Luxury dining at Kolkata’s highest restaurant
For luxury tourists embarking upon a gastronomic journey in the eastern region of India should not lose the opportunity to head to Seasonal Tastes, the only all-day fine-dining restaurant at The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat. Snuggled on the 10th floor, Seasonal Tastes opened its doors sometime in September, 2017 and is considered as the best, highest restaurant in the New Town area of Kolkata. This is incidentally the restaurant that flaunts the largest buffet with the highest number of offerings and the largest number of dessert specialities with the best dessert buffet.
The thought of indulging in luxury dining for the second time at Seasonal Tastes has crossed my mind several times, hence it was a stroke of luck for me when had the option to drop in at this newest, most-sought-after restaurant visited by global, luxury tourists. The idea of savouring one’s taste buds with the widest array of healthy, tantalizing cuisine and having desserts churned out from the most expensive Swiss chocolate brand-Valrhona is highly tempting and is something quite hard to resist. The seating area of the restaurant offers the visual delight of overlooking atrium being exposed to a height of about 22nd floor, an architectural wonder. The interiors of the restaurant have a vibrant ambience and the walls are adorned with illuminated shlokas in Sanskrit flaunting a touch of spiritualism.
A view of the restaurant
There are two live stations at the restaurant including Oriental and Italian and its salad counter has the largest offerings in the city with a salad bar, cold cuts and a number of global variety of cheese served with condiments. The presence of the Jain counter, one-of-a-kind in the city forms one of the high points of the restaurant. One can savour three choices at the Jain counter including spicy Gujarati and Rajasthani delights. The chaat counter is another attraction. One of the most distinguishing features of the restaurant is the offering of menus depending upon the particular state of the guests. It is the only luxury restaurant in Kolkata to practise open kitchen policy.
I began my culinary journey with the chaat counter and picked up Paani puri, lip-smacking Dahi Vada, delectable Paprika roast potatoes and Cous cous salad with mango mushroom masala. Before getting on to the main course, I was offered mango cappuccino.
I moved on to the main menu that is quite vast and comprises six vegetarian and three non-vegetarian options. I began with the spicy Vegetable Masala Pulao and relished it with Aloo Methi cooked in home style method, Masaledar Bhindi and the mouth-watering Mushroom Masala. I headed to the Jain counter to gorge on Gujarati recipes like Gathiyu Na Shaak and Kaju Matar Makhana that were feisty.
Next I moved on to the dessert counter that is as robust as the menu. On offer are four kinds of cakes, two types of tart, three types of Madeleine, six kinds of French pastries and six types of ice creams, not to mention the four types of Indian desserts. There were overall 30 dessert offerings that was quite impossible to have for a single person. I have an inclination for dark temptations so I savoured Classic Opera, hot chocolate brownie, Black Forest Gateaux and Berry and Chocolate Cake that were simply divine. I decided to round off my meal with the Indian desserts that were truly authentic like Balushahi, baked Gulabjamun and Boondi ke laddoo.
At Seasonal Tastes, diners will not have to shell out big bucks since a buffet lunch comes for Rs 999 plus taxes for a single person. For the corporate sector, there is 20 per cent discount on lunch buffet on weekdays.
