It is a grill that works to the quick movement of a sand clock. West View, The Grill at the ITC Maratha is Mumbai?s first international grill restaurant that offers meat and vegetable grills in traditional Western style. The restaurant has now gone in for an all-women crew. The chef and her team, the wine sommelier, besides the service staff are an all-women team.
As one enters the West View, located at the lobby level, it is the vibrancy of the colours at the restaurant that catches the eye. Done up in hues of green, it exudes energy. The drama is centred in the open kitchens where Executive Chef, Madhu Krishnan and her team are creating delicacies such as Atlantic pollack, Icelandic halibut, porkloin, artisan Italian sausages, chesapeake crab, Kerala prawns, farm-bred rabbit and much more. The novelty is that there is no printed menu here. So you discuss with the chef and based on the ingredients available on that day, the meal is served.
After selecting from the wine or beverage almanac, the food guide shows you around the cold selection on display. You can then choose your mix of favourites from daily change grill display and hand them over to the chef. Back at your table, you can indicate your choice of soup from the day?s feature to your food guide.
If you are the a kind who would love to try out your culinary skills, go ahead and just do it. The Rocks grill ? a new invention at the West View, which is a volcanic rock sourced from the US will be brought to your table. It is heated up to 3000 Celsius and presented in an enclosed platter. What comes along with the platter is a sand clock ? just to ensure that you don?t end up with burnt offerings; though it is your own handiwork!
But why has the restaurant decided to go in for a change? The restaurant?s new concept challenges the chef?s creativity and changes the way the guests traditionally look at a dining experience, explains Executive Chef Madhu Krishnan. ?It also allows guests to interact with the chef and talk about their food. We wanted to add this new dimension to the dining scenario in Mumbai.? Not to mention the chef in you too, is stirred when you see the grill going to some tables and some guests experimenting; most of it under the chef?s guidance of course.
No menu restautant
A restaurant without a menu, is challenging. It becomes completely chef driven then. ?It is challenging to come up with dishes that cater to different palates. Other restaurants have a set menu and standardised ingredients and preparation methods. Whereas in West View, it is based on the produce available that day and the ingredients that bring out the flavours,? Krishnan informs. She speaks of her art and the way she and her team looks at the fresh ingredients and the magic they weave with them. ?Freshly caught mackerel inspires us, as does the Vietnamese Bassa, king crab claws, Andaman tuna or Alaskan pollack and when the chefs stand alongside these they start to create signatures. Brazilian pork loin steeped in maple and citrus nage or candied garlic studded tenderloin are favourites in the making. The Rock grill stirs up the ingenious in us. All these are of course, in a day?s work for the chef,? she adds.
The first West View of ITC-Welcomgroup opened over a decade ago at the ITC Maurya in Delhi, followed by one at ITC Sonar Bangla at Kolkata; the restaurant takes inspiration from the great hotels of the world which house a grill room within the hotel. The grill room concept is a semi formal dining, fine experience which retains the integrity of fresh ingredients by using the grill, the hearth or fire. The experience is usually preceded by a soup and followed by desert or coffee. Priced at Rs 1,800, inclusive of tax, West View takes inspiration from the chalkboard concept, changing its offerings daily. The dining experience includes signatures from the simmering soup tureen to the the food island, followed by the Grill and the dessert library.
But why an all women crew? ?I opened the first West View at Delhi and the restaurant is very close to my heart,? says Krishnan. ?An all female crew among the service staff was to ensure a soft touch and the kind of warmth that a lady staff brings to the fore. It is also in keeping with the ambience and d?cor of the retaurant which adhere to warm tones and hues.? Talk of the woman?s touch!