I'm starting off 2017 with the most luxurious meal that I've had in a while! Yes, sorry for the hiatus, but I'm back and going to be bringing some travel food stuff over the next month. Back to the royal meal.
An invite from ITC to Royal Vega was the only way I was going to go to Royal Vega. I can't afford Royal Vega and I certainly won't be spending close to about 5-6k for two for a vegetarian meal anytime soon. The opulence of the place is in your face! Cloches that weigh a ton and a tray with condiments that you will need two hands to lift with, are small samples of a decor that been chosen and set up with a great deal of eye for detail. With a separate kitchen and a separate set of utensils that are not shared with any other restaurant in the hotel, the place is truly honestly vegetarian and therefore possibly the only truly vegetarian fine dine place in Chennai.
While I am a hard core non vegetarian, I understand flavours and many a times the lack of meat doesn't alter my impression of a restaurant as long as I relate to those flavours. With Royal Vega? Read on.....
The ginger mocktail with star anise was fabulous. So fabulous that it, along with the beetroot cutlet stood out as the best dishes of the day. Unlike most thali meals around the city, everything is not served at one go. You are served the food over three courses with each course giving you two dishes and a type of roti. Now the ingredients are some of the best and they have taken extreme pains to get the best. Be it from Afghanistan or Gujarat or Spain, every ingredient like hing and saffron and even the peas are flown from the best producers.
After the first course, the rest of the meal was a nice meal, but I was unable to appreciate it. The gravies were nice and the breads were great and it was wonderful meal, but nothing stood out in terms of special flavours. These were the same flavours, but made with exotic top of the line ingredients! Royal Vega doesn't claim to create new flavours, but to give you flavour from homes in truly fine dining ambiance. That, has been done to perfection. As for me, I am still learning to differentiate good gravies from good gravies made with top notch ingredients presented in a luxurious decor with super premium cutlery! I am yet to get there!
Royal Vega is royal and truly lives up to its name! Just that I am not the person who it has been created for and I am sure a lot more people will be able to appreciate and be willing to pay for it.
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