How about starting your day with ranched apple salad, Sicilian tenderloin and pancakes dripping house-made caramel sauce? Only a few things are worth dragging yourself out of the bed on a lazy-late Sunday and the weekend brunch at Hilton Garden Inn is definitely one. With a cozy, intimate setting and elaborate spread, it makes a perfect haunt whether you are dining in group or rolling solo.
The USP of the place is perhaps its live counters and, no, we are not talking about the routine chat and thattukada stations. Azeem Mohamed, the communication manager, takes us to the hand-pulled string noodle station and we watch in sheer astonishment the ropes of pre-kneaded dough twirling and twisting. “It tastes leagues apart from the normal machine-made noodles,” he informs. Next comes tandoor and dim sum stations and the kebabs and dumplings look simply succulent. The grill counter has fish, squid, crab and jumbo prawns and you can go for either Kerala or western marination. At the hand-crafted pasta station we find tortellini, mushroom and corn ragout and homemade ravioli with beef. And if you are more of a pizza person, you can ask for a customised platter laden with the toppings of your choice. The place even has a small kids buffet that features a handful of items children can’t resist. There are beetle-shaped macaroni cheese muffins, well-garnished mini pizzas and breaded chicken tenders. And to keep the kids hooked there are a caricature artist and spot magician.
We decide it’s enough roaming around and settle down for our fare. We give the soups a miss and head to the salad bar where an array of terrines and fresh greens await. We readily scoop up chicken Hawaii salad, squid and beans salad and grilled fish in French dressing. After finishing the delightful picks we go for some prawn momos that arrive with a couple of condiments including black pepper sauce. Now it’s time for the main course and we instantly like the idea of having our own pizza. We pick the seafood mix and ask them to go easy on cheese.
Meantime we browse the hot buffet and end up with heaps of cheese vegetable surprise and kallumakkaya ularthiyathu. We like the creamy, melt-in-mouth veg balls and the mussels sauted in desi masala mix has a perfect spice level. Then we go for murgh shine korma, a yummy chicken preparation in cashew-onion gravy and our own flavorsome Thalasseri chicken biriyani.
We find the herb-crusted tenderloin a little bland for Indian tastebuds, but the nadan chena nool kothu (marinated and deep fried yam) and muringa kaya manag curry (drumstick and raw mango cooked in coconut paste) are delicacies just out of the granny’s kitchen.
Choices doesn’t end there as you can go for kada roast, Cantonese style baby lamb stew with black mushroom, Mexican chilly corn carne or pan fried noodles in mushroom sauce. Just when we are planning to check out the icecream and chocolate fondue counter our pizza arrives. Steaming hot and speckled with an assortment of toppings, it’s mouthfuls of warm, melted mozzarella cheese and chunks of seafood.
Finally we make our way to the dessert counter and come back with our plates piled high with baked mango yogurt, vanilla-pannacotta-blueberry jelly and chocolate zuccotto. And yes, they taste as good as their sinfully-rich and tempting looks.
The brunch buffet is priced Rs 1,100 plus taxes (non-alcoholic) and Rs 1,400 plus taxes (alcoholic). Now that you know city brunches are not all about omelets, croissants, and midday boozing go and check out what’s on offer this weekend. Timing is 12 noon to 3 pm and for reservations call o471-6600000.