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gastro gnome

The concept of the grill has been around forever, at least from the time of the ancient Egyptians. In India we traditionally cook meat such as kebabs over charcoal. The tandoor was traditionally used for making bread, and quite recently became receptacle for cooking meat such as chicken, creating the iconic tandoori chicken.

The normal cookers have a grill together with an oven; there are also small electric standalone grills, highly compact and relatively cheap.One of the most widely sold of these is the one recommended by the boxer George Foreman, its selling point is that one can make do without oil.It could be a gimmick, but the product does a reasonable job and takes up very little space

The ultimate grilling device to hit the market is called the stone grill. It was pioneered in Australia and has a patented technique using natural volcanic stone, chosen for its high heat retention. The stone grill can heat up to 400 cm.

It involves a dry cooking method, the high temperature sears the food without burning it. Its manufacturers assert that this form of cooking locks in the natural flavours and juices and, significantly, the nutrients which invariably get lost during the cooking process.

To my knowledge, the only restaurant in Mumbai which offers the stone grill method ofcooking is the newly revamped West View at the ITC Grand Maratha in Sahar. It offers amazing value.

For a fixed price of Rs1800, which in these recessionary times is highly welcome, you get a soup, salad, a selection of some meats, fish and vegetables in raw form to be given to the chef for either traditional grilling or for the stone grill. To this extent, it poses a serious challenge to the other famous grill restaurant at the Grand Hyatt M.

When I went there several weeks earlier, the experience far exceeded my expectations. There were some exotic sea food available, including pacific John Dory infused with fennel, Iceland Halibut with kafir lime and Canadian scallops with ginger butter. There were otherwise the usual suspects such as the white pomfret, calamari, and such.

However, the sea food was carefully marinated with exotic herbs and the sauces were various, including salmon roe with vodka cream, shrimp and nage and star anise dill cream.

The meats included Spanish chorizo, Australian lamb chopsand duck. Even for veggies, the selection was innovative and clever such as the Taleggio Italian (cheese) and Kalamata infused polenta (corn cereal).

And, the real winner for me was the potato skins stuffed with field mushrooms. Grilling intensifies the flavour of mushrooms in the most exquisite fashion, and West View had some interesting mushrooms, porcini, chanterelles and shitake. What you do is that you select your choice and hand it over to the chef.

If you are adventurous you can grill the food yourself on the rock grill at your table.This works like the Korean barbecue, which I so much enjoy at the Pan Asia (next door), the best Bulgogi in town.

There is also an attempt at the rather fashionable molecular cuisine with a foi gras ice cream and even a pancetta honey ice cream dessert. I hope that this restaurant succeeds as it brings a rare sophistication, both in terms of quality and variety of meats, sea foods, cheeses and vegetables and at extremely affordable prices.
Email: javed.gaya@gmail.com