It’s comfort food all the way at Taj Palace’s Capital Kitchen

By Mudita Girotra

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) In a city known as a gastronomical heaven with so many multi-cuisine outlets, it is difficult to find delightful fine diners hinging on the concept of comfort foods. There are a couple of them that now offer such heartening fare, and adding to the lot is the newly-launched Capital Kitchen that has replaced Kafe Fontana at the poolside of the Taj Palace Hotel.

The all-day diner is a confluence of cuisines from across the globe. Its culinary concept is based on the central theme of comfort foods with a menu that invokes a sense of nostalgia and timelessness.

"It has always been our endeavour to be innovative, keeping up with the changing times. We needed a completely new face to the all-day dining offering here. Thus was born Capital Kitchen," Marketing Director Nikita Das told IANS.

"The objective of the new space is to make the restaurant very unpretentious and comfortable with flavourful recipes made from fresh produce and served home-style," she added.

According to the Executive Sous Chef Amit Rana, the primary differentiator of the place is that it breaks away from the traditional hoteliering food and service philosophy.

Rana had visited various parts of the city to get the authentic flavours of street food.

"It was a nice exposure to Delhi's street culinary delights. The city is an eye-opener as it reflects the basic ingredients of food, cooked with the right methodology," Rana told IANS.

The new restaurant is elegant and classy with hues of bronze and copper coupled with burnished brown. With its additional outdoor seating arrangement at the poolside, you can plan a romantic evening of great food and stunning ambience -- if the weather permits.

I started my meal with roma tomato soup that was served with goat cheese crostini and chopped basil. The taste of the broth would have been absolutely perfect without the use of truffle oil that sabotaged the essential tang of the tomato soup.

This was followed by the restaurant's signatures -- cobb salad, fish and chips, lobster roll, chicken bunny chow, and lamprais.

Every dish was an absolute delight to partake of and what one should not miss is the Sri Lankan delicacy lamprais that consists of a large potion of rice, meat and sambol chilli sauce, served on a banana leaf.

The restaurant in reality has a pretty good variety of cuisines with best from everywhere. There was also the very British fried and battered fish and hot chips.

What stood apart among the signature dishes was the traditional South African fare of chicken bunny chow -- a hollowed-out half bread loaf filled with aromatic chicken curry; a wholesome of bun, full of chicken -- that is tasty and extremely filling.

This was followed by the northern Italian rice dish -- wild mushroom risotto. I was hesitant to try the risotto, owing to how it looked but this interesting mixture of ceps and field mushrooms, carnaroli rice, parmesan cheese and truffle tasted nice.

Also tried A RGW fiery chicken, which was not up to scratch, another dish with the unique but unpleasant flavour of truffle oil. For those who enjoy its aroma, it should be a thumbs up.

Dilli Ka Khana: Now was the time to taste the heavenly chole bhature, which is undoubtedly one of the most popular, mouth-watering, spicy and delicious Punjabi recipes.

Saved for the last were the best desserts ever. The last course had scrumptious bites of doodh jalebi, seasonal fruit crumble, nostalgic ice cream sundae, and chocolate indulgence, un minuto la tiramisu.

However, the clear winner was the nostalgic ice cream sundae with its mouth watering ingredients of vanila, chocolate, strawberry ice creams topped with crunchy granola, nuts, fresh seasonal berries and fudge sauce.

Capital Kitchen also boasts of a distinctive bar that will showcase the creative translation of the expat liquid chef Joel Scholtens, the aroma of fresh ingredients, and the smooth harmony of mixing them together -- innovative presentations that invoke all the senses.

Each signature cocktail represents the passion, knowledge and respect for the art of mixology. In addition, cold pressed juices made from fresh produce of organic ingredients are also available for the fitness and health enthusiasts.

FAQs:

Where: Taj Palace Hotel, Sardar Patel Marg

Timings: 24 hours

Meal for two: Rs 4,000 (exclusive of taxes)

(The writer's visit was at the invitation of Capital Kitchen. Mudita Girotra can be contacted at mudita.g@ians.in)