Mirador, mirador, roz roz mirador

The Mirador

Burrp page: http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/the-mirador_andheri-e_mumbai_lounges-cafes/169491940

Place: Close to Andheri (E) highway, on the road connecting Andheri Kurla Road (from J.B. Nagar) to Highway

Food:   - 7/10

Buffet variety:   - 5/10

Service:  - 5/10

Ambience:   - 8/10

VFM:   - 9/10

Food
Mirador is the kind of place you wouldn't expect to find in Andheri (E). It was discovered by my friend Kashif, when he went there with his office gang for a celebration once. Although most of the people you'll find there are business travelers, I find it more appropriate for a cozy dinner with friends.

You can choose to either eat ala carte or the buffet, but at Rs. 275 + taxes, the Wednesday to Saturday midnight buffet makes for a tempting offer! There were a lot of items on display and we couldn't really fit them all in. So I picked up the items that looked most appealing. With a glass of whiskey, we downed some beautiful Fish Fingers, Chicken Sichuan Fritters, East African Fried Chicken and Irani Mutton Seekh. Also tried some good Paneer Kalonji Tikka and Corn Cake that wasn't bad either. The non-veg items were very soft and juicy, not even one item was too hard or too chewy. The paneer was extremely soft as well and I had absolutely no complaints.

Comparatively, I didn't like the main course as much, though I went mad about the Subj Kalimirch. It was like no vegetarian dish I have tasted before. Every vegetable had it's color intact and it made for this wonderful play of colors on the dish. And it had only a sprinkling of spices, with a strong, strong flavor of pepper...freshly ground! Sigh! I wish more people understood the beauty of freshly ground coarse pepper when they cooked!

For the desserts, call me a little orthodox, but I'd like having one item that's simply sinful dar chocolate based. The chocolate pastries I tried were lightly layered with raspberry crush and although it was interesting, I like my chocolate pastries with nothing else at all!

Buffet variety
The buffet has an average variety. The staff was nice enough to write me down the buffet menu when I asked for it. Here is it.

Vegetarian:

Soup
Cream of Veg Almadine

Starters
Corn cake
Paneer Kalonji Tikka
Veg Dumpling Flat Rice

Main Course
Sultana Pulao
Dal Kothmiri
Mix Pasta Arabiata
Chillie Pellenos
Paneer Asifa
Subj Kalimirch

Non-vegetarian:

Soup
Chicken Combination Soup

Starters
Fish Fingers
Chicken Sichuan Fritters
Irani Mutton Seekh

Main Course
Shredded Lamb Oyster Sauce
Murgh Nizami
Fish Berly / Oerly (can't read what this guy has written!)
East African Fry Chicken

Desserts:
Lichi Mousse
Chocolate Raspberry Pastries
Fruit Savrin
Warm Pears Pudding
Malpua and Rabri

Service
I give them a 5 because I didn't particularly enjoy the service, nor was I disappointed at any time. The staff was extremely nice in providing me with the buffet menu (handwritten, so effort taken...and appreciated), but I also noticed a slight bias towards serving foreigners before us. So overall, just average.

Ambience
With a live band playing soft music, this place is really nice to spend time with a small group of friends, or even with your significant other. It's not really a romantic place, but you will enjoy a nice quiet dinner for two. In fact the entire hotel has a nice comforting look to it (though the couches and chairs in the hotel lobby are not as comfortable as they look) and tends to have quite a calming effect on me.

VFM
Thumbs up all the way! Rs. 275 + taxes per head for a great buffet variety and good food quality...couldn't ask for more!

Location
Since it's very close to the Andheri highway, it's very conveniently located, whether you're heading there after a late night at work at Andheri or just driving around at night. I suggest night time due to the mid-night buffet being served from Wednesdays to Saturdays.

And in conclusion...
Go there at least once for their mid-night buffet! It's totally worth it!