Estella ( nichani kuttir building, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, mumbai)

In a nutshell A newly opened semi open air sea facing restaurant at Juhu that serves very good modern Australian cuisine – loved the variety of choices and the food. No comparison to the likes of orient express or olive Qutub.

Address & other details: Estella

Meal for 2: ₹2500 onwards

Cuisine type : vegetarian and 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:

These guys know marketing. In the second week of launch I called to book and was told they were sold out. So we booked for next weekend. While we were there we found lots of empty tables. Is that a tactic to spread the word? I don’t know. But it worked – made me think they must b having something different and great to offer.

The marketing communication also mentioned that all tables have a sea view which is surely not true. The covered section has zero visibility

The service guys were excellent- warm, enthusiastic, ready to make a difference and keep no stone unturned. They were knowledgeable about the offering as well.

The menu card had good description of the dish along with names of the dishes.

The facade of the restaurant makes its way thru a longish walk

Interiors were dark and guests enjoyed candlelight dinner.

There was option to sit at the bar, sit in the covered glass area and also the open air area. We booked a week in advance but were not allocated the sea view open air tables. ‘They are already booked’ – hv no clue how long ago they were booked. This was not asked / mentioned at the time of booking. Sad job I Wud say.
Food and beverages were very enjoyable. But not comparable to the best I hv had in india.
Had a great evening
Detailed description- in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

4 kinds of breads came. Said these were baked in house. However served cold!!! Bread stick was good. Rest OK OK. Not even one worth a mention.

Amuse Bouche was excellent. Cream of mushroom. Full of flavours. Perfect balance. Rate it 4.5/5

Paan kiwi citrus mocktail was very interesting. It had full flavours of kiwi and a hint of paan. It was tangy and very good to taste. Very unusual and worth remembering. Rate it 4.25/5

Cosmopolitan was very good too. It was tangy, potent and very enjoyable. Hv had better ones at speakeasy. Rate it 4/5

Oysters freshly shucked with avocado chilly creme friache. Loved it. Remembered those amazing oysters I had at the double century old oyster house in Boston and some other experiences in Australia. Warning – this is uncooked. U will love it if u used to raw / semi cooked seafood. Rate it 4.5/5

The next dish was Spanish seafood al agilio – clams, shrimps and scallops braised in a sherry saffron garlic butter sauce. This was superb. The seafood retained their individual textures and taste , yet they contributed so well to the mixed ‘juice’ at the bottom. The bread served with this was crisp toasted and slightly sweet. Loved having it after dipping in the seafood juices. Rate it 4.5/5

For main course we ordered Grass fed marlboro lamb rack with cremolata and grain mustard – with ratatouille, carrot and creamy mascarpone rosemary sauce.

The meat was medium rare. It had full bodied meaty flavours that we loved. I Wud hv loved it juicier. My brief was ‘I want the juiciest form – medium rare, rare, medium… whatever’. Rate it 4.25/5

The sauce was good but not outstanding. Rate it 3/5

Overall rating of the dish averages out to

3.6/5

Loved the ratatouille. As good as it cud get. Rate it 4.25/5

Next dish was John Dory – pan flashed fish with jalapeño crab cream sauce, new potatoes and kangkong greens.

The fish itself was good but nowhere near to great. My memories of numerous John Dory dishes at olive, orient express etc were super juicy, flaky flavourful fish. Here it was not as flaky and almost not juicy. Rate the fish 3/5

The sauce and everything else was excellent. Loved the crab meat in the sauce.

We finished off every bit of the sauce.

Potatoes were perfect

The greens were awesome

Loved every bit of it and Rate it 4.5/5

Overall rating of the dish averages out to 3.7/5

For dessert we had Blueberry and lavender Viennese shortbread with rose petal panacotta. Remembered something visually similar at wasabi. The shortbread was excellent. The topping was very enjoyable. Rate this 4.25/5

the panacotta was Good but not great. It lacked direction. Rate the panacotta 3/5.