Review: Baluch, The Lalit, Mumbai

★★★ RATED

Reputation is a worrisome partner for any establishment. The pressure of having to live up to it hangs over it like the proverbial damascus sword. However, Baluchi, the Indian restaurant at The Lalit seems to be quite unmindful of this! Not because they don't have one, possibly because they won't loose one! That actually sums up our dinner experience here last Friday.

In celebration of Baisakhi, the restaurant had curated a solely theme based fare thereby relinquishing their most touted dishes. So, it was only the festival special menu that was on offer. We found that their vegetarian menu and preparation matched our expectations far more than the non vegetarian ones. It was likewise with the drinks menu, the traditional shikanjvi named Banta ka Thanda, scoring over the vodka based Paani Puri. In fact, barring the Harbour Bar at the the Taj, I doubt if anyone else has perfected this drink! Distasteful does not even sum up my experience! The paani puri was far too oily and did not blend in with the Absolut vodka that I had requested for(rejecting their Smirnoff that was on offer). The manager's conciliatory words post dinner did little to undo the damage as he kept repeating that Smirnoff would be the better choice, yes, that is hard to swallow though! Both literally and metaphorically!!

Now for the food, the starter Bhatti da Kakkad, lived upto the expectations. The portion was adequate for two, well cooked, flavourful and appealing to the sight. The same cannot be said of the Mutton Da Rarrah, which tasted alright and to be fair the Mutton was well cooked. However, with an establishment such as the Baluchi, one would expect better quality, innovation and much better plating. But that was not to be. The naans and the makki do roti were average too, one could get to eat these at half the price in a second tier restaurant and be more satisfied perhaps.

Even the service left a lot to be desired. We had to frequently gesture to the waiter for his attention, remind him to clear the plates and glasses... and actually not peek over our shoulder while giving feedback on the iPad that was brought to us. It was funny that the device was covered with a plastic sheet that was keen to peel off and tested our typing speed and skill! What he was good at was taking our pictures though. Honestly, more professionalism and well trained, unobtrusive service is what one would expect from an establishment like The Lalit. That is the problem with reputation. If one does not strive to retain the perfection or near perfection that one has managed to attain, it can fall apart like a pack of cards in no time and over one dinner.

The ambience is good, with some attention paid to retain the flavour of Punjab as was the live music, until they chose send them away at 10.45 and preferred playing a fusion bhangra on the loop! The staff at the foyer were largely disinterested, as was the lobby, rather cheerless.

Overall, not too impressed would think twice before visiting again...

A G K