FRANGIPANI

Experiencing and getting intoxicated with life is my deepest desire. I want to experience places, people, cultures and off-course food. But our lives seldom gives the opportunity to live our dreams to the fullest. We live life in tits and bits. But even in this rapacious devouring of precious time by undertakings that may not necessarily appeal to us, we are actually collecting tales. Even if we visit an old eatery in a ramshackle building or a Five Star hotel, we are experiencing something new, something incredible.

In case of Five Star hotels, I have always felt they lack emotions. The grandiloquent decor, courteous staff and a lavish spread, at times fail to touch hearts, while a smiling old man in a forgotten bistro easily claims tad bit space in our congested cores. But then Five Stars too have an appeal of their own and one of the main attractions of these, is the classy ambience that they create. Each hotel is a melting pot of diverse aesthetic ideas, that make the space more than just that.

Very recently, we had an official team lunch in Frangipani, Trident Nariman Point. The name "Frangipani" means "a tropical American tree or shrub with clusters of fragrant white, pink, or yellow flowers" - taken directly from the dictionary. Quite a thoughtful name I would say, yet I would have dumped it as a misnomer, if I hadn't spotted some of those shrubs in and around the place.

Frangipani

Frangipani is a tastefully decorated space, with well trained people to take care of the customers ready to spend for a Five star experience. However the USP of any eatery irrespective of the number of stars attached to it, is the food they serve. And thankfully differing from many other starry affairs, this one had a considerably delectable spread. We had chosen buffet lunch over ala carte. 

The salad and starters spread was of decent size and consisted of both vegetarian and non vegetarian cold Mediterranean and Italian choices. There was one octopus dish, which I did not taste, though it was interesting to behold. A striking contrary to the salad spread was the strictly Indian main course dishes. Dal, rice, paneer, chicken, mutton everything adorned Indian avatars and tasted just fine. But there were no tags to the dishes, which left us with no choice but to ask the staff of their makings, if the appearance did not clarify it all. And off course how could I forget about the soup, they gave pretty same ones to vegetarians and non-vegetarians, for the later they had added some shredded chicken to what appeared like a tomato soup to me. I was in complete soup with the soup, and could not finish it all. However the best part of the food was the desert section. Well, well its true being a bong I have a predominant sweet tooth, but that definitely does not override my tongue which is largely unbiased. I specially loved the cheese cake and vermicelli kheer. Overall I would rate the restaurant 4 on 5. 

Captured what I liked most

Me, a bit of posing as always

A fun moment

Our entire team of simulation nerds

Along with food and Five Star Experience, Trident bestows the opportunity of beholding the winsomeness of the Arabian sea with the city of dreams around it, which we did not miss to capture. 

A view that allures

Panorama

numerous shades of blue

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta