This is a review of Sunday brunch

In a nutshell:

An unforgettable brunch, one of the best we have had in years, in terms of spread, amazing attention to detail by chef and team, brilliant conceptualisation and seamless execution. For seafood lovers in india, this is specially more interesting.

Address & other details:  

Meal for 2: ₹6000

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:

We came to know of this whole randomly browsing zomato. What caught our attention Was a rating of 4.9/5 on zomato despite being a coffee shop 

We called to book a table few days back and were not disappointed. 

As we entered the dining hall, we were allocated a table. The host told us that we should remember our table number and quote that at all counters. Understood later why he said so. 

The best part of the dining hall was the super high ceiling – it made us feel so good. The natural light all over the room also added to the experience.

The spread was incredibly expansive. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of live counters across cuisines. 

What floored us was the amazing attention to detail to each and every item of the massive offering. We could not stop being awed at the creativity of visual food decor. 
Service was very good – inspite of so many guests at the same time. 

Super loved the food – one of the best we have had in years. We Wud hv walked out smiling after paying the double of this as well.

Note – people who love seafood and meat Wud freak out. For vegetarians the options are many and very good as well. 

Detailed description- in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

We first walked around the hall to understand what All is available and made out mental choices. 

We decided to stop at the chaat counter just by its visual attractiveness. As we were looking around, the gentleman at the counter started talking and he mentioned he had a chocolate golgappa with real mango filling. We had no intention to fill our stomach with streetfood on that afternoon. However the proposition sounded very interesting and we decided to go for it…..wow. A thin chocolate layer on a real golgappa, filled with small cubes of real mango and dipped in khatta meetha paani ….. medley of different textures, tastes and flavours….. rate it 4.5/5

We moved on to the steamed seafood section and asked for a little bit of everything. We got crab legs, prawns, mussels with a slice of lemon and sauce. 

The crab meat was very flavourful, a bit dry, a bit fibrous and a bit difficult to scoop out ( I’ve had better in Boston) but this was the best I’ve had in india. Super YUMM to taste. Rate it 4.25/5

The prawns were unbelievably good, bursting out with flavours, retained its firm texture, yet juicy . YUMM and soft. Rate it 4.95/5

Mussels were the best I have had so far in India. Full of flavours, perfect texture and very tasty. Rate it 4.95/5. 

I tried all these with the sauce but enjoyed all of them as it is, without the sauce. Note of caution for the beginners, there is a chance u might not like it the first time – it is an acquired taste.
We then moved on to live grill section. The concept here was that raw fish and seafood was on display. Guests had to pick up whatever they wanted and hand over to the kitchen and tell the table number. Based on that the kitchen Wud grill with just butter and salt and send across to the seat. 

There were 3 kinds of fish from New Zealand – Orange roughy, hokie and ling. we chose a fillet of each. We also took some lobsters and octopus. 

The grill was marvellous. The fishes were outstanding – juicy, flaky and super YUMM. Rate these fish grills 4.75/5

The octopus was outstanding- soft and not chewy, a texture which most people in Indus are not able to attain. Super tasty. Rate it 4.75/5

Lobster grill was no less. Brilliant flavours and unmatched taste of fresh lobsters cooked to perfection such that it was juicy. Rate it 4.75/5

The next dish we had was citrus roasted chicken. There r chicken and there was this chicken. Roasted with the skin, the chicken had an intense flavour of meat and marinades , juicy and incredibly soft and great to taste. One of the best chicken dishes I have had in the last 1 year. Rate it 4.75/5

Lamb wellington was baby lamb meat ( on the bone) wrapped with puff pastry, baked. The pastry was so good that we were massively impressed – forgot the best for a while. Infinite layers, flavor of butter, crisp on the outside and perfect within – a different level altogether. The meat within was brilliant as well – rustic and robust meat flavour, juicy and very tasty. 

The chef was slicing this and serving the guests. Floored. Rate it 4.95/5

With the same grilled chicken and meat were grilled veggies – beans, baby carrots, beetroot, baby onions. Outstanding beetroot – what a texture and taste so good 4.95/5. Baby onions wow 4.75/5. Baby carrots 4.5/5 excellent. 

We ordered ice tea for sipping along. It was made from freshly brewed tea I guess coz the tea flavour and astringency were retained, while sugar and lemon altered the taste a bit. Rate it 4.5/5

We also had virgin mojito. It was perfectly balanced in terms of sweet- salt- sour ratio, temperature, amount of rice etc. I was pleased to see how diligently they made the drinks in a buffet. Rate it 4.5/5

We then moved to fish and chips counter. There a lady was making the fish from scratch and we watched the process. From the raw fish to the 4 buckets that she dipped the fish in, the result was great. The crumb was so good that we ate it to the last bit. The fish within was flaky and very juicy. One of the best fish and chips I have had in india do far. Rate this dish 4.5/5

Next stop was Japanese counter. Here we tried tuna and salmon sashimi and two sushis – California rolls and negitoro. For the uninitiated, sashimi is slice of raw fish, usually eaten by dipping it into a soy sauce and having it with wasabi and/or gari. We loved our sashimi here and like always we liked the salmon over the tuna. Rate it 4.25/5

Loved our sushis as well. Rate it 4.25/5

From Japan we moved to Mexico. The gentleman on the counter was making tacos. Once again, not too many people in india make as good Mexican food. 

We started with chilli corn carne taco – it had rajma and minced lamb meat filling that was robust and intense. The super thin, crisp outer layer was very enjoyable. Rate it 4.5/5

Fish taco was juicy within, full of flavours and had a crisp n thin taco layer. Super loved it and rate it 4.5/5

We also tasted different kinds of nachos – surely better than most available in india. 

The nachos came with accompaniments.  Guacamole was by far the best we have ever had in india. Rate it 4.5/5

The other dips were sour cream, pico di Gallo and a mushroom based one. Loved all of these and rate them 4.5/5 each.

We walked past the Italian counter that had kinds of pastas including gnocchi, assorted veggies. We skipped this section as we did not want to increase our carb intake at that time. 

We also walked past a lovely Thai section – was very tempted but controlled ourselves. 

We stopped at the Burmese khao suey section where we had to make our own khao suey. Though the proportions were ours and chef had nothing to do in it, Wud say that the broth and the ingredients were excellent. Rate this dish 4.5/5

We moved to the Indian section. This area had all the usual suspects – mutton biryani Awadhi, veg biryani, chicken tikka, paneer tikka, kababs , dal, Lal bhindi masala, gosht Awadhi korma etc from North Indian cuisine and Fish tilapia alleppey, mutton roast from south india, Goan fish curry from Goa of course. Do not remember seeing a Marathi dishes though. 

Loved the Lal bhindi masala. The bhindi retained its texture. Rate it 4.5/5

Daal was very good. It was thick, had a presence and was a relief after so much of meat and seafood. Rate it 4.25/5.

Fish tilapia alleppey was Also excellent. Loved the flavours of curry leaves in this coconut milk based fish gravy. The dish was flaky and very tasty too. Rate it 4.5/5

Mutton roast was super robust, rustic and very tasty. The meat was soft yet intense. Licked off every trace of the gravy from the plate!!!! Rate it 4.75/5

murg baradari had a ‘Rich almond gravy finished with cream and butter’ as per the description. The gravy was thick and creamy and full of flavours and was very good to taste. The chicken pieces were super soft and very enjoyable. Rate it 4.5/5

The gosht Awadhi Korma had ‘onion chilly cashew almond meat stock’ mentioned near the dish. We have had many versions of  Kormas – this was really good. Rate it 4.5/5
Gosht Awadhi dum biryani was the only dish on the whole buffet that was less than the best. The biryani had dried up a bit due to it being in the open, the flavours had reduced a bit and the meats dried up a bit. The meat was soft and so was the long grain, aromatic , independent grains of rice. Rate this 3/5.

The freshly made waffle section read ‘best waffles in town’ – we peeped, saw the size of waffles and decided to try that next time….

We moved to the dessert section and randomly picked different ones. Collectively rate them 4.5/5

What stood out was the Banofie pie – super thin layers of base, banana and toffee sauce on the top, garnished with dark chocolate shavings. Wow. Rate 4.75/5

Overall rating of food at J W. cafe averages out to 
Wud surely revisit to try out the balance cuisines.