The city’s five-star hotels regularly unveil lunch deals to fill tables at their restaurants. While most take a standalone approach, the Taj Group — leveraging its five properties across the city — is currently running a weekday promotion up to September 16.
The Hopping Luncheon menu allows hungry office-goers, bored city folks and treat-yourself college students to dine at the group’s 11 city restaurants for Rs. 1,500 a pop, inclusive of tax. Participating restaurants include old favourites, like the recently revamped Shamiana, and the newest, China Inc at the Taj Santacruz.
The variety is wide: Middle Eastern food at Souk, Sichuan at Golden Dragon, contemporary Indian food at Masala Kraft at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, coastal cuisine at Konkan Café, Italian at the Vivanta by Taj-President, Chinese fine dine at Ming Yang and Indian fare at Masala Bay, both at Bandra’s Taj Lands End, Franco-Italian at Rivea, Taj Santacruz, and lighter fare at Weli Deli at the Taj Wellington Mews.
The meals consist of a range of courses within a set budget. The filling lunch will leave you satiated, but without the heaviness you feel after eating food that’s too rich or the kind where you order just one dish so as not to overeat.
At Chinese eatery Ming Yang, a soup leads into appetisers and a main course (with a choice of rice or noodles on the side) followed by dessert. At Weli Deli, you get a soup, a salad, and a choice of mains and desserts.
The balanced meal, which I tried at the Souk, packs in enough for both meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. Looking out at the city, from atop the Taj awash in natural light, was exciting. The experience didn’t disappoint despite the eatery being surprisingly busy for a lunchtime meal.
Non-vegetarians can look forward to a lemony Shorba Dijaj, which features vermicelli and shredded chicken in a light broth. Vegetarians start with a coarser Shorba Adas: a lentil soup redolent of home-style cooking.
Options for mains include fish or chicken for non-vegetarians; vegetarians may sample grilled vegetables, a tagine or spanakos menemen: a potato pancake filled with spinach, potatoes and feta cheese.
I sampled the pancake and the charcoal-grilled bekti: both are accompanied by a crudités platter and a warm pita. The meal was rounded off with a dessert sampler that included rose petal ice-cream and baklava (there were two variants: coconut and pistachio).
The Taj Group is gearing up to attract a new generation of customers who might not normally step in for a meal. The Hopping Luncheon is similar in concept to the Restaurant Week, which to my knowledge no Taj eatery has been a part of. As food promotions go, let’s hope the short-term offering leads to more permanent meal deals.
The author is a freelance writer
The Hopping Luncheon menu is on offer till September 16
