A revamp of TFE's bar menu

The bar at The Flying Elephant has had a revamp and is now a stunning and stylish space. In keeping with the new look, the bar menu too has been given an upgrade and there are some great cocktails to go along with the food.

Exec Sous Chef Michele Cero

Over dinner with a fellow bloggers, we met TFE's new Italian Executive Sous Chef, Michele Dal Cero. He graduated in mechanical engineering and then found his true calling as a chef and has 20 years of experience, the last 7 of which have been at Seoul.

Charcoal lamb

   
As for the menu, there is a good selection of Asian, mid Eastern and Indian flavours presented as small plates as well as a decent selection of vegetarian dishes. Naturally, a couple of Italian dishes found their way into the menu too. We started with Charcoal Lamb. Well, it hadn't been coated with charcoal but had been roasted over it. Marinated for hours before being cooked, it was fork tender and beautifully spiced. It was the perfect accompaniment for my Whisky Sour.

Beetroot ravioli stuffed with goat's cheese - a forever favourite

Paneer e Hassan - slices of soft paneer sandwiched with a filling and grilled

Light as air Asian flavours - steamed edamame and truffle dimsum

Shish taouk

The Middle Eastern flavours of the shish taouk were delightful. Succulent cubes of chicken had been interspersed with coloured capsicum slices, served over a sumac-dusted onion salad. To scoop up the chunks of meat and veg was Turkish bread that doubled as a plate. Yummy!

3 cheese jalapeno & pesto mushroom

Three cheese jalapeno and pesto mushroom tikka is another addition to the menu. Large mushrooms hid within their caps a mix of pesto and cheese, jalapeno bits added pops of heat. Slices of toasted, garlicky baguette and onions rings would definitely have you raising your glass to the balance of taste and texture.

Prawns tossed in garlic, chilli & coriander

Prawns tossed in garlic, chilli and coriander was my favourite. Served slightly warm, the flavours of garlic and olive oil had permeated the prawns and was finger licking good. 

Pumpkin ravioli

Vegetarian pizzas

The pumpkin ravioli was introduced into TFE's menu a while ago. The kinks have now been ironed out and it's quite a delightful dish in its present avatar. Especially those candied walnuts. The pizzas, on the other hand, were very ordinary and we do look forward to Chef Michele and the team doing a makeover on them too.

For a bar menu, the serving sizes are just right. Every morsel could be speared with a fork, leaving your other hand free to hold your drink.

Main course - Indian breads, dal makhni & butter chicken

Dessert platter

Churros and dips

For dessert, Chef Cero and his team spoilt us with a selection of dark chocolate cake and slices of cheesecake. We even got a serving of churros (TFE's version is fabulous) with jars of apple cinnamon, salted caramel and chocolate sauces to dip into.

The best part must be that the right side of the menu too has been revamped. A meal for 2, sans alcohol is about 3000/++.

The Flying Elephant is at Park Hyatt Chennai and is open from 7pm.

For reservations, do call +91 8939871109.