30/07/2013

601, The Park, Nungumbakkam - The Buffet


A small budget get-together becomes a full blown buffet. I wonder how this happens time and time again. Do we lack the organization skills or have we become mad when it comes to food. Never have we, a gang of 4 undergrad batch-mates, ended up eating at the place we had planned. One such dinner get together happened recently. After careful and meticulous planning for weeks, we decided on a place which would be light on the wallet, but just as we started to drive towards our destination, the plan went hay-wire and we ended up having the dinner buffet at 601, The Park.

Food:
It has been a while since I had dined at the 601. The last time I dined here was well over 3years. Coming to food, I wanted to see if the food had improved or not. There had been many rave reviews associated with the Sunday Brunch, so I hoped that the Saturday dinner was just as good. Snap Deal coupons which made the price of the buffet drop from Rs 1700 to Rs 1200/- was the icing on the cake.




The soups, the pastas and the pizza were served on the table. We went with the Lamb Shorba, which was thick, with small but pieces of lamb. It was pretty decent. We drank a half bowl as we did not want to fill our stomachs with it. For the pastas we were given an option between Cream based and Tomato based versions and also the veg and non-veg options. Since we were through breed of non-veggies, we chose the later and both the variants. One on Penne and the other on Spaghetti. Both the pastas lacked flavor. The sauce and the pastas did not gel together. Between the two, the tomato pasta faired better, since it was a bit tangy. Coming to the Pizzas, we were given the choice between veg and Chicken only. So we chose the chicken bravely. They were New York Style pizzas, cooked in traditional wood fired oven. I would rate the pizza to be decent, and this cannot be compared to standalone pizza joints. I am pretty sure we had atleast four pizzas by the end of the meal.


After a few courses of the pizza, we went over to see what else was part of the buffet. There was  a lovely selection of cheeses and couple of varieties of breads. Me being a cheese lover tried them all on the different breads. My fav among the starters was the smoked salmon salad. The buffet also had a live Aapam counter with variety of toppings, which can be best described as decent.


The main course had the usual dishes which are part of many buffets in town. There was a biryani, which can be avoided. There was also Chettinadu Meen Kolambu, which was nothing to rave about. Coming to better parts of the main course, the Crispy Fried Beef and Hunan Chicken were fabulous. With the selection of roti which was served at the table, it was top notch.

After a small breather, we had the desserts. The word HUGE, best describes the dessert spread. It had the Indian Gulab Jamun, Jelabi and what not, and the chocolate cakes and mousses and the cheesecakes. Dessert spread fit for the royalty. I was really too full to try-out all of them. The few which I had were great.

Ambiance:
A typical 5 star ambiance, and crowded to the brim on a saturday night.

Service:
When you dine at a 5 star joint you do expect the service to be perfect, but I would not say that to be the case here. There were a few lapses here and there.

Price:
Priced at Rs 1700/- for the dinner buffet with many pit falls in the food and service, it would be hard to recommend, but then again it was crowded dinner service, which means I could be wrong.

Food - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Price - 6/10

601 is located inside The Park Hotel, on the Nungumbakkam high road.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places

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