In a nutshell:

One of the best German food I have had in Delhi NCR recently & also one of the best buffets I have been to in a while.

Address & other details:  Tamra

Meal for 2: Rs 3000 onwards.

Cuisine type :  vegetarian & non vegetarian

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:

I read the following text in the website before going & once there, found it to be truly depicting the reality. So reproducing shortened version of the description of Tamra:

The new all-day-dining restaurant at Shangri-La’s – Eros Hotel, New Delhi, takes its inspiration from the early ages of culinary evolution when copper (tamra) vessels were used to create delectable wonders. The interactive kitchens are a tribute to the early market place where chefs used to present their skills and produce culinary delights to sell to traders and visitors. 

Tamra is a depiction of a culinary expedition from around the world. It is adorned with quirky and strong design element from the land whose cuisine it represents.

Serving Asian, Japanese, International and Indian fare from its five interactive live kitchen. The restaurant has teppanayaki grills from the Far East, tandoors from Central Asia, a  bar, homemade popsicles and ice cream, a healthy green island and a butcher’s block.

We r not the ones who easily get attracted to a brunch or buffet coz in Delhi most restaurants pack a good deal of average dishes to increase the number of items & at times it becomes difficult to search the good ones.

I received an email that mentioned a special German sausages, grills & beer meal. It read (italics below):

‘Move over mimosas – mid-morning beers are stealing the show at Tamra this month!

Brunch is a great excuse to get a little decadent, and beer is fast emerging as the perfect pairing for brunch menus at Shangri-La’s – Eros Hotel, New Delhi.

The menu is a German feast, specifically curated by the hotel’s executive Chef Neeraj Tyagi to appease the senses, Bockwurst, Nürnberger and Frankfurters accompanied by Sauerkraut, Mash, and German Potato Salad make perfect gastronomic treats for New Delhi’s culinary adventurers.

The grill section will offer succulent Tenderloin in a lighter than air Ponzu sauce and perfectly pink Tiger Prawns with a creamy Lemon Gaze.  The vegan side does not disappoint with Shitake Mushroom and Wa Tofu in Wasabi Aoli and Bell Pepper and Cherry Tomato Pinchos.

Beer has the complexity needed to bring out the best flavours and offset grease. The soft, mouth-filling, bready-sweet malt offers a comforting counterpoint to the salty cured meat. Fizzy effervescence cuts through the rich flavours while fruit and spice from the special yeasts add racy overtones to the pairing. Light, refreshing, and with a touch of citrus acidity, beers can perk up your brunch and leave you feeling relaxed and sated.

Now that sounded super interesting. I am not a fan of beer but the brilliantly written description of german sausages & meats made us salivate & we decided to go for what we understood as ‘German food festival’.

As we asked the server about the ‘festival’, he went blank. He said ’This is a whole buffet with food from different parts of the world’. After poking him for some time he faintly remembered something to do with beer & got us this.

So the deal turned out to b ‘get unlimited corona beer with anything that u eat from this buffet’. I thought that was a pathetic  way to mislead people. Anyway, we had already arrived. So decided to stick on. Classic case of marketing churning our attractive themes / schemes & ground force having no clue / active memory of the same.

We went for a brunch package & ordered a good beer separately to have with the sausages.

Over the course of the lunch we fell in love with the restaurant & we ended up tasting some food from non continental section as well. The guys r serious about the food they serve at the buffet, was what we concluded. Wud like to go back again to try the other cuisines here.

The restaurant is huge & has 3 sections , all of which get natural light during the day, due to a full glass wall on one side.

I loved some of the detailing of décor, specially the ones made from ‘belan’ (roller).

The staff members (servers) were good – though did not get to interact much, since it was a buffet. The guys at food stations were great to interact with. Enjoyed tiny chats with them while collecting food. Bumped into the Chef as he was doing his rounds – Loved the small interaction.

Food was really good – much better than what I had expected.

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to NJOY reading:

We started with Bockwurst – thick grilled sausages. Excellent to taste. Juicy inside. The flavor was intense & so was the taste. It had a slightly tight outer layer that held the thick sausage firmly. Had two helpings & kept wanting more…. Rate it 4.5/5

Bratwurst was the lesser thick variety, much more softer & YUMM again. Different flavor & very enjoyable. Rate it 4.5/5 again

Nurnberger was a bit more reddish in color, thinnest of the three & softest. Loved it again. Rate it 4.25/5

We enjoyed the sausages with Sauerkraut.  For the uninitiated, Sauerkraut  directly translated  “sour cabbage”, is finely cut cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a distinctive sour flavor, which results from the lactic acid that forms when the bacteria ferment the sugars in the cabbage

This was one of the best Sauerkraut  I have had in Delhi NCR recently – the fermented feel was awesome. Loved the way it came out overall. Rate it 4.5/5

Loved eating the pungent, fermented mustard sauce alomg with the sausages. Rate it 4.5/5.

We also tried Mashed potato with the sausages. It was very very smooth & hence soft & melt in the mouth. Seasoning was perfect & herbs added to flavor. Rate it 4/5

We also tried tenderloin Pinchos from the grilled section. In my first round, the pinchos were well done. They were soft, intense to taste & in flavor & really nice.

In my second helping, I got medium rare & I loved it much more – way more juicier, soft & chewy, full of flavor & YUMM to taste. Super loved it & rate it 4.75/5

Prawn Pinchos were really amazing. Perfectly cooked, not raw, not overcooked & rubbery. Taste was blowing over the roof. Juicy from within & full of flavors. Super loved this as well. Rate it 4.75/5 again.

We also tried Chicken Pinchos. These were average. The chicken was charred & good in terms of texture but had become too dry. As it is the taste was also Ok, nothing that stood out. Rate it 2.5/5

WE tried German potato salad next – thick round slices of potato , with creamy white dressing , shredded bacon and slices of deep fried crisp bacon on top. Outstanding. Loved every bit of it. Rate it 4.75/5

That rounded off our German section.

I am not a Beer person. So no rating. Just mentioning that it was good & smooth.

We also ordered Fresh orange juice for my partner. It was outstanding – refreshing,  perfect balance of sweet, sour & tinge of salt. Excellent. Rate it  4.5/5

Continental section :

Sauteed baby potato with herbs were very nice. Soft &  good to taste, with natural texture of baby potato. Herba added flavor. Rate it 3.5/5

We also tried mushroom & spinach. This was a bit blander than it cud have been, due to extra cream in the sauce. Spinach made its presence felt & so did mushrooms but both failed to create an impact due to dilution of tsate & flavor by the sauce. Rate it 2/5

Grilled tomato with cheese filling was outstanding. We were jokingly referring to it as bharwan tamatarJ. Flavors of cheese cud b felt. Tomato retained its shape well. Rate this dish 4.5/5

We also tried Yakitori meatball grill. The meatball was not a meatball , but it was elongated shape chopped meat on skewer. That;s how they usually look like, in addition to being ball shaped , on a skewer.

Excellent to taste. Uneven, hand chopped meat, juicy inside, charred outside. Rate it 4.5/5

Orange, fennel & mango vinagrete salad was outstanding. Not too many restaurants around serve that much of fennel. Loved the flavor of fennel & the overall salad. Mango added to the taste. Rate it 4.5/5

We also made our own cheese & fruit platter. Nice, as expected.

We tried two items from the South Indian section.

A dal & Madras fish curry with pulao.

The dal tempered with curry leaves had a tinge of sour. The grains of dal retained their shape but they were soft enough to be enjoyed. What a joy it was to have that dal. Excellent. Rate it 4.5/5

The madras fish curry was outstanding. The curry was intense, YUMM to taste & full of flavor. Flavor of spices & that of fish had come together very well. The fish itself was outstanding. Loved eating every bit of the curry. Rate it 4.75/5

For dessert we had crepes. Chef asked us what we wanted. We said – pls make it as per ur choice. He put kiwi & pineapple in the filling & topped the crepe with mango sauce & chocolate sauce. It was super soft, had a tinge of salt that balanced the sweetness of the crepe. YUMM to taste. Loved it & rate it 4.5/5

We also tried cheesecake. It was very good but we have surely had better. It had hardened due to long refrigeration. Freshly made / not long refrigerated cheesecake tastes a lot more creamier & better.  Rate it 3/5.

Apple strudel was very nice. It had a bitterness from caramalization. The bitterness helped cut excess sweetness . Rate it 4.5/5

Overall rating of food at Tamra averages out to 4.2/5. That’s a helluva score considering it is a buffet & there were so many items. I eagerly look forward to revisit this restaurant to try out more cuisines. Will keep u posted.

This was one buffet that gave us joy beyond our expectations.