The Grill Room, The Lalit, Barakhamba Avenue, Delhi: The Grill Expert

One gets prejudiced by the name or impression that is formed by listening to people who recommend dining out at various eateries. Not that I heard anything negative about The Lalit, Delhi but there hasn’t been much buzz either. I missed many invites by the hotel in the past though I kept going there for various meetings or conferences without giving much thought to eating at any of their specialty restaurants. Perhaps, amongst all the fancy new places opening up in Delhi-NCR, Lalit as a name never caught my attention. But my recent stay experience at The Lalit, Goa changed my perception and I went to try The Grill Room The Lalit, Delhi.

The Delhi summer afternoon can be really hot and we felt the heat on the top floor (28^th Floor) of The Lalit where The Grill Room is located. Serving European cuisine, this 60-seater restaurant offers a lovely panoramic view of the Delhi skyline. I am told that they dim the light in the evening which, I am sure, offers a private and romantic dining experience for the patrons. Given my experience that you will read now, I am surely going to return back one evening soon.

Starting with the amouse bouche of Californian grape with goat cheese that got our taste buds tickling, the Grilled Garlic Prawns with garlic butter and saffron butter sauce on the side shows the expertise of The Grill Room as the prawns are perfectly grilled. The good sized prawns are firm and neither undercooked nor burnt showing the expertise of Chef Bobby C. Jacob. The Cheese Empanada was flaky and crispy with mesclun (young green leaf salad) and chimichurri dressing on the side.

One can completely enjoy the food when there is service to match. After a long time, I found someone who could skilfully keep you engaged, can suggest competent wines (even though he is not the wine sommelier) and was being observant about the guest’s requirement. I am talking about Aman, the restaurant manager at The Grill Room, who served us. The smiling face and a desire to serve is what came out clearly from his body language and in spite of the temperature levels in the afternoon, we were much at ease and looked forward to our meal. He suggested some wines after checking for our wine preference (as seen in the pictures) which certainly enhanced our dining experience. When we organise The Big F Awards in Delhi, Aman will surely be a contender in the category of Best Restaurant Manager.

For the mains, we order Norwegian Salmon and New Zealand Lamb Chops. The herb crusted char grilled salmon is served with dill butter emulsion. The flakiness and freshness of the fish is a treat. One just cannot go wrong with this order. The lamb chops served with mint jus are equally good and cooked medium rare like I would have asked. However, it will be further appreciated if they check in advance how well cooked the guest would like the lamb chops to be.

The desserts are the Symphony of Trio – Baked ricotta cheese cake, mango indulgence and the chocolate of which, my favourite is the cheese cake.

The Grill Room is a great place to try some excellent grilled European fare. They also do a pasta wheel, an innovative concept, where hot pasta is poured over a wheel of cheese and the required cheese melts and merges with pasta instead of the other way around. Definitely trying it on my next trip.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Food: 4.5 | Ambience: 4.0 | Service: 5.0 | Overall: 4.5

Meal for Two: Rs3000 ++ | Wheel Chair Friendly: Yes | Credit Card: Yes | Alcohol: Yes | Timings: Lunch – 1pm – 3.30pm, Dinner – 7pm-Midnight.

Address: The Grill Room, The LaLiT, Barakhamba Avenue, Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110 001| Phone: 011-4444 7777

Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. Due judgement and care has been applied by the author to remain objective and unbiased in the review, but readers need to consider this review keeping this fact in mind.