A Wonderful Evening Meet At Glorious Gaylord.

When I got an invite mail from Sameer (FBAI) for a cute meet up and a bloggers meet, a huge smile came on my face seeing it was at GAYLORD RESTAURANT. Being a student of Jai Hind College, which is just a lane away from this pretty restaurant, memories were re-visited because Gaylord has been a major chill out adda for me. I have lived on their amazing pastries during my Jai Hind

Gaylord Restaurant is one of the oldest restaurant in the city, started around in the year 1956 in Mumbai, serving exquisite North Indian, Mughlai and Continental cuisine with a priceless reputation. No matter how many new restaurants crop up in various parts of the city, Gaylord will be one of those restaurants which one would love to come over and over again.

When I visited Gaylord (now 23 years old) was the same feeling of me visiting Gaylord when I was 18,19,20 years old. Though I've been to Gaylord many times during college, Not much has really changed from then till now. Same garden cafeteria with wooden trellis, old world vintage iron chairs, same old corner coffee tables and pretty chandeliers, same menu, same taste in food, which makes one to come here and have the same amazing feeling of dining here over and over again.

We also had the opportunity to meet Mr. Noel D'souza who has been heading the operations of Gaylord Restaurant and Bakery for last 26 years telling us about the history of the restaurant and successfully setting up restaurant franchaise in Surat, Baroda and Goa.

The flavor of Indian and Continental cuisine at the Gaylord Restaurant is a melting pot of various ethnic cuisines. A culinary pit-stop in the heart of South Mumbai, one can indulge in the delicately prepared North Indian, Mughali created for the Maharajas and Nawabs. From succulent Kebabs to aromatic Curries, Lamb Stroganoff, and Chicken a La Keiv, one can pamper themselves in the best Indian and European gourmet traditions.

There was already a menu reading for us ranging from French Onion Soup to Aloo Bharwari to Prawn Cocktail Salad and Paneer tikka masala and very awesome and my personal favourite, Caramel Custard.

The menu

I had called for a glass of Minty Mocktail while we were listening to Mr. Noel and chatting with the foodie friends and also waiting for the yummy appetizers.

Minty Mocktail

My favourites were Bharwari Aloo, that is tiny potatoes and Fish Tikka.
The Lahori Fish Tikka was a perfect flavour filled fish with spices and masalas.T
Chicken Kebabs tasted like the normal chicken cutlets we Parsis eat, but nevertheless, was juicy and flavourful.
Kesari Paneer was fairly average as the taste of kesar was quite strong.

Aloo Bhanwari

Chicken Kebabs

Kesari Paneer

Lahori Fish Tikka

I am not a salad person but no harm in trying something new! The Prawn Cocktail Salad was served to us. When I first saw it, I saw more of cream and half cut boiled eggs. It was pretty decent. Just felt the taste of the cream overpowered the tiny prawns inside the salad.

Prawn Cocktail

Next in line was the French Onion Soup. It was more of a comfort, cold night meal than anything. Really enjoyed the egg yolk in it though.

French Onion Soup

We took a tour of the bakery before we could proceed with the main course. My visit here wasn't for the first time.Comingto Gaylord bakery is a must if you are there as it is a host of exotic cakes and breads, desserts, chocolates, pastries, muffins, fresh cream confections, now macrons too and custom made cakes for various occasions. The bakery totally enchants the visitors with the rich aromas of coffee, breads and cakes wafting in the air. We also had a chance to meet Mr. A.N..Malhotra, 87 years old CEO and former partner of Gaylord. Such a sweet man. ^.^

*lovestruck*

Now coming to the mains. Though I was almost full since I also had a heavy lunch that day, I still managed to eat some of the dishes. It was a mix of European and Mughlai dishes.

The Pomfret Meuniere was batter fish with lemon butter sauce. Though it was decent and upto the mark, I personally feel the tartar sauce along with it would have done more justice to the dish. I also liked the fried golden colour in the dish.
The Roast Chicken Bacon was a traditional European meal. Chicken was well cooked and soft but bacon was hard to chew.

Pomfret Meuniere

Roast Chicken Bacon

I am not a very big fan of Mughlai food but I thought it would be unjust on my part to not try out the same. The Kheema Nalli Ghos was a mixture of mutton and kheemo. I am not a very big mutton fan as such and cannot eat both kheemo and minced mutton together, but it is a delight for mutton lovers.

The Murgh Makhani was nothing but butter chicken. Creamy gravy on a sweet side and tasted exactly similar to my brother's hand made butter chicken which I had 2 days before this event.

I skipped the Lasooni Palak as I only had place for desserts.

Kheema Nalli Ghosht

Murgh Makhni. More like my brother's butter chicken

Though my stomach could have blasted that night any moment, I still managed to eat the desserts and went for the Raspberry Crunch Mousse. What I really liked about it is the biscuit base as I always love in most of desserts like cheesecakes with raspberry taste coupled with the chocolate
. Liked it, but not as much as the Caramel Custard. The Chocolate Mousse was also amazingly chocolaty. Enjoyed it a lot but the best was kept for the last.

Raspberry Crunch Mousse

Chocolate Mousse

This best for last was their caramel custard! It is very difficult to find a good place for an amazing Caramel Custard. Though I felt my hunt for a perfect one ended at Cafe Mililtary, I was surprised to see and taste the one at Gaylord. Typical Parsi Caramel Custard, Perfectly wobbly and was melt in mouth. And so I can now say that apart from Cafe Military serving a small Caramel Custard, my new spot for Caramel Custard craving is surely at Gaylord.

Yummy caramel custard.

Whatteh happy evening it was with fun, friends, food and even a better hospitality.
 I'd personally like to thank Mr, Malhotra, Mr. D'souza, Criesse Communications and staff of Gaylord and ofcourse FBAI for this event.

Group picture

Gaylord, with its legendary cuisine and impeccable service, is a rare priceless combination, which has firmly established itself as a favourite through generations. I am surely making a come back on an auspicious occasion and gorging on all the amazing meals and staying in the bakery and reminiscing my Jai Hind days all over again. Also next on the list to eat shall be the Chicken a La Kiev.

Picture Courtesy: Criesse Communications. Thank You very much. :)

*dreams of chocolate truffle pastry*