 |
Location/Ambience:
Situated right opposite the 1 MG Road mall, this The Park
Hotel is hard to miss. The Monsoon has Café like vibes, and is a relatively small
dining space beside the other more popular eating arms of the Park, such as
Italia and I-Bar. They have both à la carte as well as buffet options,but I
prefer ordering items that I like off the Menu. However, I did sample some of
the buffet offerings as well. The lighting is subdued, the serving is
unobtrusive and the tables spaced a little too close for my comfort.
The Experience:
I was in the mood for some good Wine and I found that they
have a decent selection of wines, both from India and Abroad. While it is
always easy to order any wine that you like, sometimes it takes careful
planning to order something that pairs well with your food. I decided to go for
a Chardonnay from the Chablis region of France, the Albert Bichot Chablis Les
Vaucopins Domaine Long-Depaquit 2012. Yeah, a mouthful to pronounce and hard to
remember, but the wines from Chablis are renowned from having excellent aging
capabilities and this lovely full-bodied Chardonnay was no exception.
To begin our dinner, we ordered the seafood bisque. It
arrived just after our wine bottle was opened, and the timing was perfect to
pair these two. The bisque was beautifully made, with shrimps, clam shells,
oyster shells and had a rich-slightly creamy flavor. The dull acidity of the
Chablis was the perfect foil to this wonderfully-rich soup, and our dinner was
off to a fabulous start.
While we were waiting for the main course to arrive,
seeing the nice salad section in the Buffet area, the Wife had a sudden craving
for some crispy greens. A quick assembly of crispy iceberg lettuce, grilled
chicken, bell peppers, jalapenos and a light lemony dressing resulted in a
delicious pre-mains snack. Recommended: The Salad section in the lunch/dinner buffets
For the mains, we had ordered the Grilled Salmon Steak
and the Chateaubriand. The salmon steak was a beautifully grilled Norwegian
Salmon, with a light lemon and caper sauce, some grilled veggies and mashed
potatoes on the side. The steak was done just right, with a crispy skin on the
outside and a lovely pink color on the inside. Thumbs up to this dish.
The Chateaubriand steak is a dish which is open to
interpretation when it comes to the sauce, but it should essentially include a
thick-cut from the tenderloin fillet. The dish that I had was prepared along
the traditional lines, with a well-done steak, a lovely-thick well-reduced
sauce, grilled veggies and mashed potatoes on the side.
The lovely clean plating on both the above dishes was
something that we felt more restaurants should follow.
For dessert, we went with the Signature Mud Pie with
vanilla ice-cream. This was probably one of the best mud-pies I have had in Bangalore,
and was an experience you should definitely have, if you ever visit Monsoon.
Again, the simple plating did not prepare us for the decadent mud-pie that we
bit into. A slightly-thick crust, and as we cut into it, a spurt of hot
chocolate trickled out, and as it swirled around on the plate, melting the lovely
vanilla-bean ice-cream, we were in dessert heaven. A few seconds later, a nearly-white
plate was could be seen, and it was hard to tell that this was where a mud-pie
had been served. A testament to the amazing preparation that we had.
Verdict: If you can ignore the slightly cramped seating,
and an average ambience, you can actually enjoy an amazing meal here at the
Monsoon.
