New menu by Will Aghajanian at The Table, Colaba

 

Olives and jamun

The Table is one of my all time favourite restaurants. Through many chefs and for over a decade, Gauri and Jay have created an institution that stands for clean, flavourful, technical food that many have tried to imitate but none have ever replicated. 

Iwashi sandwich toast 

They have a new chef, Will Aghajanian, who has completely overhauled the menu. This means some “kill your babies” choices like shelving the iconic boneless chicken wings that has led to much consternation and clutching of diamonds in Mumbai’s chattering set (Mumbai doesn’t do pearls). 

Chicken wings (controversially with bone!)

My eternal curiosity meant that I had to go and check out this menu that was described in our food group as “polarising”. Gauri decided to make an evening of it and we ended up with a group of eight who ate (and drank) their way through 26 different dishes (dishes not bites) over the course of four hours.

Marrow 

My first take is that I don’t know what’s polarising about this menu. It’s flat out excellent. It’s the kind of polarising where I don’t understand one pole (like supporters of Trump and He Who Must Not Be Named). 

Lamb ribs 

There are clear directional shifts. Will is obsessed with Indian fruits and wants to have fun with them. The food is generally more playful than in the past. We had an olives and Jamun snack where the jamun was indistinguishable to the eye among the green and black olives, playing with your visual and taste expectations. And coming full circle he created a dessert of Buffalo milk ice cream with olive and jamun that was a masterpiece of restraint, subtlety and the use of salt in dessert. 

Jamun and olives.. revisited with Buffalo milk ice cream

It leans more into casual (but elevated) comfort than earlier menus while still retaining an extremely high degree of technicality. The chicken wings as different but as tasty as ever, but now it comes in a form that you pick up and enjoy, where cutlery makes no sense at all. The sweet pea tortellini is flawless but also comforting and filled with joy as much as pea. The roast Cornish hen was also classic in some ways but then the confit gizzard took it in the direction of unexpected pleasures.

Lemon pepper baby pomfret 

There is also a degree of experimentation that I’ve never seen before. There’s a lemon pepper baby pomfret (I’ve never had baby pomfret before) that was like a rich person’s Chakna, meant to be munched on with beer and whisky. In Will’s soon to be published autobiography “My Experiments With Fruit” he talks about how he bought figs but ended up making an ice cream with the leaves! And an “eel” dish made out of wallago, a freshwater fish from Bengal served with warm lentils, crispy leek and horseradish. 

Smoked Wallago “eel”

This version of The Table is different. It’s more provocative. It refuses to be put in a box. It refuses to retire gracefully into a “classic”. It’s comforting but experimental, technical but casual, playful but serious. It is proof that age doesn’t have to be boring, that it still carries some of the boisterous spirit that made it the talk of the country, that it still retains the fire and spark that made it so path breaking when it first began.

Alfonso mango melba 

And I love it! 

We ate:

• Warm ciabatta with seaweed butter 
• Warm brioche with whipped goat butter 
• Corn fritters 
• Unripe tomato fritti, green chilli ranch 
• Iwashi (sardine) sandwich toast, buerre de algues, chives
• Lemon pepper baby pomfret, magic city style 
• Jamun and olives 
• Chicken wings, crusted in fennel pollen and red chilli, Gorgonzola dolce 
• Smoked Wallago “eel”, warm lentil vinaigrette, crispy leek, horseradish 
• Roasted bone marrow, pastrami marmalade, parsley salad, toasted rye
• Sea bream crudo, meunière vinaigrette, capers, brown butter and lemon 
• Smoked lamb ribs, savoury onion glaze 
• Sepia rice, crispy squid, aioli, lemon 
• Smoked salmon tostada, cured trout roe, dill, rocket 
• Grilled tiger prawns, basted with vadouvan honey and rosemary butter 
• Crab Rockefeller, brioche soldiers 
• Pear and ricotta ravioli with sage butter and walnuts 
• Sweet pea tortellini, a la Mirasole
• Pan roasted Cornish hen, warm chicory and confit gizzard panzanella 
• Focaccia de recco, roasted grapes pizza 
• Jersey Creme Caramel, Montenegro
• Chocolate Sabayon Tart, Crème Chantilly, Kerala Vanilla Glacé
• Fig Leaf Ice Cream, Salted Pecans
• Banana Bavarian, Chilled Jasmine Cream, Shaved Ice, Salted Caramel
• Alfonso mango melba, raspberries and Kerala vanilla bean ice cream
• Buffalo milk ice cream with jamun, and olives

The divine Jersey Creme caramel