A Sunday is meant to get up late, browse a little longer through the Sunday newspaper, have a cup or two extra of your morning tea, take a late shower and head for a pigging out brunch. And if that place happens to be Latest Recipe (an all day dining restaurant at Le Meridien, Gurgaon), what more can you ask for.
Latest Recipe – the all day dining world cuisine restaurant, has a picturesque view of the garden outside the hotel and the sun’s honey, golden light brightens the whole place up.
It has live interactive counters ranging from sushi, dim sum, Chinese grills, pizza, Indian tandoor, pasta, appam, paranthas, egg station and so on. The beverages counter has all the regular ones, plus a lot of seasonal refreshing drinks like rooh afza, imli sharbat, chaas (buttermilk), aam panna, moong daal pakori kanji, amongst others. Add to this a sparkling wine and other alcohol package at a nominal price, this is one brunch that should be certainly in your agenda.
Frankly, I could not think of even one thing which I could have added to this humungous menu. This was different from other buffets, as only small portions were laid out in the dishes (lest they dry out). The waiters just had to be told your table number and they would deliver the hot food to your table from the live counters. The chefs were interacting with the guests and helping them order things.
The salads were perfect for this weather-lovely grilled fruits and vegetables like plum, peppers, zucchini, mushroom and a huge range of cold cuts.
Let me list the must haves from all the dishes I tasted-
Lamb ribs with shichimi salt, chicken in black bean sauce, prawns and calamari in yellow sauce, chicken in red sauce, from the Chinese and Thai counter.
Tandoori bater, lehsuni tangri, barrah, galauti in katifi (galautis are served inside a vermicelli like little nest) from the Sigri section. To me, the soft galauti with crisp vermicelli is any day a better option than galauti with ulta tawa parantha.
Japanese Prawn and Veg Tacoyaki are like our south Indian Puddu with a wheat flour base and both were lovely. Do try as many sushi and dimsum as your stomach permits.
The wood fired, thin crust pizzas must be ordered fresh to your table to enjoy the complete flavor.
From the western hot dishes – the slow roasted pork belly is to die for, so don’t miss this if you are a pork lover.
From the Indian main course -must have the hari mirch ka keema, Amritsari tawa maachi, haleem, mutton biryani and prawn curry.
With the anda parantha do, try the imli masala chutney, pineapple chutney and pickled grapes –they are really different, with a sweet and tangy touch to all.
If you still have room for desserts, don’t miss the teppanyaki ice cream amongst a variety of other desserts.
In such a huge menu, where things can easily go wrong, there were all hits and hardly any misses. This speaks volumes for the Executive Chef Tanveer Kwatra and his whole team.
By the end of this gastronomical meal, I could only think of driving myself home, to the comfort of my room, for a long siesta. I couldn’t have thought of a better place to spend my Sunday. My only grouse, that I was spoilt for choice and inspite of stuffing myself, I will have to go back again to try many more of that 250-dishes in the vast menu.
Ratings (Out of 5)
Food: 4.5 | Ambience: 4.0 | Service: 4.5 | Overall: 4.5
Brunch Cost Per Person: Rs. 2450 (without Alcohol) / Rs3250 (with Sparkling wine and other Alcohol) | Credit Cards: Yes | Alcohol: Yes | Timings: 12.00 pm to 4 pm | Wheelchair Access: Yes
Address: The Latest Recipe, Le Meridien Hotel, M.G. Road, Sector -26, Delhi –Gurgaon Border, Gurgaon | Phone: 0124-4992000
Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. Due judgement 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.
– Rohini Ghosh & Pawan Soni
