The restaurant scene in Mumbai is extremely competitive due to the vast variety of great dining options available in this exciting city. Restaurants are constantly vying for the customers' attention as there are unlimited choices this city has to offer. In this process, many good restaurants are creating new and unique dishes or twists on classics to appease our palettes and to keep us intrigued. Colaba, Mumbai is known for being one of the poshest and most well-known localities in Mumbai. Naturally, the food scene here is next level too. The Table, founded in 2011 has established itself to be one of the most sought-after restaurants in Mumbai. As per their Instagram, they are No. 78 on Asia's 50 best restaurants in 2023. And as per their website, they boast to have introduced the concept of small and large plates and a farm-to-table experience with fresh produce from their own farm. It took me a long time to get to this restaurant as whenever I came to this area, I chose to dine at the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel which is close by. However, whenever I passed by I used to get intrigued by this restaurant and finally, in December of 2022 I landed here for a meal! To be honest, I was not expecting much but I had heard that the restaurant is pretty hyped. I had read the reviews on Zomato and they were pretty mixed, so I did not know what to expect. The restaurant was very accommodating as we changed our timing at the last minute by around one and a half hours (we reached there by 2 and our reservation was at 12:30). The lady who spoke to my husband over call was very understanding and this first impression was great as usually, fine dining restaurants are very unaccommodating and rude.
We reached there on a Saturday afternoon and the entire restaurant was quite full. We were glad we got a table despite getting late at the last moment. While we were guided to our cozy corner table for two, the first thing I noticed was the chic decor of this restaurant. A double-storeyed space with the top floor being smaller than the one below and giving the feel of an alfresco terrace-style seating. With artistic black railings and tiny white lights and Christmas decor along the entire border. On one corner of this second level was a unique Christmas tree made up of old menus from the restaurant topped with a quintessential star. On the lower level was the bar with mosaic tiles and a long wooden table for those who wished to dine at the bar. The chairs were a combination of black wood with brown leather upholstery and the tables has an antique wooden finish. On the ceiling was a host of hanging lamps in a line and at the end of it an avant-garde chandelier. The flooring was a zig-zag pattern of textured white and black tiles. The windows were floor-to-ceiling and huge to let ample sunlight in. Overall this restaurant gave out a dreamy Mediterranean vibe.
The service was quick and our wait staff quickly came to take our order. Their menu consisted of snacks, small plates, large plates, sides and desserts. The were a lot of vegetarian options and all of them looked extremely tempting. I will list below what all we ate and my feedback about the dishes.
Manchego and Leek Croquettes
I've always wanted to try Manchego cheese which is from Spain so this seemed like a good way to start. The dish arrived with four crispy pieces of croquettes. The dish was quite cheesy but one-dimensional with no stand-out flavours and it sort of scared me for things about to come.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the dishes that followed.
Burrata with House-made Foccacia
This dish was a good twist on the classic. Rather than just being served with tomatoes or a salad, in this dish, the creamy burrata was served with a smoked bell pepper pesto, herb emulsion, topped with spiced walnuts and a sprinkle of arugula. It came with a charred corn, tomato and strawberry salad on the side. It was served with crusty focaccia bread. I had never tasted this flavor combination before with burrata. I was a bit skeptical about the strawberries but when combining all the ingredients into a bite, this plate worked so well. It is difficult to surprise a person after they have eaten burrata so many times but the combination that this restaurant created out of this classic starter surprised me pleasantly. It was an excellent dish.
Mushroom Parfait with Brioche
This was a dish on their Christmas seasonal menu. It was curated by celebrated chef Luke Robinson, it was a sort of mushroomy creme caramel served with a green tomato and pickled mushroom chutney and toasted brioche. I had never seen or heard of such a dish before and I was both scared and excited to try it out. The creme caramel was sweet, but when it was spread on the brioche and topped with the chutney, the dish just worked so well! The creamy sweetness combined with the mushroomy earthiness of the caramel on the salty crusty bread, topped with the savory and tangy chutney was a revelation! This was such an unexpected flavor combination and after a lifetime of eating out very few things genuinely surprise you. This dish truly surprised me.
Avocado Toast
This is one dish we always like to get as my husband is a huge fan of it. The Table was able to create a twist on this as well as they not only combined it with house-made ricotta, but they cut the richness of this dish with a sweet pepper sauce drizzled over it. Once again it was not a traditional avocado toast but an avocado toast with a twist. Loved it!
Taglierini Pasta
The pasta was fresh and made in-house like so many of their other items and was draped in this sublime black truffle sauce that was not overpowering but yet extremely flavourful. The pasta was al dente and the freshness came through and was not overtaken by the silky sauce.
Tiramisu
Once again one of our favorite dishes to always order, we were excited after a lovely meal to see how the desserts turn out. I loved the way they served the tiramisu. It was not like usual restaurants where they cut off a slab, here the tiramisu came in its own individual ceramic dish. So it was like your spoon would be the only thing to reveal the creamy mascarpone and ladyfinger layers covered by the chocolate powder coating. The portion was generous, the tiramisu was wonderful and we loved the way it was served.
Pecan Butterscotch Tart
This was the best dish of the day. It was a suggestion of the wait staff and we were so glad that we went ahead with his suggestion. Having had pecan tarts before I thought it would be similar. But this tart was next level. The tart came warm and freshly baked, once again it was an individual portion and not cut out from a bigger tart. It was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that had just started to melt. It looked too perfect to eat, but of course, we ate it! The butterscotch sauce enveloped with the fudgy pecan pieces, with the buttery flaky crust of the pie combined with the cool creamy ice cream, I couldn't help but let out a slight moan of the utter delight of what a delicious concoction I had just tasted. I still dream of this heavenly tart and can't wait to go back to have it again.
The flavor combinations and presentation that this restaurant is implementing are truly noteworthy and this experience turned out to be one of the best meals I have ever eaten. So if you are in Colaba and are on the lookout for the next great meal, as per my personal experience you should give this place a try.
Thank you for reading. ❤️
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