Hakkasan, Mumbai: Food that makes your heart melt with joy!

Being in Mumbai for a long time and not dining at Hakkasan is not an option. The word of mouth of this Michelin star award-winning restaurant from London is enough to get everyone to this Cantonese restaurant, and the celeb spotting just adds to the incentive. Situated in Bandra on the famous Waterfield main road, Hakkasan is not at all hard to find. It opened doors to public in Mumbai in June 2011, and has been people’s favourite ever since. The restaurant had been on my wish list for a long long time, and I finally went for lunch here on a weekday afternoon.

A contemporary restaurant that is dominated by the colour blue, the ambience is too too impressive A huge shiny bar, latticing here and there, blue glass, an open kitchen, a combination of different types of seating, the restaurant is beautiful and plush. They can accommodate 120 covers at a time, which includes a private dining area as well. 

 

The place is not expensive. It falls in the medium bracket of eating out in Mumbai. We went for the set menu option which was 1200/- ++ per head and came to about 1700 with a soft drink (the soft drink isn't a part of the set menu). This is not at all a bad deal. In fact, it is superb value for money I would say, and you’ll know why I say that when you read the details below.

You get a choice of soup, 2 starters, 1 main course, 1 rice/noodles and 1 dessert in the set menu. The soups have a choice of two- Hot and Sour and Sweet Corn (both veg/non veg options to choose from). I tried a lot of stuff because we all ordered different dishes from the set menu and shared the food. Both the soups were great! The Hot and Sour was a little more sour than the usual places, but amazing nonetheless. Egg droppings, tofu, chicken- such good stuff. The Sweet Corn was subtler in taste but was really flavourful.

Appetizers (or small eats as they say) had a lot of choices, ranging from steamed dumplings to pan fried dumplings to duck rolls as well. I tried two dumplings- the Hargao and Prawns and Chive Dumplings, and the Crispy Duck Roll. The Hargau was nice and juicy, the Prawn and Chives was more distinctive in taste because of the flavour of chives, and both the dumplings tasted really fresh and chunky with the prawns. Each serving of dumplings had 4 pieces. The Crispy Duck Rolls were a real beauty. A very thin coating on the duck, golden and absolutely crisp! You could feel the crunch in every bite. Salty with a very generous filling, the Duck Rolls are a must order here!

For main course I went with Stir-fry Indian Salmon (with peppercorns, spring onions and basil). The fish was cooked beautifully! Soft and melting in the mouth, the gravy was nice and thick with a slight sweet tinge to it. The peppercorns really uplifted the flavour and give the dish more element. Slightly crisp, and tossed in spring onions which are my absolute favourite, the salmon was a recommendation by my hostess and a brilliant one at that! Opted for Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice with the Salmon and the rice were every bit mouth-watering! Flawless! You could have them without any gravy too. I also tried the Stir-fry Chicken and Black Bean and the chicken was really tender, with a great balance of slight spiciness and saltiness and the flavour of black bean that you can never go wrong with.

Dessert was an obvious choice for me. Give me anything chocolate after this gorgeous gorgeous meal and you have the happiest kid on earth. Dark Chocolate Mousse with Mandarin Sorbet. The mousse melted in the mouth and I only have praises for it. What a rich decadent mousse. The mandarin sorbet was the perfect palate cleanser. Delicious! You get the best of both worlds in this dessert.

What makes this set menu extremely appealing is the value for money. The variety, the food quality, the taste, the number of courses- excellent! Blown away by the food and by the fact that how every single dish did complete justice to the brand Hakkasan. No fuss for nothing, Hakkasan really does dish out the best of the best. The service is impeccable. Everything from the professionalism to the help while deciding our order, knowledge of the menu, promptness of the staff, serving time, the cutlery, the comfortable seating- it's all taken into account very carefully by the restaurant and you can see that from the time you enter till the time you exit. DO NOT miss out on trying Hakkasan when in Mumbai!

 

Contact: +91 22 2644 4444/2644 4445

Address: 206 Krystal, Waterfield Road, Bandra, Mumbai-400050

Timings:

Lunch: 12PM to 4PM

Dinner: 7PM to 12 30AM

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