A royal affair

Swarnjeet Palhal,owner of the establishment,says,“We have kept a Chinese theme for the interior decoration because we wish to promote the oriental cuisine here. We do serve other cuisines too,but the Oriental designs for the interiors go very well with our food,whichever cuisine it may be.”

Whipping up an interesting collection of cocktails and mocktails we began with the Hot Wire (Rs 250),a blackcurrant syrup-based mocktail,which had lime juice and crushed ice and was very refreshing. The long list of starters from the varied cuisines does promise to display a wide variety of choices to the customer but at times can be overwhelming too. For the starters we ordered the Vegetable Crispies Safiwoo (Rs 160),and Steamed Vegetable Dumplings. The dumplings felt a little bland and undercooked and could have been cooked more. The vegetable cripises were accompanied by a fiery home-made chilly dip. However,they were cooked in a mixture of hot and sweet sauces along with a coating of plum sauce that left us guessing the ingredients more than once.

Interestingly for a fine dining restaurant,one of the few anomalies that we did find was with the menu card itself. The huge collection of spelling errors in the name of the dishes was a disappointment. Regarding the same Palhal says,“The cards actually have been printed on,in a hurry. A new collection of the same however should be in place very soon.”

For the main course we ordered the Thai Vegetable Curry (Rs250),and steamed rice,along with Chicken Kiev (Rs 275). What came out as the most original was the Chicken Kiev. Right from the bread based outer crispy coating,to the mashed potato side dish,and the Chicken rolled up in Garlic butter,the dish was perfect and heavy enough for one filling. The Thai curry on the other hand was a little too sweet for our liking. The Long Island Ice Tea (Rs 350) that we tried here could have also been better,given that there was a mixture of the various liquors in it that eroded the distinctive taste the drink usually has.

For dessert,we tried the Sizzling Hot Chocolate Brownie (Rs 175). What was wonderful about the dish was that it did not come pre-laden with the chocolate sauce; instead it was served in a small serving pot. It offers the customer an option to choose how much of the sauce he or she wishes to have on the dish.

On the whole,the Regalia Resto and Lounge,is a good weekend dining place. With its relaxed ambience,and good service the lounge too is a good getaway. Try it for the wide array of dishes that offer multiple options to choose from.