Culinary spreads from Thailand and Japan jostle for attention at city's Sunday brunch
If you find yourself at JW Marriott's (Mumbai Sahar) Sunday Brunch over the weekend, you might spot a few unusual pop-ups at the classic spread. For instance, the Thai and Japanese counters headed by Chefs Rungtiwae Sorlae and Toshiyuki Okabe, in town for a fleeting few weeks (till December 3) to orient our palates to the less recognised flavours of the South and far-east Asian countries.
Customise your stir fried noodles at the Japanese station; Pic: Sohini Das Gupta
At the Japanese station, once you've peeled your eyes off the usual suspects like tempura prawns and chicken karaage, you'd run into heaps of dewy produce — purple cabbage, corn, bell peppers and mushrooms — flanked on the side by chosen cuts of meat and sea food. This is your stop to customise and relish stir-fried noodles, which, with a conscious absence of sauce or condiments, gets you to focus on the earthy, slightly mushy mix of vegetables, meat and prawns.
California rolls at the sushi station; Pic: Sohini Das Gupta
Don't let the mellow aftertaste prejudice you, the sushi spread, especially the California, Spicy Prawn Tempura and the Philadelphia rolls are a crackling mix of "crispy-crunch-saucy" layering over a central nucleus of raw meat or fish, as Chef Okabe puts it. The herby layering and the wasabi work in tow to render the queasy sushi-virgin free of apprehensions. But what really stands out at this counter is how the vegetable skewers win a hand over their non-veg counterpart, with the light and flavourful eggplant and cheese kushikatsu and the kakiage (mixed vegetable tempura) sealing the deal.
Seafood and fresh meat cuts are turned into skewers on request; Pic: Sohini Das Gupta
The selection of skewers at the Thai section, however, are predominantly non-vegetarian, with a wide variety of sausages, fish and sea food laid out raw for patrons to select the exact manner in which they wish to enjoy their treat. We were particularly pleased with the right-kind-of-fatty salmon skewer, which can only be described as melt-in-the-mouth. Moving through the row, the tender soy pork belly, with just a hint of ginger, the phad phak ruam mitr, a consoling stir fry (the name translates to "everything in together") and the zesty seafood in red curry paste made an impression. The last one offers quite a visual drama, with everything from prawns to clams swimming invitingly in curry-red spices.
Duck in green chilli and hoisin sauce served on rice bed; Pic: Kanishka Mukherjee
But the star was the appropriately titled 'dish of the day' — duck with green chili and hoisin sauce, served on a bed of steamed rice. For us, Chef Sorlae launches into the elaborate process of cooking the duck — the duck is cleaned and stuffed with five-spice, onion, garlic, bay leaf and salt, before being stitched up and boiled, the flavoured water from which is then poured onto the meat for it to be hung dry for an entire night and finally, roasted to a crisp-skinned, blushing brown climax. As the part sweet part salty skin of the duck hits our tongue, we realise the it is sheer technique which ensures that the meat and the rice create a harmonious layering, where flavours mild and fierce may come together for the Mumbai gourmet's delight.
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 "Chefs Rungtiwae Sorlae")
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