Hemant Oberoi: Bombay’s Finest Fine Dining pt. 1

Part 1 of 2 (I’d like to thank the restaurant for emailing me the names of 10 menu items that we ordered because expensive restaurants don’t share their updated menus online.)

Restaurants in Bombay have become an expensive, theatrical, over the top, display of economic status, affair. There’s a good and bad side to the argument but that’s a philosophical conversation to be had over dinner. Hemant Oberoi is the flagship namesake restaurant of chef Hemant Oberoi (I’m going to guess he’s been a big deal in the Indian restaurant industry for a while). The restaurant, while in India, by an Indian chef, doesn’t serve regular Indian food; it has an eclectic International menu. It is among the most expensive restaurants in the city. Unfortunately, like most exorbitant international restaurants, vegetarian food here was mediocre. What made it worse was the thoughtless service.

We started with:

1. Melons Market (honey dew and Musk melon) with citrus cream – Amuse Bouche

I don’t like melons. And the entire melon family. This was so small a portion that I could swallow the whole thing and be fine. I ate like a civilized human and it wasn’t bad with the fillings.

2. Avocado and Tortilla Pizza

This was delicious. The cheese circles were delicious, although I’m starting to realize that Avocado slices aren’t as fun as mashed Avocado.

3. Truffled hummus

Truffle. It’s like that family/friend who comes in last minute & starts bossing everyone around with what they want, and nobody likes it but still has to deal with it – that’s truffle oil. It’s overpowering and an acquired taste. That being said, I’ve never ordered Hummus as an appetizer and been served a tabbouleh salad with some hummus spread on the plate, and no pita bread.

This was also the first time my family tried truffle oil. They were not pleased. Overall, I’d say this was a disappointment because I wanted hummus and pita – the appetizer, not tabbouleh with hummus – the salad.

4. Kaffir Lime Rasam

<Rant> Getting this served right after the disappointing Hummus, was when I realized that the service at this restaurant is mediocre. There were 4 people at the table. They only gave 2 glasses for a soup that was sufficient for 4 people. I don’t get how ignorant do servers have to be to give you 4 glasses instead of 2. Why 2 instead of 1 in the first place? </Rant>

The theatrical presentation and the taste was delicious. This helped the family get rid of the truffle oil taste.