#blahvsfood goes to Sette Mara at the St. Regis

Classic falafel 

I love Middle Eastern food but I do struggle to come to terms with the prices at a place like Souk. It often feels like I could get food that was 80% as good at 10% of the price, especially living in a place like Kamanahalli. Mumbai clearly loves it’s mezze and labneh, when I look at the number of places that have opened over the last three years and serve Middle Eastern food. I’ve been to all of them except Rue de Libaan and I find all of them very pedestrian. 

When I heard about Sette Mara opening at the St. Regis a few months ago I was a bit confused because people called it a Mediterranean restaurant but they spoke about what seemed like Middle Eastern food with nothing from Iberia or Southern Europe. Everyone did rave about it so I decided to go check it out. 

Kebab Antabli

Well Sette Mara is neither a Middle Eastern nor a Mediterranean restaurant. Instead it serves a cuisine we’ve never had in India before, food that traces its origins to the Silk Route, the traders that made their way centuries ago from the eastern Mediterranean shores through Centrak Asia and Asia Minor. So you have a menu that is more interesting and diverse than any restaurant in that space. More importantly, in Dane we finally have a chef that doesn’t do boring food that tastes the same from Souk to Karama but actually has fun with it, making it cooler, sexier and more playful. 

Zhoug and truffle oil khachapuri

From his Zhoug and truffle oil khachapuris (the amazing flatbread I last ate 3 years ago at a Georgian restaurant in Kiev) to the corn ribs with a lovely char, feta scallion dip and sesame zatar, this is what can only be described as banging food. 

Burrata 

Dane serves a really good burrata served with Zhoug, grapefruit, Valencia Orange segments & rucola leaves. The crunch element comes from the Egyptian spice mix Dukkah consisting of sesame, black pepper, coriander & hazelnuts. A sprinkling of Maldon salt adds some punch to the mildness of the buratta.

What you absolutely can’t miss and what truly epitomises the playfulness and fun of Dane’s style are his dips and hummus. Creative, surprising and flavourful, they really breathe new life into a food category that used to feel tired to me. 

Tirikafteri

I had three different dips, the first was a truffle scented Tirikafteri, a whipped & creamy blend of feta cheese & hung yogurt folded with roasted red pepper. This dip is served with a piquant red pepper, wine vinegar & garlic coulis & finished with truffle oil.

Muhammarah

My second dip was the Muhammarah, a creamy, chunky & spiced blend of roasted red peppers, Turkish chili pepper, toasted walnuts & tangy pomegranate molasses, finished with smoked paprika & a dash of Aleppo pepper oil.

Root vegetable and chickpea hummus 

My final (and favourite) dip was a root vegetable and chickpea hummus, finished with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, lemon juice along with roasted carrot, yam and pumpkin. Served with toasted sesame seeds & root vegetable chips this is the “must-order” dish at Sette Mara.

Corn ribs

Spiced prawn with apricot and prune dip 

I ate:

Cold mezze - 

Classic hummus 

Muhammarah 

Tirokafteri 

Marinated Olives

Salad- 

Buratta Sette Mara

Appetizers/ small plate tastings - 

Beirut style jawaneh, chicken wings

Kataifi prawns,pul Biber & pomegranate labneh

Classic Falafel, Assyrian Jajeek sauce

Zhoug & truffle oil khachapuri 

Mangal grills - 

Kebab Antabli, garlic labneh

Rubiyan Qalat Daqqa, levant seven spiced prawn, Apricot & Prune Dip

Corn ribs, feta scallion cream, sesame zaatar

Aged truffle negroni 

Katafi prawns