The new Sundowner menu at Hyatt Polo lounge boasts of cocktails which have been cured for 24 hours for better flavour. Bilal Vohra checks them out
New Delhi has another reason to rejoice the monsoons with The Hyatt running the Sundowner at the famed Polo Club lounge. The place was already a star studded attraction with its quaint ambience, interesting books to read, and great woodwork to appreciate while you get comfortable with the food and drinks available. The Sundowner brings you unlimited cocktails (in a window of two hours) that can be clubbed with any three appetisers and you can walk off the place with just Rs1,450 exclusive of taxes.
The name might be blasphemous to many as Sundown in Delhi does not happen before 7:30 and the Sundowner drinks window is limited from 2 pm to 6 pm only. Still when we walked into the lounge hoping to see it almost empty it was almost full. To our surprise, most of the crowd around this time were ones who do not mind discussing business over cocktails.
The menu is the creation of chef Abhishek Singh from lucknow who has a well trained hand in regional as well as cross-border cuisines. It consists of six unique and carefully crafted cocktails and equal number of appetisers to match them.
The drinks are unique in sense of infusions that they carry, each one of them has been cured atleast 24 hours to absorb the fragrant flavours that would ultimately overpower the hint of alcohol content in them. Insas, a cocktail of vanilla infused white rum, saffron tincture, pineapple juice and nutmeg is a serious drink that can shake the base of most experienced drinkers too with almost 60ml of alcohol this comes with a warning sign which clearly reads “handle with care”.
The chicken croquettes with aoili sauce are very well golden fried and taste delectable. The albondigas or the meat balls in spicy tomato sauce are soft and delightful; the texture feels perfect with well cooked meat in lightly spiced tomato sauce. The seafood fritter dip is something not to be ignored placed in a beautiful fillo with ultra thin layers that instantly remind you of the thousand layer pastry or the Mille-Feuille.
In our humble opinion, the experience of Sundowner is a steal and not just a deal for anyone considering the price, ambience and quality factor of Polo lounge. Our recommended orders are Insas from cocktails sections and albondigas or seafood fritter from the appetisers.