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Royal Repast at J Hind - Grand by GRT

Occasion:     The Royal Repast
Location:    J Hind, Grand by GRT Hotels, T Nagar
Duration:    The entire month of July 2017

J Hind is a restaurant that I’ve frequented a number of times after falling for it the first time I visited GRT for a night stay when they reopened after renovation. I was lucky enough to be one of the first to check out the restaurants in this amazing property. Do check out my take on J Hind and Bazaar as they’re some of the best our town has to offer. Even though the subsequent visits were good and ironically – paid ones that I went as a regular customer and not as a food blogger, I didn’t write about it. But this time, I was once again bowled over by their latest menu that’s got ‘royal’ written all over it.

The Royal Repast can be called as the glorification of one of the best cuisines of our soil. Nawabi food is known for its rich opulence and when a hotel has ‘Grand’ in their name, we know we’re in the best hands. As I’ve already spoken about their ambience and more in my original J Hind post, I’m diving (nose first, following the explicitly incredible aroma) into the food part.

Soups and Drinks

Everything starts with a drink and so did our exuberant feast. As an amuse-bouche, we kicked off with sweet shots made with a fruit base and a nut base in the process of spherification. They were extremely good and so was the portion of the classic Rose milk. We also got a Nariyal Doodh Ka Shorba with shrimps as our soup. The spices were tied up in a bag similar to that of a tea bag which was immersed in a hot portion of stock.  Rich and creamy, the soup also packed a punch. Apart from this, I also tried their regular cold pressed Pomegranate juice which was refreshing as always.

Starters

I’m personally a huge fan of their starters and I was more keen to check them out than the rest of what they had to offer. And boy, they lived up to my expectations. The Machi Tikki Kali Mirchi, a perfectly cooked fish fillet was a lovely dish to start with. Then we tried the Murgh Dahi, which was served in a mini grill which was rekindled with a torch gun. The sizzling chicken fillet isn’t something that words can describe.

I also sneaked a piece of Dungara Paneer Tikka from the unsuspecting veggies and the soft and yummy paneer chunks are sure to leave you to fall in love in the first bite. The Kekada Vada could be called as the least favourite dish of the lot, as the lamb dish Pattar Ka Ghos stole the show. Not to mention the Noorjahani Ghost Tikka which was smoked with wooden chips right before being served. Talk about eating like a king.

Mains

By this time, as you would’ve realised, we were full. But the list of items landing on our table and then our mouth didn’t slow down. As I expected, they had a splendid collection of Indian breads ranging from the humble roti to grander variations. Since I enjoyed the paneer starter, I tried a dash of Paneer Tikka Kacha Lanka Lababdar and unlike the name – which is a mouthful, a bit of this dish is enough to tingle your taste buds.

 

The Rangooli Lal Machi Tawa Masala was an excellent dish that went well with the breads but what I waited for and then relished at my own slow pace is their Arcot Ghost Biriyani. Simple, subtle yet lovely, a biriyani lover like me would love to have such a dish after trying a number of overly masala-ed biriyanis. Only when we thought things can’t get grander, they presented us the Anda Jinga Tamatar – A dish with king prawns and whole cooked eggs on a tomato curry base. It was nothing short of a lip-smacking finish.

Desserts

And of course, the finale has to be lofty and impressive right? They had a good list of tricks up their sleeves for the desserts too. It started with jackfruit cream which was mixed with liquid nitrogen to make the freshest batch of ice cream one can have. The fruit on its own is amazing and in this form, it was heavenly. The spoonful of Badam Peach Halwa was scrumptious. The Nawabi style Shahi Tukda and Gulabi Kesar were the icings on the cake (pun intended)

At the end of the day, it was yet another mind blowing experience at J Hind and we felt like a royal family having their everyday meal. The service, as always, was fantastic. All try different seasonal menus but very few hotels get the authenticity, liveliness and the perfect taste right and J Hind once again pulled it off with their classic touch.

Address:Grand by GRT Hotels, 120, Sir Thyagaraya Road, T. Nagar, Chennai
Telephone:+91 44 28150500 – 71
Timings:
Lunch: 12:30 PM-3:00 PM
Dinner: 7:30 PM-11:45 PM

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