Fresh from the garden

Pluck at the Pullman Hotel in New Delh is taking the farm-to-table route to a truly gourmet selection of dishes

From a skeleton of bricks and wires, I have watched the Aerocity come to life in a span of four years, during my daily commute from Gurgaon to New Delhi. The idea behind this hospitality district, I believe, is to provide business travellers and tourists quick access to the airport and also connect them to the commercial hubs in the city. I decide to test the commuting time from the T3 terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport to Pullman Hotel, one of the many hotels dotting Aerocity’s 43-acre landscape. In the process, I also decide to give myself a gastronomical treat.

Flanked on either side by hotels, Pullman Aerocity is particularly special to the Accor Hotels group as this is its 100th luxury property. As soon as you enter, you are greeted by 6,000 raindrop lights gleaming from the lobby ceiling. A peacock-theme runs through the hotel decor, which has been designed by Singapore-based Meriem Hall — with turquoise blues and warm earthy colours visible on the walls and furnishings.

Before heading to Pluck, Pullman’s multi-cuisine restaurant that offers European-style seasonal menu and can seat 110 guests, I make my way to the hotel’s in-house farm. This is where Ajay Anand, the hotel’s culinary chief designer, grows vegetables and herbs that inspire his ever-evolving menu. Though a lot of hotels around Delhi have started growing their own herbs in little kitchen gardens, this farm-to-table is unique to Pullman because of its scale. After several disappointments caused by Delhi’s soil and weather, Anand discovered the secret to get his farm to blossom.

  “We now get the topsoil from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh,” he says. “Seeds for Habanero chillies and tomatoes are sourced from Mexico.” Plump lettuce, broccoli, radish, juicy beefsteak tomatoes, parsley and baby spinach flaunt their organic glory to the visitors. It has become a sort of a guessing game with the hotel employees to figure out what Anand will be growing next. “He is now trying his hand at white and black chana in the kitchen corridors,” laughs Urvashi Malik, who heads the hotel’s communications team.  

It’s time to taste and I make my way back to the lobby and onward to Pluck. Instead of the regular bread basket, one is served crunchy lettuce with a horseradish dressing. It acts as a perfect palate cleanser, without filling you up before the meal begins. Next up is an amuse-bouche of green pea hummus. The plating is exquisite, the idea being to represent the life cycle of a pea. The freshness of pea shoots bursts on the palate with the crunch of shelled peas and the creaminess of the hummus. I am not a big fan of peas  — my mother has spent decades now trying to force feed me her famous aloo matar  to no avail — but give me a bowl of this cool, creamy hummus and I will eat without a peep.

callop carpaccio with truffle

This is followed by a warm soup — parmesan burnt garlic, oatmeal strudel and roll over melba. Though the flavours of the burnt garlic add a beautiful body to the soup, I find it a bit rich and heavy. Ideal as a standalone meal, perhaps with a salad thrown in, it’s tough to follow it up with a main course.

Pluck is known for its grills and roasts, with greens and light marinades crafted from the fresh farm ingredients giving the meats and vegetables company. Having worked with Carnival Cruise Lines, headquartered in Miami, for more than a decade, Anand draws upon flavours of world cuisine, while staying rooted to classic French traditions.

All thoughts of skipping the main course evaporate in thin air as I bite into buttery soft roasted cod with candied orange, a robust lentil stew and madeira jus. The pairing is unusual, but surprisingly, the lentils add a wonderful texture to the fish.  I end the meal with a dessert of dark milk chocolate and milk chocolate mousse with dark caramel, candied macadamia and warm malted caramel — the play of bitter and sweet acting as a perfect follow-up to the warm flavours of the main course.

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A meal for two at Pluck can cost up to Rs 2,200 (without alcohol)