Karavalli Celebrations @ Taj Club House, Mount Road, Chennai

I have been to couple of buffet in the recent times, all in star hotels and returned home disappointed, as they were very average. The high price one would pay just does not do any justice to the meal being wiped up. Most star hotels seem to have hopped onto the bandwagon of showcasing the number dishes and lost the key ingredient, that of quality. But this buffet  I had at the Taj Club House which showcased the items of the famous restaurant Karavalli at Bangalore as a part of Karavalli celebrations was totally the opposite. I can say that I throughly enjoyed my experience.

Food:
The meal kicked off with Crab Milagu Fry, served along with the shell. Thankfully we had the shell cracker at our disposal. My Oh My!! It was just fantastic. I can't seem to the remember the last time I enjoyed crab to such an extent. I ditched the fork and spoon and ventured in with my bare hands which just made the experience even better.

Then there was a fried fish, served as a part of the starter which was decent. Then I went around sampling the items of the buffet. As the Club House restaurant's basic concept is an English  Bistro with an Asian twist, the buffet had the usual suspects, such as the breads and assorted cheese and some terrific salads. I skipped on the soup and went straight ahead to the mains.

Firstly I loved the Kori Gassi which is an Mangalorean speciality chicken cooked in coconut gravy. It made a stunner combination with the Neer Dosa, Idiyappam and the Kerala Parotta. Yes, yes they just kept going into my belly.

Next up was the Meen Mapas, an Kerala speciality dish cooked in coconut milk was absolutely brilliant. Fish was tender and went well with another Kerala fav the Red Rice. I  thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Then there was the Kadala Curry, another stunner and worked well with the Idiyappam.

There were some not so great dishes as well like the Mutton Sukka which was cooked in Tomato Masala. The chunky mutton pieces were a tad hard, but the mutton pieces had Kheema served along with them, which was brilliant. Another disappointment was the Coorg Fried Chicken, that too was a little hard. Apart from these two dishes, the entire spread was a stunner.

Finally for desserts, we were served some Goan speciality dishes such as Dodol, Bebinca and Coconut Ice cream. Yes they are the same dishes which I had had at Hyatt. But these were definitely a notch better than them. Apart these the buffet had some stunning desserts. I did not stray too far as I was stuffed.

Ambiance:
A contemporary twist to the usual taj flavour.

Price:
The buffet is priced at Rs 1799/- per head.

This was by far the best buffet I have had in a long while. Reason - quality had taken focus, or it could be because the flavours were close to home cooked food.
Karavalli Celebrations at Taj Club House are on till the 27th of September.  It is available as a part of buffet and also as al carte menu.

Disclaimer : Invited review

Taj Club House is located on Club House Road which is diagonally opposite to Spencer's Plaza.

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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.