Bayroute, BKC, Mumbai

Landed up here without realizing that it was so new. Getting a booking was a little difficult – don’t know why certain restaurants follow this trend of sounding very reluctant to give tables. Reached there and found that most of the tables were empty. It did get filled out slowly but there were still one or two tables free when we left. 

Anyway, the restaurant is pretty (it is the place of the erstwhile Le Pain Quotidien – the view outside is really pretty. It’s bright and airy, and a nice place to be.

We started with a Chelo Kebab and a Machboos Al Kuzu. The Machboos Al Kuzu is somewhat similar to a mutton biryani – a more sophisticated take – the meat was soft and anyway, I am a sucker for biryani. Absolutely delicious dish. Totally recommended. The Chelo Kebab came with seekh kebabs (very different from the usual oily, spicy stuff), a divine-smelling rice, a roasted tomato, a salad and a poached egg. A perfect meal by itself.

The reason for giving a 4 is that our next dish which was a grilled prawn – had a very strong, bad smell. We returned the dish. That dish was really not good. What was good is that the server changed the dish immediately without much of a fuss. We ordered the Pide – Dijaj instead – a pretty decent dish. A middle eastern bread topped with a chicken preparation. Service was pretty good and the issue was handled amicably enough.

All in all, I look forward to more experiences at this restaurant. Have visited their Cuffe Parade outlet before and had a really good experience.