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Fresh off the boat
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Le Jardin's Seafood Signatures serves up the freshest seafood any way you like it
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PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.
INFORMING CHOICES For those undecided about cooking styles and so on, there is a chef on hand to give information and make suggestions according to one's preferences
For a non-vegetarian, particularly one who's found his sea legs, there are few pleasures in the world comparable to fresh seafood cooked to perfection. And for a gourmand, perfection doesn't come with the generic slap and dash recipe but rather with the choicest cuts cooked just so in a delicate balance of spices. Which is what Le Jardin at The Oberoi is offering its customers with its Seafood Signatures promotion.
The semi-buffet promotion lets customers choose not only what seafood they want to indulge themselves in for the main course, but also how it should be cooked and flavoured. Thus, on a given day, the choices might range from white snapper to tuna to prawn to salmon to just about any other fish freshly available. Once the fish is picked, customers can then decide if they'd like it pan fried, grilled, poached, herb roasted, seared or cooked in any other style, with a range of sauces such as Thai tamarind and lemon grass dressing, orange and chive beurre blanc or black olive and coriander sauce.
Catch from Kochi
Says Chef Mir Zafar Ali, the man behind Seafood Signatures: "We get all our catch from Kochi, except for the salmon that comes from Norway, and whatever is freshest we put on offer. Customers can then pick their favourite fish, as also the style they want it cooked in and the sauce they want. And the styles and sauces on the menu are only a hint of what we have on offer. If customers have other specific preferences, we are willing to cook their fish any way they want it." For diners who are conflicted on what they'd like, a chef goes around every table explaining the various choices and also making suggestions according to one's preferences. As for the rest of the meal, the restaurant has an array of seafood based soups and starters, as also a range of desserts on offer.
Thus, the meal begins with a deliciously creamy and spicy laksa, which also offers customers a choice on what vegetables they'd like added in, as also on how spicy they'd like their laksa to be. The appetisers section boast of some light and subtle highlights. The delicious salmon gherkin rolls, for instance, pair to great effect the sublime smoothness of salmon with the sourness of gherkins that can really set your teeth on edge. The lotus stem crisp and seared tuna, on the other hand, is a more gentle combination, with a refreshing goodness that is much easier on the tongue. The steamed prawns with herbs in banana starts off similarly cool, but turn out to be quite powerful as the spice slowly sneaks up on your unsuspecting taste buds.
For the main course, we choose to go with the pan-fried tuna served with the black olive and coriander sauce, and are not disappointed. The tuna, with its substantial red meat-like texture and unusual taste yields very well to frying. And the tanginess in the black olive and coriander sauce adds a wonderful dimension to the tuna.
Forming the perfect base to this combination is the divine tomato and mint risotto, rich and full on the tongue, but surprisingly light on the stomach. The overall result is a main course that satisfies, but doesn't overdo tastes.
Closing up the meal is an array of great desserts such as a tangy blueberry soufflé, a rich peco banana or a warm, comfortable apple cobbler.
Seafood Signatures is on at Le Jardin at The Oberoi every Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. till the end of March 2007. Contact 25585858 for reservations.
RAKESH MEHAR
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