Theatrical kitchens, star chefs and fancy lighting on opening night of Grand Hyatt's new restaurant.
Supper Theatre
It was opening night at Fifty Five East, Grand Hyatt’s new restaurant. Fancy lights beamed through laser-cut ceilings, theatrical kitchens waited to be fired up, chefs were spiffily turned out in their dress whites, and we were there to do a review with 20 bpb subscribers. Let the show begin!
Act I: And They Looked On Amazed
Named after the postal code it lies on, Fifty Five East is the quintessential hotel restaurant, a gleaming, rather impersonal space spread over 6,500 square feet and embellished with rows of LCD panels, plush seating and limoncello bottles. It is designed by Super Potato, the Japanese interiors firm that also worked on Wink and China House.
What makes this restaurant special is its live kitchen concept: all the food served here is prepared in open or “show” kitchens, which diners visit and pick their meal from, buffet style. According to the management, at any given time – Fifty Five East is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner- there are over a 100 dishes to choose from. Grab a tray and go crazy, we were told. And crazy we went.
Act II: Show Chefs
Lebanese mezze, sushi, Thai, Indian and western grills are all served here. As the very charming PR manager Anupam Sehgal gave us a tour, the combination of cuisines struck us as a bit random – sushi and sambhar, mezze and Mughlai in the same meal? Can’t blame us for being a bit skeptical.
We started at the cold kitchen, where a glass-fronted refrigerator stocks fun dips – citrus spiked hummus, smoky baba ghanoush, herby yogurt concoctions – to be combined with thin pita slices and sides of spiced olives and pungent pickles. Yum!
Next up at the sushi station, which turned out to be a unanimous favourite with our group, Chef Okabe makes fresh rolls and takes requests to improvise. The seafood sushi scored high with group bpb’s resident expert who runs Ninja Sushi in Mumbai, but vegetarians beware: your selection of rolls is heavily Indianised, dusted with chilli flakes, starring okra and corn. That’s not to say it's not delish: we found ourselves hooked on to the spicy mushroom roll, which ran out by 11 pm. The Caesar salad station should be bypassed for greener pastures – the hot kitchen.
Act III: The Flame Thrower
The hot kitchen is manned by Head Chef Sahadev and is housed in a space that looks different from the rest of the restaurant; here, walls are lined with saris sourced from all over India.
We spent most of our time at the Thai section, loving the piquant green curry, but not our large serving of coconutty soup. A bunch of people returned for seconds of the “superior” beef steak and to the dosa counter, which dished out grilled crepes that our French guests immediately approved of. The Butter Chicken on the other hand, didn’t seem exciting.
Act IV: The Sweet End
From fresh fruit and mithais to crepe counters and a showcase full of pastries, panacotta and mousses, you’ll be spoilt for choice at the dessert counter. If you don’t have room for all, try these: multi-layered raspberry shortcake; freshly made crepes with soaked fruit and chocolate; airy tiramisu; soft serves from the in-house softee machine.
At best, a meal here is experimental and fun, where you try a bunch of different, often exceptionally-prepared foods, walk around meeting fellow diners and interact with chefs. But it’s not where you come when you want to kick off your heels under the table and dig into a chilled out, lazy dinner. With all the moving around required (feet and taste buds), Fifty Five East can be absolutely exhausting.
Getting there: Fifty Five East, Grand Hyatt, off Western Express Highway, Santacruz (East), call 66761149, breakfast for Rs 790 + taxes, lunch and dinner for Rs 1,450 + taxes, Sunday brunch for Rs 2,250 + taxes (including alcohol).
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