompanied by a selection of the creamiest butters (paprika, garlic and pesto). This was followed by herb quinoa salad, bush style smoked vegetables and truffle scented pesto salad, with perfect smoky flavours that created wonders in the mouth.

For the mains there was coffee and paprika crusted tenderloin, smoked truffle butter, marrow roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables. This was one great steak that I have ever had. Crisp at the outside and really succulent to bite into. The coffee lent the right amount of bitterness, if only enhancing the smokiness (don’t be surprised to see the recurrence of this word. The restaurant specialises in providing these flavours and evens calls it their special touch!) to their dish.

Next was a vegetarian choice: grilled vegetable ratatouille, caramelised polenta and lemon spiced roast garlic. To my mind this lovely play of roasted veggies and polenta only endorsed their promise of doing Italian differently. “Though the African cuisine is a lot about big game and large portions, it can be easily confused with the Indian given their shared love for the hot chilli. Similarly, the European food easily tends to veer towards the Mediterranean and there is no way one can avoid the signatures. We have actually designed and created dishes that no one else serves and are true to the original flavours,” said Sachdeva, speaking for the menu choices.

Having worked in the international market, he is curious to understand the contemporary Indian taste. And therefore, is open to all genuine feedback that is coming his way. So far the response is encouraging. And fully aware how meats tend to sit heavily on the palate with their strong flavours all likely to kill any next offering, the chefs have designed palate cleansers to change the tune. I simply loved the play of lemon that came by the way of lemon soufflé between the dishes.

As they say there is nothing like a beautiful ending to make sure the event is a success, we had Sachdeva’s tribute to his teacher — pickled grapes, semi frozen truffles soaked in spirits with melting caramalised vanilla ice cream sitting on top of the famous recipe of chocolate soil that instantly crumbles into the mouth. Ah, Nirvana!

The only thing missing perhaps is a selection of spirits and fine wines, that the restaurant plans to introduce once it gets the license. That’s worth the wait.