Rating:

The California Boulevard

The California Boulevard, like all other uber eating joints looked cheerfully inviting. For some reason I these days suspect this cheeriness as a comouflage for what the food – the key passion – may not achieve. I had bet my Friday lunch to prove the hypothesis – wrong…
And wrong it did prove.

Ambiance at The California Boulevard

Instead of telling you nice things about the place… I will dive straight into the culinary experience that, that Friday afternoon was. The meal started with the customary glass of lemon soda. I think this summer… nothing else but a chilled and icy lemon drink with plenty full mint does the trick… so there it was the amply minty glass of soda.

Dilli ki chaat

The next sight was a lo and behold… The traditional sampler of Indian ‘Dilli ki chaat’ with a healthy twist. No it wasn’t your dahi papdi/ bhalla or anything that will bury your appetite in that stomach.A single crispy spinach leaf laced with dahi and chutney ( meethi and teekhi) didn’t sink… but ‘the crunchy meets it mettle in a tangy mix’ brought my appetite alive.

Sushi Paneer and Tangy butter mushrooms

This was followed by innovation by the Chef- honestly I would not give it a Michelin. .. 1. Because I’m not that accomplished a culinary crusader… and 2. Because that is reserved for gods…. what I will tell you is… These were honest efforts at teasing the appetite… and that worked well in my case.The veg sushi… A very delicately rolled spinaah mix combed inside a delicate almost quivering roll of paneer. Left me wondering wow…
What followed left me wondering about the chefs ingenuity…. mushrooms and Singhadey ki Gilaouti… I’ve never been a fan of water chestnuts, but this one turned me in.

Peri Peri Crispy Chicken and Kaffir Lime Chicken Tikka

Then came the non veg starters…Peri Peri Crispy Chicken sticks, carrefour lemon tandoori chicken and thai chicken…. I took time to evaluate one over the other… The thai spicy chicken was bursting with flavours with lemon grass being the pre dominant one…The carrefour lemon chicken tandoori surprised me with the new flavour that my tandoori had never had… and the peri peri… A subtle flavour. Though my first portion of peri peri almost rolled off the plate since it was too crispy to cut with the knife… which was feedback well taken… and my second serving… (yes! It was too delicately flavoured inside) came perfectly succulent on the outside too! But yes, the chicken presented a tough choice… until I finally decided that this world menu catered to different palates. The thai for anyone wanting a loud burst of flavours… and the peri peri for subtle taste lovers and the tandoori for the regular non experimenting punjabis.

TCB Greek Mousakka

The chicken dilemma was cut short by fish. I must say that The California Boulevard takes its food and fish in specific very seriously. The beer batter fried fish… melted in my mouth pleading for more bytes… at this point I was indulging and not reviewing. There was more on offer… and more yet to taste. The fish turned out to be the ultimate seduction and The California Boulevard. It teased my palate leaving it yearning for more…. and more there was. I had a whole portion of the batter steamed fish that Kanchan our host got us the next. Wolfing down was an understatement. I felt the fish serenading my senses with delicacy that nothing previously matched.

California Veggie Pizza

My wife ordered a regular pizza and spring rolls to go with her regular eating out habits. And there it was, from right under my nose… A bouquet of fresh vegetables laced with the smell of cheese… warm and molten… pizzas like they rightly say are a thing of heaven. The spring lookes lesser than pizza… but commanded attention at the first bite. Unmistakingly spinachy… and minus the oily stuff most restaurants serve.

Chicken Pot Pie

The next on the table was the Chicken Pot Pie topped with crispy bread. It came served in a very European looking earthenware stuffed with diced chicken, celeray, mushrooms, leeks, white wine and creame topped with garlic bread that forced the flavours to stay inside and surprise you with yet another mad rush when uncovered. Yes… The Chicken Pot Pie was a simple dish that let flavours do the talking. Crispy Bell pepper and whole smooth button mushrooms serenading succulent chicken pieces with a lot of affection. The dish on the whole told you that it was a meal that had to be enjoyed one spoon at a time…But yes… that was also when the appetite was screeching to a hault… and yet knowing that the dessert safari had yet to begin. So I implored myself to exercise restrain… and rest before heading to the dessert course.

Trio of Creme Brulee, TCB kulfi Gazzak and multilayered Chocolate Nutella Torte

Kanchan our gracious host did a pre selection for us… but I had other things on my mind… so here I was sampling Trio of Creme Brulee, TCB kulfi Gazzak and multilayered Chocolate Nutella Torte. By this time we were already more than full but someone has rightly said, there is a separate space in tummy for desserts so there we were satiating our taste buds with something high caloric but irresistible, desserts which were just toothsome. The cake was so chocolatey that we couldn’t stop eating. As we both love choco flavours. Gazzak kulfi was really a pleasurable innovation with appropriate sugar and crispiness.

Ambience at The California Boulevard

Ambience was really good. At the time we enteres were tables occupied with many ladies groups. Separate bar counter was there in the shape of a train engine. There was also a Seperate lounge in open which was nicely done.