I have been meaning to try out the Brunch at Paprika for quite sometime now, and I finally did so yesterday! At the outset, I still wonder why it is called 'Brunch'. It starts at 12 noon and ends at 4 pm, so it is definitely not 'brunch', but I guess it gives them the 'oommph' factor for their boring lunch buffet to be called 'Sunday Brunch'!!!
The spread I must say is impressive! It starts off with Tender Coconut in street style, complete with the 'Aruva' to cut it and served not in a glass but in the coconut itself! You see a live pasta counter, a live Indian chat counter, a live dosa counter and the dessert counter even as you enter. As you move to the end of the restaurant, you see a live laksha counter, a live biriyani counter, a live pizza counter, a live grill counter and a live salad counter! Phew! Quite a few live counters and I think this is the maximum number of live counters that I have seen in a lunch buffet....sorry brunch!!! Apart from the live counters, you see some 'buffet style' dishes arranged neatly on a long counter, a large bread section, a large section of cold cuts and an impressive cheese section! Near the dessert section, you see......you guessed it..... more live counters - a live omelette counter and a live ice cream counter!!!
Now to taste them all! We started with breads, cold cuts and cheese! WOW!!! The breads were decent, but the cheese choices were amazing for a brunch in Chennai. I had Edam cheese, mozarella and about 5 other varieties that I am not able to recall the names of! But I enjoyed the choices of cheese with the cold cuts, which I feel, were simply stunning. The chicken ham, the terriyaki, a very new type of ham, chicken wrapped in beetroots, a very nice salmon with tomato and olives were the ones I tried and each of them were as impressive as the other! I needed to save space for the remaining mammoth buffet so I did not try the rest, but my friends tried the others and I got similar responses!
The chef then offered to make us some omelette and we chose to have cheese and chicken in our omelette, and in the meanwhile ordered some beef, chicken and fish off the live grill counter. The pieces were small, so we ordered one of each in both Indian and Continental style. The egg arrived first and was oozing with cheese and chicken and was stunning! But all the grilled foods were just alright, except for the beef which was very good! We asked for pepperoni pizza with olives and the works and found it to be just alright again.
We then moved on to the laksha, which was very average, and then stood by the first three live counters, the dosa, pasta and Indian chat. You get a choice of red sauce or white sauce with a choice of veges and chicken for your pasta, a large choice of 'masala' for your dosa ranging from the age old potato, to corn, corn n peas, baby corn and a quite a few more. Each of us ordered a different pasta and dosa for us to get a taste of them all and all of them were quite average! We decided to completely skip the Indian chat and the Biriyani counters! We attacked the buffet spread next and also took on some salad! The garlic potatoes and the chicken ragma (what ever that was) was brilliant. It was minced chicken cooked to perfection with I have no idea what, but it was brilliant. The others were again average.
Just before we hit dessert, I had to have another take at the cheese and cold cuts and had my fill! We then moved to the dessert section and the choices are too many to name. My favorites were the chocolate mousse, a couple of small pastries and the baklava. The Baklava, though not the best in town, was quite good, while some of the pastries were well done. The live ice cream counter guy gave me an ice cream sandwich - a very nice tea cake, with the ice cream of choice and a choice of toppings - I had honey and choco chips! We finished it off with some Illy coffee which was again just average!
Overall, the spread of the buffet is amazing, so you should be able to find quite a few dishes to your liking and that itself will justify the Rs 1100 you pay per person for the buffet. While it is not justified to expect everything to taste great, I loved the cheese, bread, cold cuts, egg to order and quite a few items on the dessert menu, I was rather disappointed that the pasta and the grills were not upto the mark, something which I think is not too much to expect. Biriyani, dosa, laksha and chat were all there, but not great, the buffet menu was just ok, but overall good value for money and very good quality in most of the foods!!!
Food 8/10
Price 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Service 8/10
Paprika is located at the lobby of The Courtyard Marriot hotel, on Mount Road!
The spread I must say is impressive! It starts off with Tender Coconut in street style, complete with the 'Aruva' to cut it and served not in a glass but in the coconut itself! You see a live pasta counter, a live Indian chat counter, a live dosa counter and the dessert counter even as you enter. As you move to the end of the restaurant, you see a live laksha counter, a live biriyani counter, a live pizza counter, a live grill counter and a live salad counter! Phew! Quite a few live counters and I think this is the maximum number of live counters that I have seen in a lunch buffet....sorry brunch!!! Apart from the live counters, you see some 'buffet style' dishes arranged neatly on a long counter, a large bread section, a large section of cold cuts and an impressive cheese section! Near the dessert section, you see......you guessed it..... more live counters - a live omelette counter and a live ice cream counter!!!
The chef then offered to make us some omelette and we chose to have cheese and chicken in our omelette, and in the meanwhile ordered some beef, chicken and fish off the live grill counter. The pieces were small, so we ordered one of each in both Indian and Continental style. The egg arrived first and was oozing with cheese and chicken and was stunning! But all the grilled foods were just alright, except for the beef which was very good! We asked for pepperoni pizza with olives and the works and found it to be just alright again.
We then moved on to the laksha, which was very average, and then stood by the first three live counters, the dosa, pasta and Indian chat. You get a choice of red sauce or white sauce with a choice of veges and chicken for your pasta, a large choice of 'masala' for your dosa ranging from the age old potato, to corn, corn n peas, baby corn and a quite a few more. Each of us ordered a different pasta and dosa for us to get a taste of them all and all of them were quite average! We decided to completely skip the Indian chat and the Biriyani counters! We attacked the buffet spread next and also took on some salad! The garlic potatoes and the chicken ragma (what ever that was) was brilliant. It was minced chicken cooked to perfection with I have no idea what, but it was brilliant. The others were again average.
Just before we hit dessert, I had to have another take at the cheese and cold cuts and had my fill! We then moved to the dessert section and the choices are too many to name. My favorites were the chocolate mousse, a couple of small pastries and the baklava. The Baklava, though not the best in town, was quite good, while some of the pastries were well done. The live ice cream counter guy gave me an ice cream sandwich - a very nice tea cake, with the ice cream of choice and a choice of toppings - I had honey and choco chips! We finished it off with some Illy coffee which was again just average!
Overall, the spread of the buffet is amazing, so you should be able to find quite a few dishes to your liking and that itself will justify the Rs 1100 you pay per person for the buffet. While it is not justified to expect everything to taste great, I loved the cheese, bread, cold cuts, egg to order and quite a few items on the dessert menu, I was rather disappointed that the pasta and the grills were not upto the mark, something which I think is not too much to expect. Biriyani, dosa, laksha and chat were all there, but not great, the buffet menu was just ok, but overall good value for money and very good quality in most of the foods!!!
Food 8/10
Price 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Service 8/10
Paprika is located at the lobby of The Courtyard Marriot hotel, on Mount Road!
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