Talking about the kind of buffets, there are the lavish ones with so many items to choose from that one could hardly taste everything and still be satiated but the probability of finding good items in this kind of scenario are higher simply because of higher number of items.

Then there are buffets which have limited choices which is good in a sense that you get to taste and eat everything but then for such a buffet it’s absolutely essential that you get your preparations spot on else the customer is bound to feel shortchanged.

My buffet experience at Parc Estique lies somewhere between the above two described situations. The buffet wasn’t the most lavish buffet by any stature of imagination, with only one Veg and Non Veg starter it was definitely a bit off putting to start with but as we progressed through the buffet I realized it was quite alright.

Corn tikki – 4/5, this was good and we actually waiting for its second helping for around 15 minutes and delayed our main course. It was soft from inside with a bit of a crunch from its outer covering.

Fish Fingers – 3/5, nothing outstanding, it was standard fish deep fried with a coating to give it a crunchy bite. The preparation could have done more with addition of some spices to give it a distinctive taste but it was almost devoid of any. Also some kind of dip along with this starter would have helped but there wasn’t anything on offer so we had it with green chutney, however it was sans the pungent smell of fish at times so that was the saving grace.

Salads 3.5/5, there were around 3-4 variety of salads with the cold chicken cuts making to my liking along with another variant which I galloped with the starters.

Cola with Strawberry Mocktail – 4/5, it was a pretty good mocktails with a distinct taste and I couldn’t help but have a second serving of the same.

The main course had variety of items with continental, Indian and Chinese options to choose from. I found it really difficult to pin point any preparation that was out of the ordinary or for which I would like to go back and have the buffet again. This was the most surprising part of my overall experience to find a pretty average main course on offer.

From the entire main course boasting of Fish in lemon sauce, Chilly Chicken, fried rice,manchurian, Paneer maithi Malai, Daal fry, Daal Makhani, Mutton Rogan Josh, kadhai chicken, Tawa subzi, Eggplant preparation with some fried potatoes, only a couple of items appealed to me.

The best of the lot was Tawa subzi, a combination of crispy and somewhat spicy beans, carrots and cauliflowers went so well with Daal fry and Butter Naan. It was definitely 4/5 for me.

The other good items worth mentioning are:

Fish in lemon sauce – 3/5, absolute tender preparation of fish in a gravy that could have had some more taste but it was fairly alright.

Mutton Rogan Josh & Kadhai Chicken – 3/5, they were pretty Ok but somehow as aforementioned I didn’t find any wow factor associated even with these dishes which were relatively better than the rest.

Surprisingly I would rate the desserts far better than the rest of the stuff and items worth mentioning are strawberry soufflé, pineapple crumble, creamy gulabjamun and I must mention the Rabdi was very nice, definitely desserts deserve a rating of 4/5. I didn’t quite like the Jalebi but the other items more than made up for it.

Talking about service it wasn’t the most efficient to begin with as we had to really wait for the only thing they were serving i.e. the starters and with only 3-4 tables occupied during the first 30-45 minutes I thought they could have certainly done better. Though later on one Mr.Aniket tried his best to make up for the earlier shortcomings and served us well.

Ambience was pretty good and there was another group of guys who were shouting and talking so loud as if it a road side dhaba was the only disturbing part and I wondered if they could have been reminded of where they were but anyway that wasn’t really the restaurant’s problem but probably plain bad luck to have buffoons as company I guess 😉

Overall I won’t say this was a bad experience but it wasn’t a very good one as well, thanks to the people responsible for Desserts, Tawa subzi, corn tikki and Mocktail as those preparations really saved my day 🙂

Visited July 2015.