This post has been sitting on my ‘must go live’ list for quite some months now. I was invited by the folks at the Mövenpick Spa and Hotel, on Father’s Day to bring the folks along and to try out their Sunday brunch. While I’ve had my fair share of brunches, this was the first time that I was taking my parents along to experience the same. Besides the high expectations from Movenpick, there was the added pressure to ensure the parents were impressed as well.
As we made our way through the reception to My Place, on the ground floor of the hotel, we were greeted with what can only be described as an 'arsenal of desserts'. Ranging from cake, to tarts, to ice cream (obviously), the mere sight was sufficient to get us salivating. I guess someone on the organizing committee took the phrase ‘life is short, have your dessert first’ a little too seriously. But more on the dessert later on. I began the meal by exploring the Asian section which had a variety of sushi and dimsums, with their respective dipping sauces up on display. I focused on the sushi, more specifically on the prawn and crab sushi. It was a satisfying start to the meal. While I didn’t try the dimsums, the outer skins did crumble when it was being served to the other folks.
The restaurant offers a variety of wines, beers and cocktails. The specialty that day was Martini. Mum ordered a Kiwi Martini, that she instantly fell in love with; and meekly asked for a second a bit later on. And here I thought we were celebrating Father’s Day. Not being in the mood for cocktails, Dad and I stuck to beer. I was there to focus on the food.
Continuing on my addiction to salads with every meal, I was sufficiently satisfied with the commendable spread of salads available. From Roasted Beetroot with Mustard Mayonnaise, to Cucumber with Garlic Yogurt to the Prawn Cocktail Salad, I soon found myself in a happy place and was all set to hit the meats sitting on the grills. The immediate attraction was the beautifully grilled red snapper (if I remember right) that was served with a spicy orange sauce. Seafood and citrus, that’s a classic combination that is tough to mess up. The fish was grilled perfectly with all the natural flavours coming through, complemented fabulously by the sauce (which also served as a dip for the perfectly grilled prawns). Needless to say, I did go back for seconds. While the fish and prawns were grilled perfectly, there were inconsistencies with some of the other meats which were slightly overcooked.
I soon spotted one of my favourite reasons to endure traffic to go to all the way to Movenpick, Chef Armando, was manning the Italian section. Chef was kind enough to make an all veg pasta from scratch for mum which she wasn’t too pleased to share with me. I served myself some of the cheese from the platter, and a couple of slices of the rich vegetarian pizza.
I honestly had very little space left for the main course, dessert beckoned. I took really small helpings of the biryani (which was cooked really well), the Murgh Patialia, the Palak Paneer and the Malabar Meen Curry. I didn’t do enough justice to the main course to pass judgement. A word of caution, do browse through what’s on the menu before you attack everything else so that you know what not to miss out on. And the main course does have a lavish spread.
Desserts - The crescendo of every brunch. From the extensive spread of thirty odd desserts, I still remember the Thyme Crème Caramel, the Alphonso Tart and the Raspberry Pina Colada Mousse. The only disappointing dish from the desserts I picked was the Caramel Profiterole which was heavy and hard. It’s the Movenpick, needless to say, Ice cream was a part of the menu.
We wound up a little after 4 in the evening. With two very satisfied parents, I can safely say that the Sunday Brunch at My Place at the Movenpick is among the best in town. With a wide variety of dishes and cuisines, each dish cooked perfectly, the trip was worth it. Priced at INR 1500 (plus taxes) for the brunch without alcohol, INR 2100 (plus taxes) for the brunch with IMFL and INR 2900 (plus taxes) if you want to get fancy and order champagne, the brunch delivers on all counts and more. They even have a separate rate of INR 750 (plus taxes) for kids.
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