Bollywood To Wellywood

On Wednesday night we went to One80 for their dégustation menu, Bollywood to Wellywood, and to celebrate Tor’s birthday. That, at least, was the plan…but, due to a lack of bookings, the restaurant decided to cancel the event. But as we’d already booked for 8 people, the chef, Chetan Pangam, gave us the dégustation menu. It helps that Tor is on first-name terms with him!

We weren’t provided with a menu – instead, Chetan came out and explained each dish in detail. Naturally, I’ve forgotten most of that detail, so these are my fuzzy memories of what we had.

To begin with,we had a bottle of Joiy. This is a sparkling Riesling in a 250ml bottle, with a  wedge of lime tucked in the top – brainchild of winemaker Chris Archer, who sees a future for wine in RTD form and an international identifiable brand.  This was accompanied by a canapé, – a vegetable chat on a roti. 

Next up was a beer-battered oyster with a spiced mayonnaise:

Third course (we’re up to three already! And that’s not counting the Joiy!) was a spicy lentil and coconut soup, with naan rolls (one plain, one garlic & onion), and we’re still on starter-style foods:

We got another wine match with this, a Camshorn pinot gris. Next up was a pork terrine, which was a bit overwhelming, and was the one course that I felt could have been left out. It was also about 4 times too big (I say this in retrospect – at the time I ate the lot):

OK, now we’re really cruising. Next out from the kitchen, accompanied by a dry Pencarrow sauvignon blanc (is there another kind? Actually yes – you can get dessert versions) was a salmon dish with cauliflower done 6 different ways - dried, puréed, pickled, crumbed, bhaji'd, and grilled.

The next dish was vegetables - mushrooms and curry icecream, served with Alpha Domus Barnstomer syrah. Not, perhaps, the greatest wine/food combo I've come across.

To cool things off after that, we had a quick melon sorbet.

Next up we had a lamb rogan josh, served with a crusted lamb cheek, carrot and turnip. and spicy puy lentils. We had a Gibbston Valley pinot noir with this:

Phew. that's the lot! Apart from pudding of course...and why have one pudding when you can so easily fit three on a plate? There's a rose-petal crème brulée with biscotti, a baked alaska containing kulfi, and a yoghurt cardamom cream: 

This all proved too much for me, and I was unable to get through all the desserts. The finishing touch was a ginger and cinnamon tea, with a Schoc truffle: