SOME people who know me, and know I don’t do hot-spicy food, questioned why on earth I was going to have dinner at Bombay Brasserie, the Indian restaurant at Taj Cape Town. The answer is simple: not all Indian food is hot-spicy; it is often delicately flavoured and nuanced and will not take the top layer of skin off your mouth.
The restaurant is tucked away in a corner of the city centre hotel – which has had a fairly recent makeover in the bar area where everyone wants to pose for covetable Instagram pics, reclining on velvet couches or on the stairs – so part of me wants to say it’s a “hidden” gem. You certainly won’t find it by chance. However, unlike the general curse of hotel restaurants which often take the form of large, mostly empty dining halls, Bombay Brasserie was full, and for good reason.
While many of those dishes were tempting, we decided to go à la carte. Starters can be ordered individually or on a three- or four-piece tasting platter. We had three. I love Palak Patta Chaat (it was my friend’s first time and I believe she is converted). It’s spinach coated in chickpea flour, crispy and light, and dressed with sweet yoghurt and tamarind chutney. The second dish was Kasundi Paneer – cottage cheese marinated in a special blend and charred in the tandoor. Tulsi Prawns are coated with basil pesto and also done in the tandoor. This was all after a delectable mouthful of dahi puri as an amuse bouche.
“A dining ritual here promises an unforgettable culinary journey in a breathtaking setting with dramatic mural art and a live open kitchen. The vibrant interiors and dimmed lighting set a sophisticated and authentic dining experience for fashionable diners and food connoisseurs.”
Bombay Brasserie lived up to that hype.
Dinner 6pm to 10.30pm. Call 021 819 2000 or click here for more information.