All that platters is not gold!. Review on On the Platter, Juhu, Mumbai

I was thinking of trying this new restaurant ''On the Platter'' for a long time. Finally I and one of my friend John decided to try it today. Owned by Mahesh Shetty, this restaurant is situated on the road leading to Mithibai College(when you go from JVPD Bus Depot). The very first thing that strikes you is the door. It's really beautiful. As we entered the restaurant, I was rather pleased to see the interior.

A very well built restaurant, the interior designer has really utilized this small place very nicely, complete with glass paintings and decorative tables. As we made ourselves comfortable, the first thing that struck me...or rather struck my leg, was the leg of the table. The leg of the table was a bit too bulky. So, after asking the waiter to pull the table so as I could accommodate my legs in line with the rest of my body, we finally settled.

Soon the waiter brought the menu card. I was rather disappointed at the Bar-menu. Being very particular about drinks, it hurt me to see that the bar menu was just a printed paper in a transparent plastic cover - the way they have in streetside cafes. I ran my eye through the chit. No particulars there too! All I could see was categories of whisky, like Premium whisky, Regular whisky etc. So again I had to summon the powers of my waiter to ask him what whiskies they had. Luckily they had my favourite Blender's Pride. I asked him what wine they had! (As the menu just told me that a glass of wine cost me so-and-so. No names!) He said they just serve port wine. No white wine! Finally my friend settled down with a soup.

Having given that order, I went through the main menu. The very first thing that struck me were the numerous patches under the price column. Most of the prices had changed(upwards of course), and it was denoted on the menu by blue ball pen. Some dishes had strips of paper with the new price, pasted on the original printed price. Some dishes they had not even bothered to paste the strips. The new price was just written after scribbling the original price. I must say I was not at all impressed.

The second feature of the menu was the formatting. To begin with, under starters, there was Lassi. Lassi? A Starter? God help me! Under the Tandoor items, Tandoori Chicken led the list. But without any warning, the list entered the main course like Murg Makhanwala, Murg Methi etc. I really had to stress my mind to locate what exactly I wanted. Finally, exasperated, I again summoned the invisible phantom. I told him that the menu was not at all helpful. ''Tell me what you want!'', he said rather rudely. I lost my cool. I asked him rather curtly why the hell he had given me the menu card then. Finally he rattled out some common dishes. I ordered the only word I could decipher from his mumble- Chicken Tikka. My whisky arrived. I was rather disappointed at the glass in which he brought the king of liquor. I do not expect them to give it in crystal glass(which, btw, is the right glass), but I at least expected it to be a decent glass. I have always believed that one should know how to treat the bar items. Anyway, we settled down! The seafood combination soup was okayish. I must say that the Chicken Tikka was really delicious. Very tender pieces with just the right amount of tandoor and the masala. Do check this out if you ever land up on the platter. Next we ordered Chicken Schezwan Fingers. I could not help noticing that they had changed my waiter. The Chicken fingers was nothing special. Just the normal...nothing to rave about. We finally ordered the main course. The waiter suggested us Murg Baltiwala and roti. We decided to rely on him. We realized we had made a mistake the moment we had the first bite. It had too much ginger. I somehow ate whatever I could, thanking God for making water, which helped me to push the food from my gullet. The waiter came and asked me how was the dish. I made no qualms about letting him know my true thoughts about the dish. He just listened to my displeasure with a calm look, and disappeared, leaving me with my ginger! Finally, skipping the idea of trying out a rice dish, we just asked him to get us some caramel custard. (Damn it, we had to get rid of the ginger taste!)

Thankfully, the caramel custard was okay. We paid the bill, and left.

Ordered items and the price:

(For everyone to get the idea)

1 Blender's Pride(60 ml)= 130.00

1 Blender's Pride(30 ml)= 75.00

1 Chicken Tikka= 150.00

1 Chicken Baltiwala= 150.00

4 Rotis= 60.00

1 Chicken Sch. Fingers= 150.00

1 Seafood comb. Soup= 65.00

1 Cold Drink= 30.00

1 Caramel Custard= 50.00

1 Vanilla Ice cream= 50.00

Grand Total= 910.00

So all in all, my first experience was nothing to write home about. Maybe I ordered the wrong dishes. Maybe my stars were not rightly placed. Maybe the cook had a fight with his wife. Whatever it was, it was definitely a bad experience. A Plattering experience!