I am always intrigued as are we all in the culinary world, when we hear those magical words ‘Michelin star’. I have had many memorable meals at Michelin star restaurants especially in France so the idea of having this experience in Mumbai on home turf was all the more sweeter. The JW Marriott, a hotel with some sort of magic spell as far a s F&B goes, has tied up with a Singapore based company called 4×4 to bring 4 top European chefs to the city in the course of the year. Nothing is done in half measures. Their Italian restaurant Mezzo Mezzo is transformed into a modern French restaurant with Zweisel glassware ,starched white tablecloths and a fragrant white lily on the table.
Laurent Peugeot, the guest chef for a week, worked in a classic French kitchen in Burgundy (Le Charlemagne) for 15 years where using butter and overcooking vegetables was the norm. He tells me, which is a shocker, that the French seem to have lost their culinary identity. Respect for produce has given way to ‘ready-made, reheat’ solutions. So he decided to trot off to Japan for 4 years where he feels food has retained its integrity. He brought to the evening at JW Marriott, a tasting menu of 8 courses, coping impeccably with local ingredients and using skill rather than imported ingredients to flatter and ‘wow’.
Highlights of the evening for me included the watermelon, ricotta, tomato water ravioli, a sliver of garlic clam and marmalade olive oil and asparagus with Canadian lobster and morel sabayon. My star of the evening was the local wild sea bass with crispy skin and scales and sesame broth; Japanese sensibility shone through here! This may be a move towards the dreaded word ‘fusion’. I prefer to call it ‘ borrowing’ of techniques and ingredients across cuisines and cultures which if treated with respect can only result in some extraordinary food. The restaurant on a Friday evening was jam packed and all the tables were reserved. Is Mumbai turning Michelin?