We were there last week and this is all about our experience at NYC, New York Cafe at Radisson Blu Plaza. Last Thursday, my husband returned to India for a week and of course I was a happy wife. On the very first day, I took him out for a lavish luncheon treat at NYC. I was invited for the food tasting and review of the restaurant and it was a privilege to take him along too. It had been long that we had gone for an afternoon date and there it happened. Thanks to Radisson Blu!
I love this place and I have memories from here. My first job with Nokia Siemens Network in 2007 had sent me for a one day training/certification and I had flown from Lucknow to be here. In fact, officially that was my first tryst with this international chain that is named after the 17th-century French explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson. After that I have been to this place many a times for different events but never for a review. Thus it felt different last week.
This was most centrally located and the minute we walked in hand in hand after giving our car for valet parking, I was on my job of clicking pictures. Oh yes, the blogger in me is never at rest and I have an eye for everything that is colorful, pleasing and interesting. It was sharp 1:30 in the afternoon and I was right there at the promised time.
We walked towards our right in the lobby towards the lounge and bar area. NYC is located right opposite to it, just a few steps from the reception area. Its easy to spot the catchy logo of NYC in red. I was met by the Director PR and Marketing Communications along with the PR person. We exchanged greetings and soon I was comfortably placed on my promised table. Next, I was introduced to the manager on job and from there began my foodie journey for the day.
He walked me around the restaurant and filled me with the relevant information. I learnt that the restaurant has a theme based cuisine every day along with Indian and Oriental cuisine as a daily fix. They have 15 themes and they keep rotating it. Food was placed all around me. The Dessert and fruits counter is placed right in front and the beautiful tarts and muffins looked super attractive. Then as we went around the food setting, we came across salads, oriental cuisine, breads and soup, and the main course -Indian and Theme of the day. Right at the end there was a live station which was meant to take orders for the starters.
Of course, by this time I knew it was a lavish spread and even if I ate one spoon of everything, I could not manage to savor everything. In the first round, I was already tempted to some of the things that looked deliciously awesome. I was happy to discover that the theme for the day was Mexican and interestingly, I have taste for it.
While I was still thinking whether to go around clicking pictures first or eating, one of the staff member came forward and politely asked me for my orders. My husband had taken a full round and was happily placed that the buffet had lots of vegetarian dishes. He was already sorted, gave orders for Amritsari Paneer and walked to the salads section. I chose to walk to the live station first and take some pictures before starting my meals.
Here are some of the clicks before I went ahead with food-tasting
At the Live station, there were more options like Charra Aloo and Prawn Guacamole Tart but I ordered for Chicken Fajita Wrap and Tawa Machi and on the way filled my plate with the salads and greens. By this time, my husband was already doing good and I could see a couple of interesting things on our table already. The Amritsari Paneer looked delectable and the cheese-lings looked absolutely inviting. I tasted one of each and I must say they rightly set my mood for the rest of the food.
While I was having the salads, my plate of starters was delivered on my table and it looked something like this. (Picture below) Don’t tell me you aren’t tempted. The tomato salsa, green chutney, some onions together with the chicken fajita wrap and the tawa fish pleased both my eyes and taste buds. The Tawa Machi was soft and juicy and tasted great. The fajita wrap was plain okay.
After having a fair amount of the starters, I went on to serve myself soup and some portions from the oriental cuisine. The noodles, friend rice and the fish looked great. I placed a spoonful of each because there was lots to eat yet. As always I was doing the non-vegetarian part and my husband was giving me his feedback for the veg part. Anyways I always had the advantage of eating both. This time, I brought back some more salads and some pak choi, noodles and fish. Everything about these was good. The soup was interesting. The dumplings had that black pepper inside it which gave it a nice flavor. It was evident that the chef loved the use of Indian spices and he used them in their solid form more than powder. I relished the taste.
After this, my husband went for a share of Mexican dishes and I went and brought back some Biryani from the Indian and some chicken from the Mexican section. I must tell you that Biryani was very tasty. It was cooked to perfection. The taste of the onions and the rice and the meat was standing out differently. The chicken curry was nice but not one of the best that I have eaten.
What I loved about the Mexican theme was that the food was good and of course we got to eat beyond the tacos and rice. The peri peri chicken was attractive and appetizing. The baked eggplant looked great but I did not relish it actually. The fish with olives was good. In fact I would say the Indian cuisine deserves applaud not just for the biryani but for the Daal, the mixture of veggies, palak paneer and more. The use of Indian spices made the dishes delicious.
Some of the food that looked super tempting at the food station and couldn’t resist the urge of removing the lids and clicking the pictures. One of the chefs walked to me and also asked, hope the food looks good madam and it tastes good too. I told him, all this while its been great. This lavish spread has much to satisfy people of all ages and of all kinds of taste buds.
There were an array of options in the dessert section. I do not have a sweet tooth and I can never do justice to such lavish spreads. I am glad my husband had an opinion for most of the things and he helped me pick a few which were the best among them. The manager had told me that they served a combination of different desserts for the different days in the week but Kalakand was a constant everyday. And this gave me an idea that there must be something special about it. As guessed, it was made to perfection. It had just the right amount of sweet, the way I like it.
The malpua looked beautiful but to maintain its circular shape, it was thick and tasted ordinary. The cinnamon muffin with the apple was meant for the people who were told to eat only sugar-free. The vanilla baked Yoghurt was my favorite.
Overall, it was a great afternoon with a variety of good food. This buffet is a must-do in Delhi. A thumps up from my side. Whenever you are here, go after a very light breakfast. This place will give you loads to hog on. A few dishes were plain normal but quite much of it was made to entice your taste buds. And of course everyone has his or her own liking so I am sure you gonna find your digs here. I would rate it 8/10.
Do drop in and tell me how was your experience. And for now, you can just tell me which is the most tempting picture from the above.
