French Restaurants in Bombay

[bague25]

Are there any other French restaurants other than La Rôtisserie at the Oberoi

Zodiac Grill at the Taj? What reputation do these two and other French restaurants have? Do they still have French Chefs?

[Vikram]

Indigo is eclectic, but I think Rahul Akerkar's cooking is grounded in a classic, meaning French tradition and if he wants he can pull off French dishes very well.

No place is perfect, but I think Indigo has maintained its standards much higher and longer than any other fine dining (horrible phrase, but haute cuisine sounds too pretentious) place I know, and that includes the five star places. I have had to spend plenty there at times, but I have never regretted it.

Olive in Bandra is OK, but more Mediterranean than French. Five, a small place in Khar started by a breakaway bunch from Indigo is sweet and affordable and can occasionally be pretty good. And if you want French in the old restaurant style meaning rich and heavy and occasionally good, then Gallops at the race course can sometimes do it.

But what am I saying, forget these other places, just go to Indigo.

Vikram

[bague25]

Thanks Vikram

A journalist friend of mine asked the question. My knowledge is limited to the two restaurants I mentioned since I knew the chefs well. She's doing research for documentaries on India and was wondering if a "fusion" topic would click or it was better to stick to classical Indian topics

[Anu]

In case you are looking for other amazing French restaurants in India, in Goa there is an amazing place called Le Restaurant. I highly recommend it, its run by three Frenchmen who spend half of the year in France and half of the year in Goa.

They only serve dinner and the menu changes daily - the food is delicous and its a real fusion of the fresh produce and seafood of Goa, with French influence and Indian spices. The food is great and the ambience is even better. I went a couple of years ago so I'm not sure if its open but it was the best "French" food I've had in India - The other great place is in the Taj in Delhi called the Orient Express I believe.

[mongo_jones]

The other great place is in the Taj in Delhi called the Orient Express I believe.

i'd hesitate to call the orient express that i knew 10 years ago a great french restaurant. in general french food in delhi was always a dodgy proposition--other stalwarts in those days were la rochelle at the oberoi and pierre at le meridien. perhaps things are better now.

[Monica Bhide]

Indigo is eclectic, but I think Rahul Akerkar's cooking is grounded in a classic, meaning French tradition and if he wants he can pull off French dishes very well.

And you can read all about this in Rahul's new book out this fall Indigo

[anil]

....

Olive in Bandra is OK, but more Mediterranean than French......

I guess we would have to disagree on this one Olive is just sub-par.

[niooi]

Olive in Bandra is OK, but more Mediterranean than French.

hello everyone,

I do not know if you have meant that mediterranean food is not french or that this restaurant is not french. I am french from Nice (South East on the mediterranean sea). France might be very small compared to india that's is for sure but the food is still extremely diverse. Unfortunately, regional food and family food is desappearing little by little in front of a standarized food. I live in Paris now and I am amazed how foos is standarized from restaurant to restaurant! Just to say that Nice for instance has its own food that we called Cuisine Niçoise where you can find Estoficada, fried vegetables, Pistou (and yes pistou is from Nice and not from Genova in italy), pan bagnat, socca (corn pancake), Merda di Can (literaly 'dog shit' in local language. It is meat in a red wine sauce though nothing to do with the canine race ), etc... Also another town in the north of Provence called Romans, the city where I was born, has a unique dish called ravioles which are small vegy ravioli, without talking about the cheese, dessert and wine that are more mediteranean that the ones from Alsace or other regions.

Bye

Yvan

Edited March 22, 2004 by niooi (log)

[Episure]

Hello Yvan,

Wecome to egullet! I read your post with great interest and we would be delighted if you could tell us more about regional French and other cuisines around the mediterranean.

Do you have a favorite terrine recipe that uses Chicken and Mushrooms? And if you could post it, please.

Once again we welcome your first post. Egulleteers, where are your manners!