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| Grilled Tenderloin on the rocks |
It is a known fact that alcohol goes well with meat, be it
white or red. Plenty of people prefer their drinks in a certain way & we
recently enjoyed our meat in that way. Surprised?
We were too! Now, confirming our lines of thought: we tried
our meat on the rocks. Stone minced meat & cooking meat on a hot stone is
practiced in many parts of the world, but what we tried had a twist. Ever seen
a thick fillet of beef cooked on a piece of volcanic rock under 5 minutes?
Well, that’s what we are talking about ;)
This post is all about our dining experience at On The
Rocks, Crowne Plaza Adyar Park, Chennai. They have an exclusive bar at the
ground level & a family dining area at the +1. They focus mainly on their
grills & wine pairings & they are of a different league.
Coming down to what we tried:
The 5 meat course on the plate & the tenderloin on the
rocks: short & sweet isn’t it?
Each course has a soup/salad accompaniment. We tried the salad
& Chicken & Thyme soup. The salad had the right balance between greens
& citrus elements. On top of that it had feta, cherry tomatoes &
pomegranate seeds/nuts as the crunchy element.
The soup was a clear broth soup with loads of vegetables
& chicken. It captured all the natural flavors & it was an absolute
treat.
On the rocks:
The volcanic stone is heated to about 200 degree Celsius
& because of its properties, it remains hot. First, some rosemary &
rock salt is scattered on it & then the thick tenderloin fillet. The meat
has to be turned periodically to avoid overcooking certain portions. It has a
red wine jus for adding while cooking. We had it medium rare & accompanied
with a blue cheese sauce & vegetables it is a complete meal. This was one
of the best tenderloin steaks we’ve had till date.
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| Mocktails with bread & accompaniments |
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| Stone cooked Tenderloin |
On the plate:
Well, this is a meat eater’s paradise with 5 different types
of meat being served one after the other. The red meat is paired with a Shiraz.
The 5 being: Chicken, Duck, Lamb, Tenderloin & Tiger Prawns. Except for the
lamb which was slightly overdone, all of them were cooked to perfection. The
chicken & duck paired well with the BBQ sauce which was served. The duck is
a special variant from Thailand & was plain grilled without marination. For
the red meats, a different sauce was served & as expected, the pairing was
perfect. Lastly, the prawns were huge in size but the best in taste. It was
partially caramelized on the outside & it was juicy on the inside. Kudos to
the chef.
We tried a mocktail before the meat came in: It was
pineapple based with vanilla ice cream. It was mildly sweet & the
consistency was just right.
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| Grilled chicken on the plate |
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| Grilled Lamb on the plate |
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| Grilled tenderloin on the plate |
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| Grilled tiger prawns on the plate |
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| Grilled duck on the plate |
Lastly, for dessert we tried a couple of items, the names of
which we do not remember exactly.
There was a coffee crème brulee with the perfect crack,
served with figs & an almond biscuit. It had the right amount of sweetness
& balance of flavor. The chocolate delice was served with a scoop of
vanilla ice cream. It has a velvety texture outside & a creamy texture
inside, but fully chocolate. A must try for chocolate lovers.
That’s all folks!
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| Chocolate Delice |
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| Coffee creme brulee |
It was a really special evening with varied conversations
& the dining experience wouldn’t have been the same without it.
The items mentioned above are carefully crafted to
perfection & are definitely worth a shot. Don’t complain to us if you get
cravings all of a sudden though ;). Do enjoy the visuals & let us know
about your experience if you visit.
Till then—stay tuned & bon apetit!
- 20:08
- 16 Comments
