Gourmet Passport is a platform which allows its users or consumers to explore new and an elite list of restaurants that pass through their cut.

How is it different from the rest?

Gourmet passport limits the number of coupons that can be used at a particular place for the entire year. This gives the restaurant the much needed footfall for them to showcase their hospitality and also retain the customers for a longer run, at the same time due to the limit it ensures people just don’t come in frequently just to avail the offer and move out. This way the Gourmet Passport holder starts exploring places and not limiting himself to just one.

They are now spread in 9 cities, yesterday was a evening to celebrate one successful year in the city of pearls , Hyderabad.

The Gourmet Passport is headed by Mr. Rocky Mohan, ranked amongst the 50 most influential people in the F and B industry and jury member for Asia’s top 50 restaurants. His love for food and fine dining has been reflected in TV appearances with international celebrities , award winning cookbooks and a lot of awards.

Yesterday’s event at Serefe was a special curation which was a part of the Gourmet Passport Experience organized by Shivani Mohan who heads the Hyderabad Chapter.

Serefe is a new addition and is one of the most luxurious places the city has ever seen. The main additions include imported Cigars, malts and an extensive gourmet food menu.

Lets get started. #Hyderabadfoodexplorer #Serefe #GourmetPassportexperiences

Ambience:

One of the finest in the city , no doubt on that. The walls decked up with mirrors, almost every room has a majestic chandelier. As soon as you get in to the dining area you see a lavishly set bar counter with exclusive malts on display. There is still a bit of changes with the furniture, getting some classy looking ones.

The outdoors are just brilliant, once the monsoon goes away and the winters set in , the outdoors would be a perfect space. Apart from this they’ve got 2 PDR’s with capacities of 8 and 15 respectively with attached balconies. They have live artists playing music, jazz night etc.

Food and Beverages:

Even before we start , a small note, these aren’t the regular portion sizes, this was a tasting menu and we had lots to come.

Just as we entered and settled down we had the Amuse bouche, a poached plum in red wine with goat cheese to start it.

Appetizers :

Vegetarian:

We had Red quinoa and sweet potato patties along with sriracha dip and Roasted chilli water chestnuts with lemon grass and basil in the same platter alongside a basic salad.. The quinoa patties were pretty good, small sized, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The sweet potato helped them bind the quinoa in the patties form, the sriracha dip complimented well. The water chestnuts were pretty good , but to justify the name it needed a bit more of basil and lemon grass.

Balsamic and soy marinated mushrooms in filo cups was a good addition, not quite common. The filo sheets were put in moulds and baked, then stuffed with a mixture of mushrooms , peppers and a few aromats.

Non Vegetarian:

Basil marinated chicken with baked egg white was the first one to come in. A mild marinade on the chicken , decently cooked and topped with whipped egg whites and finished with a blow torch to give it the baked look. We also had a chicken roulade with pesto as a filling and a glaze of olive tapenade.

Rosemary infused lamb patty with blue cheese gratinate is a one of a kind. To relish this you need a palate to adapt to the pungent blue cheese. Medium sized lamb patties seared and topped with blue cheese. Ocean crumbed prawns were pretty good, large sized prawns crumb coated and finished with a dusting of cayenne pepper and a drizzle of mayonnaise.

Soup and Salad:

We had a small portion of it, roasted asparagus and green pea soup with cheddar. A thick cream based soup , well seasoned and topped with a little red cheddar. You also get small garlic toast on the side.

Roasted yellow squash with arugula , bell peppers ,  bocconcini and pine nuts was a good one but the dressing could have been better, I felt it was flat , a touch of seasoning and acidity would have lifted it up.

Beverages:

They have a menu called World class drinks, attaching it below. I had a mocktail , but for the ones who drink this could be a really good option with a wide range on offer and Sebastian could always make a special one.

Main Course:

I tasted a bit of everything. The Middle eastern lamb chops with mashed potato and butter sauteed vegetables was the best 2 pairs of lamb chops , well cooked and seasoned were really good. The au jus to go along with it  made it even better.

The half chicken with BBQ seasoning and their special sauce was bang on with the flavours but chicken was slightly over done. Something that can easily be rectified, a great dish if they can check on the cooking time. Fish Moilee with jasmine rice and the Veg Thai green curry were good as well but can get better in terms of the base flavor for the moilee.

Desserts:

They had 2 desserts on offer. One was a White and Dark chocolate mousse with Cognac. A bit too sweet for my liking (used to a very dark chocolate palate)(personal opinion, others might well like it as it is) as both of them were ganaches. The salted caramel though added a little saltiness to cut down the sweetness but again even that had sugar. Adding a little whipped cream might get it better and lighter or just whipped ganache works brilliantly.

The Pink Champagne cake was something everyone was eagerly looking forward to. It was a decent one but everyone felt it missed the essence of the champagne touch.

Overall a really well curated experience over good food , drinks and amazing Ambiance. Will definitely look forward to it once they come up with live music, everything gets set and the menu is ticked off with a few changes.

Pricing , Service and Location:

Not sure on the prices yet, its yet to launch publicly and ours was a set menu. But its definitely premium, so you’d have pretty high prices for the quality.

The service plays a key role in setups like these. There is no room for even a single , slightest of mistakes.

This is located in front of Absorb, road number 59 Jubilee hills.

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