Tatva
"Tatva" comes into Hyderabad food scenes where its high tied with plethora of newbies mushrooming all across the city right from lounges, cafe, fine diners, bistros and what not. The competition is at whole another level and its tough unless your homework and parameters are well evaluated before debuting live. Tat made the debut felt with all the right nodes striking when it brought on-board Chef Naveen Nagaraj who we known is well crafted to bring in international dishes with elegance and flare. Decor pics were making WOWs sound everywhere and that puts the place in buzzing mode across all levels of foodies, bloggers and everyone who loves trying new places. Visit could not have been more perfect as Foodie group "Highway On the Plate " hosted a lunch event with a set menu curated by Execute Chef Mr. Naveen himself and it was a bang on to get the whole package experience.
The place as you enter, not only just excite you but goes beyond enticing you. The rich golden palette touch all across, the vibrant cute miniatures all across, a royal finesse in all the lighting and hangings - you think of it, they deliver. Decor is perfect and definitely one of the best thought through ventures in recent times.The dining space is divided into an open modern style lounge type seating with chill out bar on the side and behind it is the closed up fine dining section with a huge and lavish PDR for groups to have private dining experience. The vent was hosted on the modern touch section and with the bar fully operational, you cant get better than this.
As we started to settle down , I started d conversation with Dominic Anthony, Bar Maestro and got to know more about him and he was working previously with Air Live. As he started making drinks after drinks and I was relishing them, one thing struck, the guy is literally a bar magician <3 <3 <3 behind the stand and delivered d drinks one after another to be frank they competed against one another. My top picks were Hot Toddy for Winter and Jalapeno Margarita for summer . His skills are swift, flavors are bang on and definitely master in what he does. Watching him dish drinks is by itself an experience in Tatva.
Hot Toddy - A perfect marriage of all whole spices in warm cider and it looks visually WOW and its definitely not for light drinkers. The flavor is intense and so refreshing. If you are non-alcoholic and want to experience a kick, go for this one
Jalapeno Margarita - Their food festival special and made with simple jalapeno and lemon juice and right amount of soda and boom magic is done and it was intensely flavored again
Ginger Birch Soda - Another mind blowing drink, made with simple soda, lemon juice, sugar syrup and torched ginger/jaggery pieces and whole cinnamon. Drink it !!! Believe It!!
Kocumber Kooler - Its cucumber refresher and as aptly named cools your palate in an instant
Virgin Mary - Now who would thought tomato, red chillies and lemon slice would make such a wonderful drink. Def the most sourest drink you can imagine but I loved it. So diverse and so intense.
Minty Lemon - Self explanatory drink and the right amount of melon smash with freshness coming from mint leaves crushed and booya - d drinks comes to life <3
Imli Khatta Meetha - Desi drink that you cant go wrong. Absolutely extreme flavors and it disappears in a single sip
Aam Panna - Nice refreshing drink of all and cleans your palate absolutely
Berry Shake - Regular berry shake drink but the flavors was apt and a perfect coolant.
With mocktails enthralling me to a drink com,a food started coming in and we sat down to relish the set menu for us.
Paneer Satay was a nice twist on your regular Asian satay dish with grilled paneer skewers nicely flavored and seasoned and stacked to form a structure and served with spicy peanut sauce which completed the paneer very well- MUST TRY.
Kamala Kakdi Ke Galouti Kebab now you think a veg galouti cannot be as much as the meat variant but then one spoon of it , you know its SPOT ON. The rich n smooth texture with the cream yogurt on top and mint was refreshing and absolutely cracker - MUST TRY.
Falafal with Hummus now very few places get the hummus right and the right balance of smoothness and richness that it is supposed to be. This one was spot on and served in a unique way on a giant spoon along with olive slice. the falafals were crispy but I felt they could have been more seasoned. To be frank they tasted real good but more like dal vada.But the combination of falafal placed on a peta bread base and with hummus, the combination played well.
Jalapeño poppers is is definitely going to be a crowd puller dish for them. The visual appeal, the finesse of the dish speaks volumes of the chef.The outer crispiness and the guey cheese minced with jalapeno slices was so apt and I loved the very unique chocolate sauce drizzled under as a serving bed - MUST TRY.
Pesto Paneer Tikka a traditional paneer tikka is so much done in every tikka based menu and sometimes over done to spoil the whole flavor. Most places get it almost right but some fail miserably. This variant was a unique experimentation in terms of using pesto sauce marination instead of traditional green hara bara kebab masala and also presentation wise, it was served in smoky oval doom to give a feel of smokiness while opening it. Nice idea and good flavors as well.
Cream of Broccoli now broccoli I know is either loved or hated there is no other side of it. I liked this soup variant which made the otherwise bland broccoli taste good but soup was served after starters were served and I didn't get this aspect really. I also would have loved it if it had more cream and more thicker.
Beetroot & Orange Salad impressed me from the presentation to the flavors and the thought process of Chef. Cucumber, beetroot chunks, orange chunks and multi colored faux caviar it mighty impressed me. The cook and seasoning was just apt and yeah even meat lover like me can eat and appreciate healthy food - MUST TRY.
Gnocchi in pesto another hit dish from Chef.Gnocchi are soft dough dumplings normally made with semolina or polenta. Cooked in deep flavored pesto sauce and served with some yummy crispy garlic bread, this dish was WOW from the first bite - MUST TRY.
Paneer Kurchan is as simple as preparing an everyday subzi but has an exclusive flavor and texture, perhaps due to the apt combination of veggies and spices with succulent paneer. This dish was presented very well and the succulent paneer made the curry very enticing and I really liked it.
Kamalkakdi lababdar was another interesting curry dish made with lotus stem (kamal kakdi) and was thought through well but somehow it didn't WOW me as the lotus stem was itself very stiff and gave a weird crunchy texture to other wise flavorful and smooth curry.
Dal makhni is something you see in any veg menu and this place was no exception A good one but I have had better ones. Could have been made more richer.
Schezwan fried noodles - this was a NO for me as it was crispy yes but too spicy for me. I couldn't have more than one spoon of it. I felt something wasn't right for me in that I had to pass it by.a.
We were completely filled to our rim but we knew we had some dishes in the set menu yet and till now it was a lovely experience and the last two dishes came in the finale round only to make it more WOW.
Mexican Platter was definitely an amazing dish put together and I loved the mexican rice and veggies. Couldn't relish it much as I was too stuffed.
Cannelloni Florentine A delicious dish normally made with sea food or meat and stuffed cannelloni in a quick marinara sauce along with carrots, celery, chopped half onion and spinach. But this veg variant done same way was absolutely killer. The richness from the cheese melt and the pasta consistency and the marinara sauce everything blended so well - MUST TRY.
Heard a lot of their desserts and of course there is always room for them. Naveen has already impressed me in his previous chef experience on innovative desserts. This place should also get some enticing ones..
Paantantra - D unique sprout jar comes out smoking dry ice is the first impression you get as the fuming dessert comes to you. Paan ice cream infused with kolkata paan and a typical paan decored on the top. The whole conceptualization is new and refreshing. Flavors are bang on and definitely refreshing. at 300 + taxes its a bit pricy one but experience counts - MUST TRY.
Banoffee was served in a mini jar for tasting and this one definitely visually impressed me. Banana flavored custard and a thin layer of chocolate and served with a layered almond chikki and a tinch of blueberry and cream.The dish worked though I felt the chikki layer didn't had any connection but this gives the crunchy feel to the dessert.
Apricot Delight was served in similar style as the original ones and definitely flavor was there. But somehow I didn't connect to it it. I liked but didn't love it. I still am a die hard fan of the original served.
Baked Cheesecake was the dessert of the night for me. the simple arrangement and presentation impressed me. The perfect thickness of biscuit base, the creamy cheese everything worked for me . But the fresh fruits cut didn't marry well with the cheese cake. I would have preferred heavy dosage of some cream or cream cheese to elevate the overall texture of the dessert. Nevertheless the cheesecake flavors is WOW - MUST TRY.
Service & Hospitality:
Executive Chef Naveen & Bar Master Dominic were two stars who impressed us with an amazing lunch with some delectable dishes and amazing ever-lasting mocktails. they both know their art and ensured customers were not only just satisfied but WOWed in every aspect and I should say for most of it, yes I was pleasantly satisfied for the entire menu and food served. The staff who were coordinating dishes served were also polite and there was no room for complaining for any customer.
Verdict:
Tatva is definitely on the higher league when it comes to VFM or pricing point as dishes are bit high priced but considering the area of dine and the pricing factor is quite OK for the delectable dishes. A Meal for two can easily cross 2000 and since its fine dining vegetarian place, people might get a little apprehended and if you are one such, please don't hesitate to experience some amazing delicacies in Tatva and also an ambiance that soothes you to relax and have a quality time with you friends or family along with some amazing food. I'm definitely coming back for those amazing mocktails from Dominic for sure.