Indian Set Menu at Trident, BKC

(Part of a series of three special meals the hotel and the chefs prepared for me)

Shrimp escabeche with coconut milk and kokum marinade 

I had never eaten an Indian food at the Trident and had no expectation of anything except a regular Indian meal, the kind you would get at Peshawari or Kebabs and Curries, focused on grills, gravies and breads. 

Avocado and corn chaat 

What I got instead was an astonishing plated Indian meal, modern in the best sense, refined, restrained and focused on flavour and balance. The plating was beautiful with no gimmicks or foam or any aspects of modern food that are more archaic than chicken sizzlers. The style of cooking and presentation was French inspired but with a lighter tough than a place like Varq. I would go as far as to say that this was an Indian meal that is better than their sister restaurant Ziya at the Oberoi, more evolved and more relevant to where Indian food needs to be heading than most Indian restaurants in the country. 

Luchi aloo with banana wrapped fish 

I really feel that Chef Siva who built his reputation with European food has found his calling with Indian food and I would love to see him explore and reinterpret regional Indian flavours, especially from his native Tamil Nadu. 

Charred laal maas with edamame and baby spinach 

I ate:
- Avocado and corn chaat with spiced raw mango vinaigrette.
- Malabar shrimp escabeche with coconut milk and kokum marinade, tomato chilli salsa and curry leaf vierge.
- Banana leaf wrapped steamed Indian sea bass with Thai chilli and cumin tempered potato, mustard Creme emulsion and luchi. I thought this was a particularly inventive take on Bengali food, both on the classic luchi aloo as well as as a mustard Bhetki.
- Charred laal maas with edamame and baby spinach, grain porridge, smoked Mathania chilli jus. The use of grain was particularly clever to soak in the flavours of the sauce.
- Nimish with stewed almonds and cardamom. I loved the foamy, air like layer on top, reminiscent of Manish Mehrotra’s legendary Daulat ki chaat 

Nimish with stewed almonds and cardamom 

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