View of the mountains and lush greenery, cityscapes and the blue see yonder; that’s the view I found myself admiring during my visit to Westin in Goregaon last Sunday. This hotel is probably the last five star hotel in the western suburbs if one was to drive towards Virar. Right off the western express highway near the Goregaon flyover, this hotel stands magnificently overlooking Aarey milk colony and offers a spectacular view from its 18th floor restaurants “Seasonal Taste” and “Kangan”.
The Sunday brunch is hosted in both the restaurants and the diners are free to choose from either of the two places. Seasonal taste is a multi-cuisine restaurant with three live kitchens and Kangan is their flagship Indian speciality restaurant serving Indian fine dining fare.
Sitting at the multi cuisine side, we were at awe at the huge variety of dishes displayed around us. The restaurant is divided into two live stations and four food islands. One side is continental, covering Tex-mex, Italian and American fare while the other extreme end is an oriental kitchen. In between there are two sections for Salads and Desserts with huge selections of both. On the Kangan side, the buffet section is much smaller but covers a fair gamut of dishes and a live section for chaat and fresh Indian desserts (this time it was Malpuas with rabris).
We were poured a Zampa Soiree 2011 Sparkling wine which was very crisp and refreshing and quite an apt accompaniment for the meal that followed. I started off with a Tomato soup with smoked pepper which was thick to the right consistency, slightly on the sweeter side with a hint of smoked pepper. Having set the tone with this worthy soup I headed for the seafood salad which has a mango infused dressing that I found to be quite delicious.
While the first round was top notch, I found the tempuras in my second round to be too heavy on the oil and a bit dense; the batter was not as light and airy how the tempura batter should ideally be. Similarly the mezze platter was also quite weak. However, this was immediately overcome by a fantastic assortment of dimsums which made me ask for more. The duck dimsum and the lemongrass and pea infused chicken dimsum were amazing, translucent soft covering and generous filling, these two dimsums alone are capable of drawing me back to this buffet all over again.
Another hit for the afternoon were the chaats, specially my favourite dahi vadaas. The vadaas were slightly crunchy and had the softest interiors and the chutneys were perfect as per north Indian standards and I was immediately taken back to the alleys of Mathura where I have had similar fare.
In the mains, the biriyani masaaledar was very aromatic and tasty, Chinese stir fried tofu quite delicious; but the dish that stole the show for me was the Braised Pork chops with pineapples. The meat here was literally falling off the bones and the sweet and tanginess of pineapples lend the perfect flavour combination to the dish. As I write this, my mouth is salivating once again remembering the juicy chops.
The continental dessert counter was a mixed bag, some hits and some misses but the one dessert that stood out, was the freshly fried hot malpuas with rabri. These malpuas were the kind you would get in north India, smaller crisp fried and dunked in flavoured syrup. These have a soft crunchy exterior and a very juicy interior which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I observed that the overall selection at Westin seems to be more inclined toward the vegetarians with the ratio being around seventy thirty. I think this is a positive step for the vegetarian diners who often complain about their choice being limited in all you can eat buffets.
The view, the lovely sparkling from Zampa and the overall fantastic spread, definitely was a Sunday well spent. I would certainly go back for some more dimsums, pork chops and dahi vadaas.
Ratings (Out of 5)
Food: 4 | Ambience: 4 | Service: 4 | Overall: 4
Meal price: Rs.2400 plus taxes with Alcohol and Rs. 2000 plus taxes without Alcohol| Alcohol: Yes | Credit Card: Yes |
Timings: 24 hours , Sunday Brunch from 12.00 pm till 4.00 pm | Wheelchair Access : Yes
Address: International Business Park, Oberoi Garden City, Goregaon East, Mumbai 400063.
Tel: :+91 22 6147 0101
This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. Due judgment and care has been applied by the author to remain objective and unbiased in the review, but readers need to consider this review keeping this fact in mind.
