180 degrees of yumm!

180 degrees @ Hotel Grand Sarovar Premiere

Burrp page: http://mumbai.burrp.com/listing/180-degrees_goregaon-w_mumbai_restaurants/130839079

Place: Goregaon (W), between SV Road and Link road

Food:  - 9/10

Buffet variety:  - 10/10

Service:  - 7/10

Ambiance:  - 8/10

VFM:  - 9/10

Food
I had very high expectations of this place because my friends had given me awesome reviews of 180 degrees. And that's a little scary because whenever I have high expectations, I end up getting disappointed. But to my surprise, 180 degrees lived up to all I heard of it and delivered even more.

My favorite was the cold beef tenderloin that I just couldn't get enough of. Done to perfection, medium-rare, with salad dressing of your choice (I tried it with an olive oil dressing which left my lips smacking)! The salads were brilliant, with the lettuce and basil croutons and chicken in pesto sauce making me go for multiple servings.

The Caribbean soup had chicken pieces in a light corn broth with spinach. All my favorite items! For starters, there was a fried corn paste dish - something I have never had before - which was simply amazing. The starters also included some chicken tikka (average), fried squid (can't go wrong with this) and besan patties (bad).

In the continental main course, I stuffed myself with the garlic mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. I was very disappointed with the barbeque chicken wings though coz it was made in tomato sauce instead of barbeque sauce. In fact, the sauce tasted exactly like the sauce in the aubergine nepolitana, which probably means it was a case of reuse.

The oriental section had a refreshing veg ginger fried rice and a really good fish in coriander sauce. The schezwan crispy veg was the prefect amount of crisp and would have been a good chakhna item had we been drinking!

The Indian food could've been better. But I'm really not sure if I didn't enjoy it as much because I was bursting at my seams or it simply wasn't phenomenal. Though I did enjoy the bhuna ghosht and the saffron rice pulao. Rotis were being made fresh in an open kitchen tandoor. The paneer tikka wasn't very good - I think the spices were not cooked enough.

Finally, the chocolate brownie, rum ball and raspberry cheese cake were an awesome way to finish dinner! Burp!


Buffet variety

I got the staff to write me down the buffet menu and they were kind enough to oblige.

Soups

1. Veg thick soup
2. Caribbean soup

Salads

1. Fish pate
2. Pinapple relish
3. American 10
4. Lettuce and basil croutons
5. Fathoush salad
6. Chicken in pesto sauce
7. Beef tenderloin
8. Seafood salad

This list does not contain the varieties of bread, bread sticks, cheese, dips, pickles and salad dressings (at least 12 types of dressings!).

  Mix and match - make your own chaat / salad!

Dips, dressings and pickles!

Starters

1. Chicken tikka
2. Deep fried squid
3. Besan kebabs
4. Corn paste patties

Continental

1. Garlic mashed potatoes
2. Aubergine nepolitana
3. Exotic grilled vegetables
4. Barbeque chicken wings
5. Bouquet vegetable

Oriental

1. Hakka noodles
2. Veg ginger fried rice
3. Fish in coriander sauce
4. Chicken in Hong Kong style
5. Burnt garlic veg
6. Schezwan crispy veg

Indian

1. Bhuna ghosht
2. Murg tawa masala
3. Paneer tikka masala
4. Dudhi chana
5. Kaju karela
6. Tawa veg
7. Dal panchratna
8. Saffron rice pulao

Again, this does not include all the varieties of pickles, papads and friums.

Dessert

1. Mango magic
2. Raspberry cheese cake
3. Brownie
4. Dudhi halwa
5. Praline
6. Rabdi falooda
7. Rum ball
8. Coconut turnover
9. 6 types of ice-cream with 6 choices of sprinkles!

 Rum balls!!!

Service
With a place with so much amazing food, the service could have been better. When we asked for our plates not to be cleared (re-using your plate for the next helping is a good thing), they would still take it away when we weren't looking! And then after that, they would forget to get fresh spoons and forks to the table. So we'd have to get a new serving and then wait to catch a purser's attention. This didn't happen once, but multiple times. We even had to wait for water so many times.

Ambiance
180 degrees is a big place with very comfortable seating arrangements. They haven't tried to cramp up the place with too many tables and chairs. In fact, I had a reservation for 4 on a Saturday and they gave us a table for 6 with 2 chairs removed. We had a lot of space to ourselves! And the place was full, it being a weekend. Maybe people with reservations are given good priority?

Value for money
A dinner buffet costs Rs. 650 + taxes (comes to Rs. 715). They also have lunch buffets for Rs. 450 + taxes but without the starters, which is really okay because a lot of the main course items can be had as starters. The quality of food deserves the 715 bucks, even if you wouldn't have considered the bill that states that service charge (meaning the tip) is included in the buffet price! However, I'd suggest the lunch if possible, coz it's the same amazing food at cheaper rates.


Location
You'd need to cut through some traffic to get here, but it's at a very visible location and has a small mall in the same complex in case you want to shop after your heavy lunch!

And in conclusion...
I'm gonna go to 180 degrees many, many times. It goes into my list of favorite places to eat in Mumbai!