Is OTB W-Day Buffet What Women Want? The Big Question Answered

Name: Out of The Blue, W-Day Lunch

Location: E-Square, Shivajinagar, Pune

Date of Visit: 26^th September, 2012 (Lunch hour) (Review on Invitation)

What women want? While all of mankind is still struggling to answer this question, OTB attempts to answer it with its W-Day buffet. Did they succeed? You men, already know that you can never succeed in completely satisfying women but this is a good beginning. Firstly, it’s just a day dedicated to women. We would prefer it if the entire week was dedicated to us, but we’ll make do with a special day.

Since the W-Day buffet celebrates women and is designed for them, I am going to talk about it from a lady’s perspective rather than a neutral point of view.

The Concept and has it succeeded

Dedicating Wednesday to women is becoming a common and successful trend. With an offer like this it takes off the edge of mid-week-crisis for men and women, whoever cares to visit. I like to call it ‘The kitty party’ concept. This is a 5 course buffet meal that costs Rs 395 inclusive of taxes as on date. The buffet includes a non-alcoholic beverage,  a soup, variety of salads laid out, dips and bread, a cheese platter, live counter, main course and a dessert buffet.

On the Plus Side

This is a reasonable buffet for the location, ambience, quality of food they offer and the variety that is available. To be clear this is not like a “Shaadi” style buffet, wherein vegetarian, non-vegetarian Indian, Chinese and what is known as “Conti” dishes are laid in a long line with a naan counter. This buffet offers a selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian salads, dips and bread, a cheese platter, a live counter as well as dessert that is laid out on the buffet table.

The main course selection includes sizzlers, pastas and BBQ dishes to choose from. These are not laid out on the buffet but freshly prepared and brought to your table plated like an a la carte meal. There are two reasons I liked this arrangement. The first being that the food does not sit out for hours on the buffet losing the freshness and getting overcooked as well. The second reason is that food wastage is minimum. You may have noticed people heaping up their plates with mutton, chicken, paneer all together with hakka noodles and stir fry vegetables on their plate, that they can no longer tell the dishes apart. Not only do diners end up wasting food on their plate but also there is more leftover in the kitchen. Freshly prepared dishes are brought to the table; however, portion size is comparatively smaller than that in an a la carte meal.

On The Minus Side

5 out of 10 Indian women are vegetarians. My mother’s kitty party friends come from well-to-do Vegetarian families and they meet each week for chitchat and their weekly gossip dose. The question that comes to my head is, will they like the OTB W-Day buffet? Although the selection offered to vegetarians is not limited and holds 50% weightage, the dishes that are offered are not very appealing. Not only does their description hold little promise but also two of the veggie salads that I tried and the vegetarian main course we ordered were disappointing. I think OTB should improve the taste of their currently available vegetarian dishes and also must include a few more promising and delicious vegetarian items to the main course. In my opinion the buffet did not do justice to the vegetarians.

What’s in it for Women?

The W-day buffet has some added attractions including a lucky draw with vouchers to be won. They also have an astrologer, palm reader and face reader. On request, kitty party games for groups can be organized as well.

Menu, courses and selection

There was a vegetarian soup, 4 different types of dips with assorted bread. Although the dips offered were impressive, the selection of breads offered can be improved. There were 6 or 7 different types of vegetarian and non-vegetarian salads.  Cheese Platter offered only two types of cheese namely emmenthal and cheddar slices along with inadequate accompaniments.

The Sushi live counter was impressive considering that it is hard to find sushi places in Pune in the first place. Although there was one vegetarian, a prawn and a chicken maki roll n California roll variety of sushi; this counter was unique and impressive in our city. It’s also a good place for an affordable experiment for those who haven’t tried sushi. They have a different live counter every Wednesday such as a Thai counter or a pasta counter.

For main course you can choose between a sizzler, pasta or a BBQ dish. Each of these offers 2 or 3 options. The selection of Pasta selection was limited. Pasta has become a safe choice for most of the Indian diners, a white sauce pasta and a tomato pasta doesn’t do it for me when there is no pasta live counter. I would’ve preferred to have few more promising pasta options on the menu.

There were merely 4 or 5 desserts on the buffet. This is disappointing for a sweet tooth. Many diners I know look forward to the dessert buffet and expect a good variety offered on the buffet. A chocolate gateau, a cheesecake, swiss roll and mousse is not enough.

Food

The soup of the day was light and average in taste.

Dips

The Aioli Dip, hummus and the petit pois dip were great. The petit pois dip was unique and refreshing change from regular dips, it slightly tangy and really worked together with those breads for me. The moho dip was good too, though not great.

Salads

The Ploughman’s Salad and Seafood Papaya Salad were delicious. 

Ploughman's Salad

Seafood and Papaya Salad

The Chicken Sausage salad was good too. However, the smoked cauliflower salad for the vegetarians was bland and unapppetising. 

Smoked Cauliflower

Tandoori paneer salad was decent but not great, although a little tang in it would have made it zingy and perfect.

Tandoori Paneer Salad

Live Counter

Sushi – the maki and California rolls were decent but not made with raw fish. There were shredded chicken and fried prawn rolls along with the vegetarian one. Since sushi wasn’t the main attraction but an added attraction, it worked. I think it is acceptable to use cooked prawns in place of raw fish if good quality fish is unavailable.

Sushi Selection

Main Dishes

I will begin with my order of Lemon Sauce Chicken, which is also listed as one of the house favourites on the menu. Ordering the house favourite is more or less a safe choice. The taste of the house favourite also sets the bar for the rest of the menu. If they can’t make the house favourite finger licking good then there isn’t much promise in the other dishes either. This chicken dish was delicious and the sauce was finger licking good. They use a boneless piece of leg in this dish making it far more juicy and flavourful than preparations using boneless breast. The ala carte portion size of this dish includes a leg and a breast however, for the buffet a single piece of leg was served with a side of grilled vegetables and very lumpy mashed potatoes.

Chicken In Lemon Sauce

The filet of Basa with Asian pesto sauce was creamy and yummy too. Basa is becoming increasingly popular with restaurants in the city for good reason. It was a good quality, fresh tasting fillet with pesto and creamy sauce. I hardly think any chef can go wrong when the dish is so perfect in itself.

The vegetarian cutlet sizzler was a disappointment. After the salads when I tasted the mediocre vegetarian sizzler, it made me think that this W-Day buffets needs work when it comes to their vegetarian selection. The patty was bland, soggy and the vegetables in it were not appetising. It was confusing, was it overcooked cabbage or something else. Perhaps a little more potato would hold this dish together, but something was definitely off. The patty around which the rest of the sizzler revolved, did not have enough character to make it a good dish.

Vegetarian Cutlet Sizzler

The lemon cheesecake and death by chocolate made it a satisfactory desserts buffet. 

Lemon Cheesecake

Death By Chocolate

The papaya mousse however, was too heavy, creamy and dense to appeal to my palate.

Papaya Mousse

Service

About a month ago when I had reviewed OTB Pune for the first time on my father’s birthday for an ala carte evening meal, the server’s lack of knowledge had disappointed me. He was unaware of the wines available that evening or the ones that would go well with our fondue.

This time however, since the review was on invitation, the service was far better. Although another error in service makes me assert that OTB Pune staff must learn more about their wines, dishes, and what they look like.

Siddharth ordered a vegetarian sizzler while Tanzif had asked for a chicken sizzler. Our server assumed that both the sizzlers he had brought from the kitchen were chicken sizzlers. He offered to bring the correct order. Since, both Siddharth and Tanzif are non-vegetarians they asked him to serve it anyway. In reality, it wasn’t a mix up from the kitchen. Our server could not tell the vegetarian sizzler from the non-vegetarian sizzler. He ended up serving the wrong sizzler to the wrong person without realizing they were different sizzlers. It is important for the service staff to be able to identify a vegetarian from a non-vegetarian sizzler. It can be difficult to tell them apart with all that sauce. I suggest the kitchen staff add a signature ingredient on the vegetarian sizzler, as a sign, so it is easier to tell them apart.

Value for Money

With few appetising vegetarian dishes and a limited selection of desserts, the value for money for a vegetarian is not up to the mark. Having said that, good quality food, an interesting variety of items and the location of OTB makes it worth it. The non-vegetarian sizzlers and BBQ dishes that we tried were all delicious. Had there been some creamy pesto or risottos in the pasta selection this course would have been a fun choice too.

That thing about this buffet is that it is a breath of fresh air for a weekday buffet. Aren’t you bored of having the same old Indian, chinese and ‘conti’ buffets all the time? OTB buffet has quite the edge when it comes to cuisine. They also serve a la carte dishes on Wednesday afternoon as well, in case you wish to spend the afternoon with wine, fondue over saucy gossip. This buffet can be a perfect lunch hour meal for working women or a way for women to relax and unwind for a couple of hours while their men and children are away.

Also Read my older Review of OTB Pune here

http://foodmantras.blogspot.in/2012/08/say-cheese-out-of-blue-e-square-pune.html

Ambience: 7/ 10 Good

Value For Money: 7/ 10 Good

Menu: 7/ 10 Good

Food: 7/ 10 Good

Service: 6/ 10 Average

That Thing About This Place: 7/ 10 Good

Good Ambience + Good Value for Money + Good Menu + Good Food + Average Service + Good That Thing About This Place= Good

Rating: 7/ 10 

Say Cheese! Out of the Blue, E-Square, Pune

Name: Out of the Blue

Location: E-square, Pune

Date of Visit: 24^th August, 2012 (Dinner)

Birthdays are a very big deal in my family. When we were growing up, we would make cards with glitter, sketch pens and even write little poems for my father about how he was the best dad in the world. All that is gone now since we are able to afford a real gift; Though, I still think he preferred the handmade cards. He misses all the attention his little girls used to shower on him. He often finds us texting while he talks to us now. So, last evening I decided to leave my phone back when we were leaving for Out of the Blue for his birthday dinner.

In many ways, our dinner at Out of the Blue last evening was a family reunion. In fewer words, the fondue and wine brought us together again. Everyone stopped texting and enjoyed the time together, in that moment at Out of The Blue. The setting was perfect. Wooden tables with little candle lamps, mood lighting and a comfortable low sitting area. I loved this arrangement; you take off your shoes and climb into one of these booths, stretch your legs and relax. I would’ve loved it if the ambience was perfect but there were two problems. First, the live music was way too loud and second, with that setting on a Friday evening, the guests were loud and the place was very noisy.

We made our peace with that and ordered for OTB cracked pepper fondue, a house specialty but we made the mistake of asking for a wine to go with the fondue. For a minute there I felt we were speaking gibberish because the waiter seemed so confused. He not only did not know what wine would go well with the fondue but also did not know which wines they served or which ones were available that day. He kept forcing us to buy Pearl bay, a South African wine but otherwise he was just clueless. The wine list was limited; it mostly included Indian brands like Reveila, OTB’s House brand, Kingfisher (yes, they make wine) and a few South African wines. Reisling was listed but not available. Each time we chose something from the wine list, ‘SIBA’ our waiter would go to the bar and return empty handed with a sorry face. After he made three trips to the bar, I began to lose my cool and told him, ‘just bring us what you have in white’. He almost ruined the evening, missed by an inch.

For other choices on the menu, to be honest, those who haven’t been to OTB in Mumbai won’t be disappointed to see this menu. I was slightly disappointed, be it fondue, soups, salads or main course, the menu had limited choice when compared with OTB Mumbai. Nonetheless, they made up for it in taste. You don’t care how limited the choice is as long as every item that is served to you tastes good.

It will be an inexcusable fault if I said the fondue, as usual, at OTB tastes good. That OTB fondue does not taste good, it tastes awesome. I agree it is very tough to go wrong when you are serving warm, melted cheese in a bowl to dip fresh, crispy bread in, but OTB does it with flair. I’ve trained, so I know, there are a lot of things that can go wrong with a fondue; the proportions of cheese, the proportion of cheese to wine and garlic in it, the cheese could be stale, its flavor may not be up to the mark. There was no such flaw in the OTB fondue, it was right, and it made the evening right.

It was beautiful, all four of us together, dipping our bread and sipping the wine, relaxed. Conversation and fondue flow easy, that’s the great thing about it, with fondue, you interact even when you’re not talking. Even though I consider fondue a very romantic meal, last night made me realize it is for family, for friends and all the people you love. You didn’t think we were going to stop at one, did you? We called for the chicken and ham fondue next. The chicken was juicy and supple, so was the ham. It is one thing to invite bloggers and serve great food and it is another thing to maintain that quality for every guest who comes to dine.

We were too full after two fondues to have the main course as well. Instead, we decided to split one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian dish between the four of us. We went for Prawn aglio olio from the charcoal grill selection and porcini mushroom risotto. It is very rare to find consistency in restaurants. Consistency, in terms of great taste between dishes, meals over a period of time and even branches of a brand. Every dish in that meal was beautiful.

The porcini mushroom risotto was creamy, subtle in flavour, and the prawns were juicy and full of flavour. We did not have the chocolate fondue they serve because we still had a cake to cut. From my previous experiences I know that OTB serves good dessert.

That Thing About This Place is that I have begun to trust OTB as a brand. This is hard to achieve and even harder to maintain. I hope that they will maintain this quality and teach their staff about the wines they serve.

Ambience: 7/ 10 Good

Value For money: 7/ 10 Good

Menu: 7/10 Good

Service: 6/10 Average

Food: 8/ 10 Very Good

That Thing About This Place: 8/ 10 Very Good

Good Ambience + Good Value For Money + Good Menu + Average Service + Very Good Food + Very Good That Thing About This Place = Good

Rating: 7/ 10

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Shakahari; Shakahari, Pune Marriott

Name: Shakahari, Marriott, Pune

Location: Marriott, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune

Date of Visit: 15th May, 2012 (Dinner)

My Mom is a vegetarian, so is my mausi, mami, nani and Pinku. Picking a restaurant is not easy all around. Until five years back, their only options were udipi restaurants and pao bhaji places. Among the few vegetarian fine-dining restaurants that have popped up in the city, Shakahari is one of the most talked about. I will be honest, I am a true carnivore and going to Shakahari wasn’t my first choice. We had to go for Mom’s choice, it being my parents’ 36^th ‘Meeting’ Anniversary. Yes, I was born to a very romantic couple. Anyway, getting back to Shakahari, this is a very beautifully designed restaurant. I’d say it is even better than Alto Vino, the Italian restaurant in Marriott.

It is spacious and private, the wooden aesthetics and mood lighting promised a cozy and elegant evening ahead. Our server was courteous, attentive with a good knowledge of the menu but most of all, he seemed interested in what he was doing, a rare find.

What a Delicious cabbage roll!

I do appreciate a chef who manages to respect the integrity of fresh ingredients by not over-flavoring them, and also one that whips up a light mousse like theirs.

Honestly, apart from their Tava mushroom appetiser which was lightly flavored with fresh ground spices and mustard oil, lightly flavored baby potatoes for main course, the dumplings and few items on the dessert buffet, the food wasn’t extraordinary. Even so, now I realize there were quite a few dishes that I liked.

Tava Mushrooms

The menu and method of service had some interesting aspects to it. For starters, the menu included vegetarian Sushi, steamed broccoli, a wide range of salads and a wider range of condiments and dressings. In the appetizers as well as the main course selection there were Asian and Indian items with a good mix of regular favorites and some unique dishes to choose from. The Buddhist likes of glass noodles and steamed vegetables as well as Indian, Rajasthani delicacies like Papad aur Mangodi ki sabzi made up for a rare range.

Main Dishes

Shakahari’s is what I call a Smart Service Style. The soup, salad and dessert are laid on the buffet, while the appetisers and main course are served at the table. Each group of diners can choose two Asian and three Indian appetisers and two Asian and three Indian main course from the selection specified on the menu card. There are two advantages in this form of service; the first being that the quality of food is maintained at a la carte standards because the food hasn’t been lying in the trays for hours, and the second being that the wastage of food is minimal because diners don’t tend to over serve. I know that I always fill my plate up in a buffet because I don’t want to get up for a second helping. The irony is that I end up going for the second helping of the dishes that I like anyway.

Sweets

The dessert selection was charmingly extravagant with chocolate gateau to passion fruit cheesecake, lamingtons and my personal favourite, baked yogurt. There were ice creams and balu shahi along with moong dal halwa and other Indian sweets. The white chocolate mousse was beautifully done and the best part was that all of the desserts were lightly sweetened. This allowed us to load ourselves heavily with the sweets without wanting to cleanse our palate with karela juice!

I was pleasantly surprised by this extravagant and fine vegetarian meal. It is a treat for the Global vegetarian and certainly did not fail to amuse and entice the palate of a meat worshipper like myself and that’s the Thing About This Place.

Ambience: 8/ 10 Very Good

Value For Money: 7/ 10 Good

Service: 7/ 10 Good

Menu: 7/ 10 Good

Food: 7/ 10 Good

That Thing About This Place: 8/ 10 Very Good

Very Good Ambience + Good Value For Money + Good Service + Good Menu + Good Food + Very Good That Thing About This Place = Good

Rating = 7/ 10

A Class Apart; To Eat Or Not To Eat in Harajuku

Name: Harajuko

Location: O Hotel, Koregaon Park, Pune

Date of Visit: 4^th March 2012 (Lunch)

My sister and I have been looking forward to eating at this place ever since it opened a few years ago. We were never able to go for Japanese since the rest of our family was not keen on experimenting especially the vegetarians with Japanese food! After nearly two years of making and breaking plans Stuti and I finally went for this much awaited Bento Meal on quiet afternoon. Although it was Sunday afternoon very few tables were occupied, this made for a peaceful and laid back lunch in my lovely hometown. There was a child, about six year seated at the opposite table, he looked at the food and exclaimed, ‘This is not food!’ with an adorable frown on his face.

 Reasons To Eat

1.     I loved the Ambience of Harajuku! It was a class apart. The gorgeous golden panel on its ceiling defining the bar counter and the dark wood furniture redefines fine-dining in Pune city. Even their chairs have an exceptionally high back and the upholstery is done in beautiful floral prints in light colors. The designer of this place deserves a standing ovation.

2.     There are few places in Pune city that serve Japanese food. It is rare to find a Japanese specialty restaurant. With Sushi and Teppanyaki on their menu, I think it is safe to say that a Japanese menu is a breath of fresh air for diners in Pune city. I love my butter chicken but raw fish surprisingly refreshing change.

3.     Good Food. I remember the first time I tried sushi. I did not like it. It was new and seemed too bland for an Indian palate, but my palate has come a long way since. I have travelled and begun to love sushi. Sushi in Harajuku as not at all bland as you may imagine. Pieces of seafood and sticky rice stuck together with a dot of wasabi, yummy! Beware, that pungent wasabi is sure to burn up your nose!

4.     The Bento Meals make a reasonable fixed meal set that is filling and utterly satiating. The Sushi Bento Meal included five items in the Bento Box along with Miso soup and dessert with a green tea or pint of beer as the beverage alongside. Although the rest of the menu may seem expensive, if you pick one of the Bento Meals, you will be satiated without a burning hole in your pocket. The green tea was subtle and delicious.

5.     There is a little something for the Indian palate. In the Sushi Bento Meal that I picked there were six pieces of sushi, some salad, tempura vegetables along with grilled salmon and two pieces of a deep fried appetizer that was very tasty but did not seem Japanese. It seemed to me as though they have added a little something to suit the Indian palate. Even the grilled salmon was not bland or subtly flavoured, it was grilled and pleasantly seasoned with salt and pepper.

Reasons To Not Eat

1.     Although Harajuko does have vegetarian meal options on their menu. I would not recommend this place to vegetarians, simply because it may not be as enjoyable for the price you pay.

2.     It is an expensive restaurant. Although with the ambience and choice of cuisine it does not seem over-priced, if you don’t go for the Bento Meal, chances are your meal will pinch your pocket.

3.     If you are not an experimental foodie or a fan of Japanese food, I do not recommend it. This can turn out to be an expensive experiment.

The service here was prompt however, I prefer not to comment on service till I see good service during rush hour. Venturing into a Japanese restaurant is a brave step from O hotel, although in a city like Pune full of foodies wanting to try out new stuff, Harajuko is a breath of fresh air!

Ambience: 9/ 10 Excellent

Value for Money: 6/ 10 Average

Menu: 8/ 10 Very Good

Food: 8/ 10 Very Good

Service: 7/ 10 Good

That Thing About This Place: 9/ 10 Excellent

Excellent Ambience + Average Value For Money + Very Good Menu + Very Good Food + Good Service + Excellent That Thing About This Place = Very Good

Rating: 8/ 10