Olivia @ Olive Downtown, Kochi

Olivia @ Olive Downtown, Kochi

 

 

Review & Photographs By Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)

Great Buffet Choices At The Newest All Day Diner In Kochi.

Kochi has a brand new entrant in the ‘All Day Dining” space that too located right in the heart of town at Kadavanthra. I would like to share a wonderful new food-discovery experience in “Olivia” at the recently opened Olive Downtown Hotel.

We as a family were pleasantly surprised by the multi-element food spread that we stumbled upon during a Sunday lunch we enjoyed at the Olivia Restaurant. A buffet for me personally is a remarkable way to explore different cuisines and discover new tastes. At  this lunch we were privileged to sample a mix of  Thai, Mexican, Kerala, Bengali, Punjabi, Creole, Continental and Chinese dishes in the elaborate spread of soups, salads, proteins, vegetables, starch, carbohydrates and desserts selected by the knowledgeable Executive Chef Faisal Basheer, for the day.

As a result when the guests line up to choose their food from one serving station to another, they are spoilt for choice, given the variety paraded for consumption. I had also noticed very subtle little things that had been kept in mind in the layout of food on the easy access central food island. Like for instance, the multiple plate and bowl stacks placed intermittently, that also got attentively replenished as and when they depleted, then the first stop in the food line housed the cold cuts and as one meandered to the last few stations adjacent to the seating area, one found hot foods in covered food warmers thereby ensuring that one walks to the dining seat with a plate full of appetizingly warm food.

I shall now touch upon the menu in some detail. For soups there were two options the delicately flavoured Chinese Talumein Vegetable Soup and the Mexican Hot Pot. For Salads the wide selection included Spicy Carrot Salad, Mexican Coleslaw, Creole Green Bean Salad and the basic Raw Vegetable Salad. Non-vegetarian salads had Thai Beef Salad, Chicken Noodle Salad and Tomato & Egg Salad.

The main course had exciting meat options like the Kottayam Chemmeen Curry (Prawns), Erachi Ularthiyathu (Beef), Adivasi Kaada Chuttathu (Quail), Laal Maas (Lamb) and Schezwan Chilli Fish. The vegetarians had some wonderful dishes in Bengali Dal Tadka, Paneer Kurchan, Aloo Mutter Curry, Khajur Ki Tikki, Achinga Mezhukkupuratti, Kadhari Vegetables, Terrano Belando, Baked Vegetables In Mustard Sauce and Crispy Fried Vegetables.

The Rice/Pasta/Breads included Steamed Basmati Rice, Shandong Vegetable Noodles, Penne Arabiatta, Kashmiri Pulao, Roti, Naan, Kerala Porotta and Appam.

Finally the Desserts section had Walnut Chocolate Brownie, Kiwi Cream Flan, Burnt Sugar Custard, Blueberry Cheesecake, Vanilla Gateaux, Assorted Parfait, Sugar-Free Apple Trifle, Parippu Payasam, Semiya Payasam, Milk Peda, Gulab Jamun and Shahi Tukda. The food was delicious and stood out for its freshness and distinct flavours.

In addition to the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets, the restaurant also has an elaborate selection on offer in the á la carte menu. They even have an exclusive children’s buffet spread. The restaurant imbues an elegant ambience and one is also impressed by the impeccable and attentive service provided by the smart waiting staff. This value for money buffet is a great bargain priced at just Rs 599 excluding taxes. That variety of food at that cost in such an aesthetic setting is a really good deal.

The tall, polite and well-spoken F & B Manager Sankar V Nair and the very experienced and confident Executive Sous Chef Faisal Basheer, who jointly lead the efficient Olive Culinary Team are the brains behind this Olivia experiment and richly deserve our compliments and encouragement. I firmly believe that if Olive can maintain this price point for the delectable fare they offer at Olivia’s multi-cuisine buffet, that is an eclectic assortment of diverse food styles, then it will soon gain the reputation of being the best buffet restaurant in town. We are looking forward with excitement to their soon to be opened specialty restaurant called "Afghan" which would be serving Middle Eastern delicacies. On the basis of what this super food-team is already providing, that would definitely be one menu worth exploring.

Here I am reminded of a wise idiom I had learnt in school which says “Well begun is half done”. “Great Job” Team Olive. I wish this new enterprise that has been launched with a promising start, the very best for a successful and prosperous future.

Hotel Olive Downtown

28/286, KP Vallon Road,

Kadavanthra Junction,

Kadavanthra,

Ernakulam – 682020

Kerala

Website : http://www.olivehotels.com/olive-down-town

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/olivedowntown?fref=ts

Reservations Call – 0484-4222333

Trilogi, Crowne Plaza, Kochi

Trilogi, Crowne Plaza, Kochi

Review & Photographs By Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)

Kerala Cuisine At Its Creative Best!

"Trilogi" at the Crowne Plaza, Kochi in its new avatar, is an exclusive restaurant that celebrates a historic culinary re-unification of the three erstwhile princely states of Travancore in the south, Kochi in the centre and Malabar to the north, which were merged to make the geographic entity which we all recognise today as Kerala. What I found most unique about my experience of Malayali cooking at Trilogi was this innovative interpretation given to age old classics by the immensely talented and creative team of Executive Chef Rajeev Menon and South Indian Master Chef Rejimon.

In my casual chat with Chef Rejimon I learnt that he had invested the better part of the past year criss-crossing Kerala, visiting and learning from various households, street-side stalls, hotels and individuals who were renowned for recipes that rank among the best in whatever food they choose to specialise in. After that eye-opening journey of gastronomic discovery, Chef Rejimon is now unlocking those priceless secrets into his adaptations of Malayali staples at Trilogi. 

We were privileged to sample a few of his innovative interpretations. For starters we had our perennial favourite the Travancore- Beef Dry Fry or BDF as it is popularly called. Those deep fried tenderloin cubes were tender and succulent rich in a hot marinade of traditional spices. The magic kick to the taste was impacted by the subtle flavours oozing from those few unpeeled whole cloves of garlic that were added to the frying. That smart addition took this dish to a whole different level altogether.

The crunchy Malabar- Seafood Vada Masala is an innovative and fishy twist given to the popular Kerala teatime snack Parippu Vada. Fish, prawns and squid are ground and mixed with fresh masala then deep fried and served with a spicy Kokum topping. Chef Rejimon has also invented a wonderful inter-continental fusion of European cheese on Vietnamese fish marinated in Kerala spices called Travancore- Meen Chuttathu. This is a Basa filet which is marinated in a secret spice-mix and grilled in an oven topped with an assortment of finely chopped vegetables, grated coconut and mozzarella cheese, it tasted simply sublime.

The aromatic Malabar- Seafood Thengapal Soup is a delicately spiced coconut milk soup with tender morsels of finely chopped seafood. Here again the Chef added his flair with some finely grated tender coconut shavings that made this already flavourful soup even more delectable and creamy.

In the mains we thoroughly enjoyed the Chef’s signature dish Malabar- Idiappam Chemmeen Biryani. You would love to know that this dish had also won him an award recently for its originality in an all Kerala Chef’s Rice-Dish Competition. Its laborious and complex construct involves sandwiching a base and top layer of string-hoppers or Idiappam made from roasted white rice flour mixed in hot water and a pinch of salt kneaded into smooth dough with a dollop of ghee which is then finally pushed through a presser which shapes it into multiple curly noodles of damp rice strings that one can shape as desired, with that complex mid layer, which will make or break the Biryani. This crucial layer is a wholesome mix of flavours that envelop the biryani-masala spiced medium-sized shrimps. The secret of getting this dish to explode in one’s mouth with flavours is the expertise of Chef Rejimon in ensuring that the Chemmeen remains crunchy when it is served.  Over umpteen experiments he has mastered the timing of exposing the delicate shrimp to a mix of in-pan sautéing and steam-cooking. The presentation on a egg-shaped smooth round-edged triangular serving plate with that unique round bird’s nest of intertwined thin Pappadam strips was visually immaculate and tasted divine.

Finally, the dessert which capped off a memorable dinner was the Kochi- Vazhapoo Ilaneer Payasam, which involves slow-cooking banana flower with the fluffiest part of the tender coconut in a reduction of coconut milk and jaggery. This perfectly complements the grated coconut and jaggery stuffed steamed rice pancake called Kochi- Ela Ada.

Where a majority of chefs are guilty of taking cooking very literally and overcooking all the ingredients without any method to the madness, the gifted chefs like Rejimon stand out for their understanding of abstruse nuances of food especially spices. How it behaves and how much is enough? He has understood the intricate art of letting each ingredient bloom and be there for a reason to add texture to the complexity of the flavours he is trying to create. When one imbibes food from such a creative master-craftsman, in a setting of warm ambience served by the fabled faultless waiting team of Crowne Plaza, one tastes bliss. 

Trilogi is slowly and steadily climbing the popularity charts, as the word is spreading like wildfire and since this is a dinner service only restaurant, I understand it gets very busy over the weekends, so one is best advised to make a reservation to avoid a wait and also block a suitable table for your numbers in the more intimate inner Kochi section of the restaurant. Thank you Culinary Team-Crowne Plaza for this delicious and enchanting Kerala Food experience. We are already looking forward to our next visit to indulge in the many untried delicacies awaiting discovery.

Trilogi

Crowne Plaza,

Kundanoor Junction,

NH 47 Bypass,

Maradu,

Kochi

Reservations Call - 0484-2865000