As Vivanta by Taj, Gurgaon, welcomes its executive chef, Arzooman Irani, he curates a special menu from the list of his exotic travels. Riya Sharma gorges on his spread and finds out that the chef has reinterpreted usual dishes and made them stand out with a delightful presentation
When you read a name of the dish written as The Forest, what would your wildest of guess beIJ We thought a lot about it and finally gave up, and waited for the moment to see what it actually is. When we were presented The Forest, it came in a small bowl with white sauce and basil lending it a green colour. It was nothing but our very own pasta, presented like a small forest. It was served in a standing positions as opposed to what we have, and the ‘standing pasta’, as we called it, was easy to get hold of in a fork while eating. This was one of the many dishes that were given ‘his interpretation’ at the chef’s table organised by Vivanta by Taj, Gurgaon.
As they welcomed Arzooman Irani as their executive chef, he laid down a special table for his guests. “The menu that I selected came from my travels. I picked up usual dishes and have given my interpretation of them. like, why can’t you have pasta in this shape and format,” he asked.
We completely agreed with him and trust us, from starters to dessert, he tried to abide by what he said. His version of dishes were presented in a different manner.
The first thing that we were served was the compressed watermelon along with spaghetti vegetables, feta cheese, balsamic pearls, and basil. What we really liked about it was the fresh taste of watermelon complemented well with the fetta cheese. This gave a refreshing touch to our tastebuds. The next dish that followed was coriander prawns served with a lemon pipette. The pipette had lemon juice which we found really interesting.
“The idea was to give you a playful feeling. While in school, everyone has has used a pipette in labs. The idea was to get the feeling back indeed, either you could squirt in your mouth because you could not do it in school or put it on the prawns and have it,” shared the chef. With this came our jalapeno and cream cheese rangoons (dimsums served with mango and onion dip). Here, too, the chef has given his interpretation of dishes — usually we have boiled chicken or prawns in dimsums. But, the chef gave it a twist by adding cheese and jalepenos which actually pops in your mouth when you take a bite. And the dip, it is a must try, we would say.
For the mains, we triedtangdi butter masala (chicken drumstick kebab simmered in tomato gravy), the forest and Sri lankan vegetable black curry. The chicken, along with butter and pudina naan, was served with the sprinkling of rose petals and it tasted like our butter chicken but slightly with a difference. It was boneless and the kebabs were stuffed inside. “The idea came from people who wanted to eat chicken in a fine dining restaurant but did not want to mess their hands. So we picked out the bone and stuffed it again. I love it too because I can eat it with knife and fork as well as my hands,” laughed the chef.
The forest looked like a small forest in a bowl and tasted like the usual pasta that we have, but the flavour of basil, in the right amount, added to the taste buds. The chef shared, “It is just presenting it in a fun way. I called it the forest because it looked different and if you see the sauce and ingredients, it actually gives you a feeling of the forest.”
Sri lankan black curry on the other hand was a bit spicy for us, and when we asked the chef about it, he clearly stated, “It is not as spicy as they have in Sri lanka. Back there, they either have it in chicken or prawns curry. Considering the clientelle here, I served in a vegetable curry.”
They have a mixture called the black spice which has a lot of pepper, cumin, cloves and cinnamon. We were told and it was actually an explosion of all flavors in our mouth.
Till the time, the dessert came, we were completely full. But seeing the baklava with a unique twist of chironji and honey caviar, we couldn’t resist. We gorged in and the addition of cream at the bottom complemented well. As they say, ending on a happy note, we would say this was ending the afternoon on a sugar-y note.