We got into a guided tasting tour of what’s cooking the most and often at Palladium Hotel’s kitchens, and who better than Chef Paul Kinny, the Director of Culinary Services at the hotel himself to recommend his must-haves from the various fine-dining restaurants at Palladium Hotel.
About Chef Paul Kinny
To introduce Chef Paul Kinny, he currently single-handedly heads and manages the various restaurants at Palladium Hotel, the city’s esteemed hotel accelerating at a modest pace towards being the best that the city has to offer. He is presently spearheading the new restaurant openings, The Sahib Room & Kipling Bar and Yuuka, at the hotel. He has close to 2 illustrious decades of experience in Management, Food & Beverage sections of Hotels and Restaurants.
Chef Paul’s menus speak his language…showcasing seasonal produce, fresh premium ingredients, and simple uncomplicated flavors, high on visual appeal and sublime textures; all coming together to evoke a crescendo of delight.
We were thrilled as today, Chef Kinny would accompany us to the three most famed restaurants the hotel premises houses and recommend a must-try signature dish paired with the best wines from each of the three restaurant offerings, The Sahib Room & Kipling Bar, Seven Kitchens and Mekong.. Are we excited or are we excited?
We began our experience at The Sahib Room & Kipling Bar, which is the newest offering from the hotel that serves authentic Indian (Mughlai and Awadhi) cuisine to its patrons. Chef Kinny recommends ‘Sahib Room Nalli Nihari’ which is every bite a rich and creamy specialty made of lamb shanks that are slow-cooked for 12 hours. The ideal type of wine to pair with this delectable preparation would be DOCG approved red wine from Italy that goes by the name ‘Marchesi Antinori Peppoli’. This is a classico Italian wine subjected to the highest levels of quality analysis. The chef suggests pairing the two keeping in mind the exceptionally glutinous and heavily flavoured nature of the preparation.
Next up, we walked into the Seven Kitchens, which has been awarded ‘Best All Day Fine Dining’ at the Times Food Awards 2014. This restaurant has stood the test of time with its cuisine comprising of specialties from all around the world, serving up their global platters to its discerning food aficionados time and again. We’ve heard its Sunday brunch is the most splendid affair in town. Today, we were tasting one of their signature sushi preparations which is a part of the elaborate buffet spread. The sushi, a combination of ingredients like avocado, mayonnaise, tuna, seaweed and sticky rice is best paired with ‘Moet & Chandon Imperial’ champagne. The Moet & Chandon served to us is a blend and a perfect balance of three champagnes, namely Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. The chef tells us that this champagne tastes best with cold and salty foods. Be it oysters, sushis, sashimis and the like. Oh wait, did the thought that, on the contrary, sushi can get quite bland, just cross your mind? Well, there’s no denying there. Actually, the strong salty and pungent flavours come from the sauces that go with it, namely the soya dip and the wasabi. And this is why its best teamed with the sweet and fruity Moet & Chandon bubbly, which kind of cuts down the overriding flavour and compliments the entire preparation.
With this, it was time to rise up to the Oriental / Pan-Asian restaurant ‘Mekong’ perched on the 37th floor of the hotel. The chef recommends KungPao Chicken to be paired with Black Tower Riesling wine, which would be a refreshingly crisp, aromatic and floral white wine from Germany. The cashew nuts and the red, green and yellow bell peppers in the chicken preparation make for a visual treat to the eyes while the wine satiates the taste buds thus, the two accentuate each other. Apart from the perfect wine and food pairing, it is the spectacular view from the restaurant that adds a silver lining to the experience of dining out here.
In Chef Kinny’s words, “Essentially, my role would be conceptualising and executing the opening and operations of restaurants. Not just cooking, but the planning of the menu, conceptualising, crockery, cutlery, getting the right chef, getting the menu on track, costing, pricing, budgeting, and the like. After 22 years, a little more than two decades, you just don’t want to do cooking only.” We can only say that Chef Paul Kinny is the perfectionist multi-tasker in the true sense of the word, and every epicurean must lay their forks and knives on each of the three signature dishes recommended above.
Address :
Palladium Hotel,
462, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Parel,
Mumbai 400013, India,
Restaurant Reservation: +91 (22) 6162 8422
[Palladium-Hotel]
