In a nutshell:

Nice ambience, live music, outdoor seating option, reservation is a must every day in the week, good staff, marvellous food – all the delicacies were characterised by a masterful interplay of delicate flavours..The menu is designed to entertain both the mind & the senses.

Address & other details:  Tian

Meal for 2: three set menus Rs. 2500, 3500, 5000 per person. A la carte 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 had read quite a lot of good words from Vir Sanghvi about the Chef of this restaurant & hence we decided to visit this restaurant. What a coincidence – A little while after we took seat we see who walks into the restaurant – Vir Sanghvi!!!!

The restaurant has three parts – A small bar area with high stools & a couch, A main Dining Hall & a beautiful outdoor seating.

We had reserved a place for us just out of habit. We were pleasantly surprised to see the restaurant full till the last table on a weekday. We chatted with the staff members & got to know that they have got a great response so far & it is almost impossible to get a seat without prior booking. They usually get sold out everyday. What a start to a restaurant…. Wow.

As we entered the restaurant, we requested for a outdoor seat but got to know that those were booked already. Means people specifically book outdoor seats as well. We however enjoyed our seating the way it was, in the main Dining Hall.

The Dining Hall had a live music station. The lady on the stage sang some very good songs but alas, we cud not pay much attention to that – the food was so good that we cud not divert our attention from it for even a short while. While eating, we were obviously engossed in the food. Rest of the time we were just talking about it……

The serving staff were very good. They were very interactive, suggestive, warm & knowledgeable regarding the dishes. The Manager also was doing his rounds on the tables to see if everything was all right.

The menu card was planned like a movie show. There were two kinds of options – Set menu / a la carte. The set menu in turn had 3 options – Trailer 1, Trailer 2 & Trailer 3. Each of these had further options in them. Trailer 3 had more courses in the meal than trailer 2 & so on. 3 also had more share of exotic ingredients as compared to 2 & so on.

The A la carte menu also had interesting sounding sections –  Appetizers were called ‘Curtain raiser’, soups were in a section called ‘Prelude’, the main course was classified as ‘Star cast’ & the cereals identified as the ‘Sidekick’.

Our server suggested that we go for set menu coz we were in the restaurant for the first time but after going thru all the menu cards, we decided to go the a la carte way.

Tastes and flavours of the food were often not on the face but they were nowhere near to being bland. Everything was full of layers of flavors & layers of taste & texture. I cud identify with most flavours but was pleasantly surprised by the skilfully done combinations.

Every dish wud have at least 3-4 different parts. The recommendation was to taste a bit of all in every bite. We did that, tasted all ingredients separately, did our own permutations and combinations, and ended up playing games with our taste buds. Needless to say they (taste buds) were overwhelmed with the experience.

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

As we waited after ordering the food , we were served Amuse Bouche.

For the uninitiated, an amuse-bouche is a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre (bite sized food). It is different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu by patrons, but, when served, are done so free and according to the chef’s selection alone. These r served both to prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse into the chef’s approach to the art of cuisine.The term is French, literally translated as “mouth amuser”.

There were 3 elements in the amuse bouche – An Asparagus soup with bell pepper caviar, a Pumpkin cake with mango relish & Pickled veggies with diacon wasabi mayo.

Our server explained all in detail. The three things introduced us to 3 kinds of flavours represented the food of this restaurant. He also suggested that we eat this in a particular order.

Asparagus soup with bell pepper caviar had asparagus as the base – full of flavors & taste of asparagus. ‘Caviar’ was of course no caviar but pseudo caviar – recreated. Similar texture but of course not the same. Subtle yet flavorful. Rate it 4/5.

Pumpkin cake with mango relish was a pleasant surprise. It takes real imagination and expertise to convert the humble pumpkin to something as good. Super soft , melt in the mouth, this pumpkin cake had the flavors & taste of pumpkin as well as that of the mango relish. Rate it 4/5

Pickled veggies with daikon wasabi mayo looked beautiful but turned out to b almost like kimchi. Wrapping it with a thin film of radish was a great idea. The wrap was ‘sealed’ with wasabi mayo. Cud not detect the flavors of wasabi / wasabi mayo while munching this coz flavors of pickled veggies overpowered. Rate it 4/5.

The first dish we had was Herbed tofu dehydrated spinach, tamarind jelly. The tofu, we were told, was made inhouse. Yes, it was just outstanding. Better than most tofu that u can buy in Delhi. The thin crisp layer added a nice texture but did not come in the way of enjoying the good tofu.

The tamarind jelly was smashed on the cutlets & were also placed beside the dish in cuboid shapes. Excellent tofu & very good combination of flavors & taste.

Tamarind jelly had retained full flavors & taste of tamarind. Dehydrated spinach however lost out on its flavor & ended up tasting good, but not what is expected of a spinach dish made from fresh leaves.

Rate the dish 4.5/5

Thai fish cake spicy mango relish. The fish cake had 2 kinds of fish sea bass and sole, steamed. Brilliant fish cake. As intense as it cud get. Taste and flavor of fish was too good.

The fish cakes were placed on Thai style raw papaya salad that in itself was very good.

 

What was fascinating was the plastic droppers filled with the mango relish were inserted into the fish cake. One had to squeeze it further before eating…..

Mango relish had dual tone of sweet sour. It was superb as it is and also with the fish, rate it 4.5/5

Hokkaido scallops, truffles, asparagus, tamari soy. Here the scallops were inserted inside onions and them cooked. Truffle on the top and truffle powder on the side. Burnt edges of the onion were enjoyable. Onion got in some sweetness.

Scallop was at times getting lost and onion was overpowering. Sometimes else it was the other way round. The soy sauce at the base was lovely. Wud hv enjoyed a not more had the scallops being consistently being more pronounced. Nevertheless it was very good. Rate it 4/5.

We also tried Tian burger. It had a filling of tenderloin with wasabi port wine jus. The bun was made from rice. Usually we never order a burger but this was different – the bun was made from rice & that created some expectations.

Mind blowing absurdly good tenderloin patty – again very intense, soft, full flavor tenderloin. We were pleasantly surprised to find some scallops stashed in as well. Those added a different dimension to the dish. Soft and nice rice bun made a huge difference.

Wasabi port wine jus was again just too good. Memorable dish I wud say. Rate this dish 4.9/5.

Next dish was Crispy braised duck pineapple salsa chilly bean glaze. We took this dish on the recommendation of our server.

The outer layer was crisp & inside was soft & full flavor duck. Like most of the other food here, the flavors of duck were intact. The duck tasted very nice on its own & loved it by dipping in the sweet sauce as well…… Rate it 4.5/5

The last dish we had that evening was Sous vide Chilean sea bass green curry broth. There were two options in Chilean Seabass (fish).  One, with a special Soy sauce (that the server strongly recommended ) & this one. Both sounded too attractive. We actually flipped a coin & tossed & this is what luck asked us to try.

For the uninitiated, The 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.

The server explained us the concept of sous vide. Sous-vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath or in a temperature-controlled steam environment for longer than normal cooking times at an accurately regulated temperature much lower than normally used for cooking. The intention is to cook the item evenly, ensuring that the inside is properly cooked without overcooking the outside, and retain moisture

He said that since the strong smell of raw fish might be retained, the Chef had lightly grilled it as well. Superb flaky & juicy fish that was very tasty. Loved it as it is & with the broth as well. Rate the fish 4.5/5

Loved the super YUM spinach at the base of the fish. Unputdownable.

The broth was just unreal – it was shocking (in a good way) how they had managed to retain all the flavors & yet come up with a grainy, pungent, slightly thick Thai green curry broth. Rate the broth 4.9/5

Overall rating of this dish averages out to 4.7/5

Virgin Kiwi mojito was the only drink we ordered. It turned out to b a good mojito. Kiwi failed to raise its hand in terms of both taste & flavor. We cud see Kiwi chunks but they preferred to remain mute. Rate it 3/5.

The last main course dish had got delayed coz the fish got over grilled. So they took some extra time to get the dish. They compensated by giving us a plate of complimentary tacos & by not charging the kiwi mojito. This gesture was very nice but not really necessary. Anyone of us who cook know that once in a while this might happen to anyone.

The tacos were made inhouse. Crisp, perfectly seasoned & just too good. The filling was awesome too. Not too many people in Delhi can make such good tacos. Rate the nachos 4.5/5.

For dessert we had water chestnut & coconut ice cream. This was from the interactive dessert section – means if u order from that section, they will come with a trolley to the table & make it in front of u….

The Chef put plain water chestnuts & devilled (flavored) waterchestnuts. He then poured coconut milk & coconut cream. After all these were mixed, he poured a water like liquid into the mix & started stirring it. He said it was ‘magic potion’. We knew it was liquid nitrogen. In less than a minute we had the freshly churned ice cream ready.

Loved the coconut milk flavor, the thick creamy texture & also enjoyed biting into the water chestnuts….. Rate this dessert 4.5/5.

Overall rating of food at Tian averages out to 4.3/5. I wud love to revisit & also wud recommend to my foodie friends. Look forward to ur comments & stories.