In a nutshell:

If u r a connoisseur of great food, if u do not have any dietary restrictions (including being chickenetarian / vegetarian) and if u do not think twice b4 spending on great food, this is the place to be……. Yummraj’s ‘best lunch out ‘so far in 2013!!!! Not to mention the outstanding ambience, the cool music and very good service.

Address & other details: B Bar

Meal for 2: Rs. 3000 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

We came to know about this place when Zomato.com invited us to a party here some time back. We loved the party & also the place & decided to get back later in anonymity. Did that today & paid for the food & beverages as well. And now that I have fulfilled my ‘self imposed’ rules for review , I am writing about it. Thank u Zomato team for inviting us here – else we might not have turned up here assuming food wud b average like in most other bars in Delhi NCR.

I thank our judgement as well coz what we had at the party was just a tip of the iceberg (set menu for a corporate customer). What we experienced over the weekend was the iceberg in totality – the a la carte menu at B Bar & we chose the best of the stuff on offer.

‘An international flavour of Uber-Luxe, dining at the b-bar would mean removing yourself from the frenzy of urban life and plunging into a magical atmosphere. As soon as you enter this remarkable restaurant-bar-lounge, with its monumental proportions, you will be enthralled by the charm of its soothing and exotic atmosphere’ claimed the website & I think each word is true.

For the uninitiated, Buddha Bar was first opened in Paris by a guy called Raymond Visan who ‘had the vision of creating a place where he could give his patrons a memorable experience inspired by Asian exotic charms.’ Over time a distinctive range of Orient inspired fusion food, drink & music became a signature of Buddha Bar. Currently Buddha bar is present in various countries in the world including London, Prague, Keiv, Dubai, Manila, Monte Carlo and Budapest. They renamed as B Bar while opening in India.

Our experience started from the basement parking where there was a lounge look lift lobby that took us straight to the bar. The bar can also be accessed from the ground floor directly thru a lift. As soon as the doors opened up on the fourth floor, we were standing in a beautifully designed lift lobby & there were two ladies waiting there to greet & invite the guests in. A walk into the bar gave a sense of awe (by delhi standards). Not too many places have such a great ambience. The grandeur of its unique 65 ft. high atrium with a skylight, the huge statues of Buddha, the large round bar in the center, the DJ box in the center corner of the hall – are not just memorable, they got etched in my mind.

There were few private dining rooms as well. A walk-in wine cellar was also a differentiator. The furniture & the furnishings had Oriental motifs & inspirations. The furnishings were ‘Splashes of color’ amidst a lot of dark brown walls & furniture.
The menu card was extensive, had quite a lot of super exciting items on it, loads of dishes & ingredients that are usually not widely available in Delhi – in addition to the ubiquitous Delhi chicken & prawns. Description with every item on the menu was also well written.

Servers were very well trained & they were well conversant with the menu & food in general. Some of them were good to strike a conversation with, specially the guy serving us.

Food & drinks r expensive. Try it out for special occasions that u want to make memorable. Worth saving up to dine out with ur special one – provided u both r a connoisseur of great food & do not have any dietary restrictions (including being chickenetarian / vegetarian – in case u r, u might find rates too high).

Coming to food – I do not remember coming to a restaurant where so many dishes r served & all r so good. Wow. Good thing is that we ordered one dish after previous was finished. That allowed previous dish taste to linger on. It also meant we cud have quite a few dishes over a long period of time without being over stuffed.……………………… I am salivating even now as I write about it.

Detailed Description – In case u have the Time to NJOY reading:

Water here is served by bottle only. No regular water!!!!

We started our meal with Lobster dumpling. It turned out to be fried dumpling, something that we did not realize till it was served. Got a bit apprehensive seeing fried dumplings. The rubberiness that one finds in most fried dumplings in India was just not there.

These dumplings were served on an oriental sauce (lemongrass crab curry sauce) base which was very subtle, flavorful and good but did not overpower the dumpling. The sauce had a coconut milk base. Loved the juicy filling of the dumpling. It had minced lobster within.  Loved the dumpling & the overall dish & rate it 4.5/5.

Post this we went for Hotate (Scallop) sashimi. Yes, raw Scallops, Japanese style. I had tried this earlier in an upscale Japanese restaurant in Beijing & loved it.

Here the sashimi was served with wasabi, gari (pickled ginger) & Japanese soy.
The scallops were super soft, buttery and very very nice. The wasabi was real good. It hit the sinuses like wildfire. Super Loved this dish and rate it 4.75/5.

After scallop sashimi we ordered yellow tail tuna (fish) sashimi with yuzu kosho and jalapeño. This was a new style sashimi, a fusion dish. Very nice twist added by the ingredients mentioned above .

I have been having the tuna sashimi for many years now and was used to a certain kind of taste & texture. This spiced up variant came up as a pleasant surprise. Wow. Just loved how they transformed raw fish to something so tasty. I give this a 4.5/5.

We took a bit of rest & ordered Grilled Gochujang Lamb chops – This was Korean Chilli Miso marinated Lamb chops served atop a lump of sweet potato mash & a spicy teriyaki sauce dip.

For the uninitiated, Gochujang is a savory and pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt.

The lamb chops had a distinct flavor that was unique and outstanding. It transported us to a different world altogether. Charred on the outside, the chops were juicy within & had a medley of salt, sweet, and hot taste. Perfect texture of the meat , the taste & the flavors gave the feeling of ‘Made in heaven’.

The spicy teriyaki sauce served with it was hottttttttt, sweet and just unavoidable. We had a load of this sauce with the meat, the super crisp young shoots of asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes. I am still salivating as I write this.
I give this dish an absurd rating of 4.9/5.

‘Heart of Darkness’ was a super drink. It had Vodka, Red Port, fresh grapes, fresh lime, cinnamon syrup & sprite. The drink had a strong port wine flavor and taste. Cinnamon also made its presence felt. I give this 4.5/5.

We tried ‘Mahabodhi’, a signature drink. It was a very good drink as well. It was Pandan infused vodka, sweet sake, cranberry juice, passionfruit, mango & blueberry purees. Loved the potency, the taste and the interplay of flavours in this super refreshing drink. I give this a 4.25/5.

For main course we had Chilean sea bass with sesame seeds sauce. For the uninitiated, he Patagonian toothfish, marketed as Chilean sea bass in the United States, is a fish found in cold waters (1–4 °C) around most sub-Antarctic islands. The average weight of this fish is 7–10 kg, with large adults occasionally exceeding 100 kilograms. The name “Chilean sea bass” was invented by a fish wholesaler named Lee Lantz in 1977. He was looking for a name that would make it attractive to the American market. He settled on “Chilean sea bass”, largely because Chilean fishermen used to catch this fish a lot & sell it.

Hot herbs, in form of green droplets & ginger gave pungency to the sauce. Wow. The Sweet, hot & salt of the dish was perfectly balanced. We loved the sauce so much that we Drank the full sauce with spoon .

Chilean sea bass (fish) was outstanding. It had Layers in the fillet. The fat layers within the fish layers had melted to become juicy, awesome to taste and overall absurdly good, with the sauce & also as it is. I rate this 4.75/5.

The last dish in main course was Grilled Wagyu striploin – along with kizami wasabi & roasted baby potatoes.
For the uninitiated, Wagyu (literally means Japanese cow) refers to several breeds of cattle, the most famous of which is genetically predisposed to intense marbling (the meat has multiple fat layers thus making it soft , juicy & tasty). Because of Japan’s rugged terrain and isolated areas, different breeding and feeding techniques were used such as massaging the cow or adding beer or sake to their feeding regimen.

Orange sauce served with this dish was picklish & was great when potatoes were dipped in it & had. The potatoes were so nice – simple but enjoyable that we just kept munching on & on.

The Wagyu slices were again ’made in heaven’. It was so good that i wud slow down my munching after few pieces thinking it wud finish too soon and then i wud look back at the plate & remember ‘Picture abhi Baaki hai mere dost’ and wud start off slowly. A bite into a slice results in a flood of juices inside the mouth. Super soft melt in the mouth. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly done, charred on the outside. Loss of words to describe how good a dish this is ………the pleasure of experiencing this dish ‘almost tends to’ erotic pleasure, if I might exaggerate. Speechless, I give this a 5/5.

For dessert we had Yuzu parfait with miso icecreams. The Yuzu parfait was Frozen Japanese citrus cream with mango jelly. It was neither annoyingly sweet nor annoyingly sour. It was infact pretty balanced. The Ice cream had minimal sweet but it very well balanced the relatively stronger taste of the parfait. The top layer of the parfait was stronger than the base, thus it was quite tricky to cut it with spoon. Loved it and rate it 4/5.

Rating of food & beverage at B bar averages out to 4.6/5………………..I guess this extreme high ranking also was contributed by our choice of dishes with great ingredients. Am not sure rating wud b that high for dishes with everyday ingredients. However there is no doubt that the Chef did a marvelous job & I did something that I have never done. I wrote on the comment book – ‘Chef u r a rockstar’……………….