Five restaurant trends we wish would end

Republished from MumbaiBoss.com

There are only a few things that are necessary to keep people coming back to a restaurant: good food, good service and no obvious hygiene frights. These are helped along by a good vibe, often achieved by way of intriguing décor, music or something as basic as the right kind of lighting or comfortable seating. There are of course restaurants such as Indigo Deli or Samovar where we’re willing to tolerate the frustratingly slow service because in the case of the former, the food isn’t just good, it’s fantastic, while at the latter, the window booths glow in beautifully romantic sunlight that makes us want to while away our day there.

But for eateries at every level, fine dining or frugal, the food must provide much of the draw. After the dishes have been perfected, and the service has attained a passable level of efficiency, restaurants might add any number of frills to set themselves apart from the competition. At Royal China, for instance, customers are given iPads for menus. Of late, however, we’ve noticed a few trends in Mumbai’s restaurant scene that we’d like to see less of in the coming year.

Multi-cuisine restaurants

In our city, we have a number of restaurants that believe in being everything to everyone. They will offer five kinds of cuisine (typically, Punjabi, South Indian, Italian, Chinese and Mexican) so that each person in a three-generation family of customers is satisfied. So what if there is fettucine Alfredo, a palak-cheese dosa, khada pav bhaji and enchiladas on the same table? If it didn’t work, there wouldn’t be so many Sukh Sagar clones. But there is no reason why a new restaurant in a tony neighbourhood, and one that is hoping to get more than the Sukh Sagar crowd, should dumb down its menu to the lowest common denominator. Pizza from Sukh Sagar is meant to taste like it does: a basic, low-cost, fast-food staple that tastes nothing like its Italian avatar but satisfies you with its expected familiarity, while not expecting accolades. A chain like Bombay Blue elevates this idea somewhat by offering pita, pasta and pav bhaji on one menu.

But a multi-cuisine restaurant only works up to a specific price point. If I’m paying over Rs500 per head, I expect a certain level of authenticity and by serving more than a couple of related cuisines (pan-Asian is all right; Italian-Mexican not so much), a restaurant runs the risk of diluting the quality of its offerings owing to a lack of culinary focus. At 5 All Day in Colaba, diners can make a meal of a mezze platter, Bengali kasundi bekti, and leek risotto but not all of it makes your day. Going by the experiences of those who’ve dined at Bungalow 9  in Bandra, when it comes to food, offering more often amounts to less. A reviewer on Zomato  says he “found the menu an odd mix of Oriental and Continental cuisine” and that while the mushroom bruschetta, lasagna and sushi were “very good”, the pizza, stir fried noodles and pasta were “quite ordinary”.

Coffee chains with identical menus

We’re waiting for the day when coffee chains will get more adventurous with their food. If Candies can offer us some fine mac and cheese, fish curry and rice, and chicken Manchurian in addition to dozens of sandwiches, burgers and rolls, it can’t be that hard for a Cafe Coffee Day, Barista, Costa, or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. These chains boast of far deeper pockets than Candies but have yet to diversify their menus beyond dry sandwiches, soggy puffs and synthetic-tasting pastries.

Indifferent interior decor

These days, even the fanciest restaurants have the most bland decor. During the past year, with the exception of Hakkasan, we can’t name a single new high-end establishment where we have marvelled at the space the moment we walked in. At Two One Two, the unremarkable interiors (furniture and paintings included) makes it feel more like a place for a business meeting. Hometown Cafe takes an originally picturesque location and adds a healthy dose of tackiness with murals and silly images of chefs.

The resto-bar or resto-lounge

There’s a whole other category of places that think that their lack of a good aesthetic sense can be drowned out by loud music. Restaurants, such as Canvas at Palladium mall, pump up the retro/techno/house/pop so high, we can’t hear ourselves chew. If we wanted Ke$ha or ABBA or Armin van Buuren, there are many other establishments where we can rub our bodies together. Be a restaurant, not a lounge, resto-bar, resto-lounge or any other new-fangled hybrid operation. And don’t make us shout.

Themed restaurants

Speaking of bars and lounges, we love a good drink, and it goes best with a relaxed ambience. We don’t need to feel like we’re playing cowboys and Indians in a faux saloon setting like at Wild Wild West. We also don’t want to put on parkas and pretend like we’re eskimos in an “ice bar” at Ice Qube (the erstwhile 21 Fahrenheit). A quirky theme does not make a bar. The Ghetto and Toto’s Garage haven’t stayed in business for two decades only because of their kooky decor or predictable playlists. They have lasted because they have figured out that friendly, no-frills and fast service works best for their customers and more importantly, they don’t take themselves too seriously. For regulars, it’s not just the kheema pao and cold Kingfisher beer but the unpretentious vibe that keeps bringing them back.

This article was written by Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi and republished from MumbaiBoss.com .