When M demanded to have a lavish lunch, I was thinking where to take her, since it is pretty hot outside, and ended up looking for a good place to go to. Thankfully, Hyatt Regency, Kolkata, is walking distance from my house (if you don’t mind walking for half an hour), and the buffet at Waterside Cafe has been a favorite of mine for quite some time, so when I saw that Groupon was giving a nice deal on the Hyatt Buffet (both lunch and dinner), I gave in.
We entered, and walked around – from the large bowls filled to the brim with warm bread, to the neat little round pat of butter served at the table, the buffet layout was elegant and decadent, if one might use both words in the same line. I walked around to the non-vegetarian counter, to pick up some soft Chicken Chapli Kabab, a few spoonfuls of a subtle Chicken Kolkata Biryani, a ladleful of Mutton Rogan Josh, and then, skipping the fish, headed off to the tenderloin.
The tenderloin was soft and in a jus which I could not resist mopping up with some of the warm bread. Hyatt prides in making excellent bread, from fluffy bread rolls to pillowy, mildly chewy yeasty multigrain bread, topped with a generous sprinkling of seeds.
But who can really forget to eat their vegetables? For me, what appealed was the paneer, though, and the malai paneer was creamy, nestled in a tangy red sauce. I slowly bypassed the rest of the vegetables, picking and choosing, picked up a little bit of feta cheese, a few olives, and then headed to the sandwich counter.
I was thinking of getting more vegetables, but then, the sandwich counter said they had panini! I heart Panini!
More tenderloin, sandwiched with some Swiss cheese and tomatoes between thin slices of grilled bread – simple, yet the quality of the meat made all the difference! Tender slices of meat, cut against the grain, with a good bit of cheese – what’s not to like?
The fried eggs were supposed to go with the biryani. I picked one, chopped up, added to my biryani, along with some potato. There was a massive Lebanese dips counter on one side, and although I wanted Hummus, at this point my plate looked overloaded, so I headed back to my seat. But well, here are some fun photos of the scene.
The Sandwich station. Look at that guy! He kept on making sandwiches. I spotted a set of different chutneys nearby, and did take a little bit of the mango one.
Part 1 of the dessert counter. There’s the heavenly pear turnover, and the pieces of chocolate tart and plain cake. I might have sneaked out a piece from the galette on the left.
And there is M wondering what salad she should be eating. She chose the beef salad and the cold poached chicken salad in the end. The beef salad was so refreshing, very Vietnamese, with cilantro and raw onion slices. The poached chicken salad was cold slices of perfectly cooked chicken breast, with cherry tomatoes. Simplicity at its best.
The dessert counter boasted of at least 15 different things to eat. Apart from the mango mousse, blueberry and strawberry mousse cakes, they make an excellent chocolate tart, and I was looking forward to it.
A bowl of chicken noodle soup was waiting for M at our table, and she declared it to be excellent, with well-cooked but not soggy noodles, a clean, simple broth, and slivers of chicken breasts and vegetables making an occasional appearance.
And yes, this is what my plate looked like. Observe the little piece of tomato. I tried to make up for the rest of the plate with that slice of tomato. Too bad it got half-shadowed by the thick glob of mozzarella.
Oh well, such is life!
The desserts here are rather wonderful, and I skipped the Indian part and came straight to the point. The pear turnover is excellent on its own, but, after slathering a thick coat of caramel sauce and clotted cream on top, well, it became even more excellent, just so you know.
There was a nut slice there, which was redolent with the richness of assorted nuts, held together by a not-too-sweet brittle, which was addictive. Also, the sight of gems covering my chocolate ice cream or my makes me happy.
But naturally, there must be waffles, for there is M. This came with a smidgen of chocolate sauce on top, and plenty of chocolate chips and gems as garnish. It was nice, although I would have preferred honey on top. But, M was quite happy with it. Just look at her expression!
Groupon often comes up with nice restaurant offers in Kolkata, where you can avail nice deals from time to time, and dining at a top Kolkata hotel, like Hyatt, can be done very easily by buying a voucher and going for lunch/dinner at the scheduled time. All you have to do is buy the voucher, confirm the day you will be going with the hotel, and take a printout of the voucher(s). You can avail the current offer till the end of this month (30th April, 2015), either for lunch or dinner.
Disclaimer: Poorna Banerjee availed coupons to dine at Hyatt regency from Groupon.
