The world on your platter

For a decadent afternoon, the lunch buffet at Oakwood Restaurant offers a sinful spread of North and South Indian, Oriental and Continental cuisine

Through the large glass doors, between elegant marble pillars, the cold buffet stands as the centrepiece of this glamorous, open, eating place. The marble floors, posh lounge and curved widows overlooking the streets radiate opulence.

Oakwood's lunch buffet is such as grand a sinful spread of North and South Indian, Oriental and Continental cuisine.

Executive chef Suresh Babu has been heading the kitchen staff here since its opening about 10 months ago.

Babu has worked in restaurants in England and Scotland before, where he developed a flair for French and Italian cuisine.u00a0 The buffet, served from 12.30pm to 3pm, offers an assortment of light soups and salads, several richer dishes from the hot buffet and a variety of decadent desserts, all of which vary from day to day.u00a0
The buffet meal is served with bread and rice or naan on request.

Yummy start

The soup of the day during our visit was a potato leek soup, a lightly spiced, creamy broth.u00a0

From there, we sampled some of the light salads, including a Mediterranean pasta with a sweet, light cream sauce, mixed with zucchini and broccoli. At the other end of the spectrum was a heavier Thai chicken salad with an assortment of veggies, adding a crunchy texture to the spicy kick of the chicken. Another creative salad was the simple yet tasty pineapple and tomato salad. The pineapple and the tomato may seem to be conflicting tastes, but they complemented each other surprisingly well.

Meat of the matter

It was then time for the main course the hot buffet.u00a0The paneer kalonji was thick and lightly spiced, and combined well with the naan. The mutton vindaloo was one of my favourite dishes at the Oakwood, with tender chunks of lamb served in a gravy of blended spices that had a kick to it though not an overwhelming one.

Another highlight of the hot buffet was the sesame crusted red snapper tender, flakey, and baked to perfection, served with mashed potatoes.u00a0 Other options at the hot buffet included Chinese egg noodles, dal meloni, seasoned Cantonese vegetables and diced chicken served in sambal sauce.

Ending in style

The buffet lunch also offered an array of deserts, ranging from a light fruit salad to a rich chocolate soufflu00e9. The caramel custard was also a good way to end the meal, with its sweet flavour and silky texture to match. We also had the option of gorging on fried banana pancakes, litchi bavarois and semiya payasam.u00a0

On weekdays, the buffet is available for Rs 650 plus tax and Rs 750 plus tax on weekends. Also available is the set menu, ranging from Rs 190 to Rs 600.

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