Monday, June 14, 2010

Global Fusion - Bandra, Mumbai. A Foodie Adventure!


If there were Foodie adventure trips to be signed up for, the restaurant in question today would be leading the pack.

Global Fusion is a Specialty Asian/South East Asian restaurant located bang on a Linking Road corner in Link Square Mall opposite KFC. The Restaurant is buffet only and though I found it strange for a restaurant not to offer an a la carte menu, it all made sense once the evening was over.

The first thing you notice while entering are the buffet prices mentioned above the reservation desk. Depending upon which day you are there at and whether for lunch or dinner will decide how much you are going to fork out for this gastronomic experience. The Weekday Lunch is priced lowest at Rs. 570/-, followed by the Mon-Thu dinner at Rs. 720/- and Fri Dinner + Weekends raking it in at Rs. 850/-, all exclusive of taxes. This includes unlimited mineral water, iced tea and soft drinks while liquor can be ordered separately. Though at first glance the pricing looks prohibitive, for those who are patient it all falls into place around mid way through the meal.


As you are led to your table, first thing you notice is the cavernous space that suddenly opens up to you. High roofs, an art deco Chinese pavilion, running water channels and multiple sections add an element of space and relaxation.


Soon it’s time to get up and check out the exotic spread laid out for your benefit. I suggest taking a walking tour along the tables looking at all the options before grabbing a plate. You would need to pace your meal and it’s practically impossible for a normal person to try everything on offer.


You can choose from multiple soups, sashimi’s, dumplings, tempura, Fritters, raw papaya salad and Spring Rolls. Made to order Stir fried starters, sticky rice and the star at every sitting, Sushi.  Believe me when I say am just scratching the surface here when it comes to variety. I also loved the fact that it was extremely vegetarian friendly with every dish including sushi having equal number of vegetarian items and variants. While most of the items are self service, some of them will be made fresh and brought to your table. The main course served in the adjoining section is another delectable affair with Thai curry, rice, noodles and other meat, sea food items. Though definitely at above average levels I would still prefer to stuff myself on the starters and jump straight to desserts.

The Dessert corner is a variety of unlimited cakes and pastries with believe it or not an unlimited Baskin Robbins Ice Cream corner. Forget those miniature tasting spoons, here you can indulge your taste buds with unlimited cups of every flavor but only if you still have space left in your stomach that is. Though the dessert counter lacks in variety the unlimited Ice Cream more than makes up for it.

In my mind what really works for the restaurant is that they take away the question of money right at the beginning. With the still experimenting and testing Indian crowd there are times when ordering from a menu makes one wonder if what one is ordering is going to be good or not, hope it doesn’t get wasted, etc. This turns off most of the people from venturing out and trying new stuff especially at specialty restaurants and they end up ordering the tried and tested stuff. Since money is taken out of the equation right at offset, you can try every exotic item as many times as you like and if not to your liking move on to the next one. Consequently, it was quite entertaining to see my companion experiment with wasabi and its surprising bite. Once you realize the exclusivity of dishes that the restaurant is offering and think about what they would cost had you ordered them individually the buffet price suddenly seems very reasonable or for that matter even cheap. Whatever it is worth, it is definitely value for money.

It’s very rare that an establishment blows you away with what it has to offer and everyone I have talked to who has been there shares the same opinion. I definitely would be visiting them again and I hope that this review makes you do that at least once.

P.S. Please excuse the quality of pictures as I had to rely on my meager 2 MP Phone Camera to take them in low lighting.


Please share your opinion on this post in the comments section.

3 comments:

  1. this def looks like a place I'd like to visit or at least suggest to my friends..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Thanks for this excellent review. Glad you included the prices as well. Ever since I moved to Mumbai, I was desperate for decently priced Japanese fare. All joints I came across were either grossly overpriced or the quality of the fare was nothing much to write home about. I guess my quest is finally over and I am so looking forward to checking this place out at the earliest. I wish you had included some a few more facts like the freshness of the seafood, especially the Sashimi and where does one park etc. considering the area this restaurant is located is one of the most congested in Mumbai! Great review nonetheless.
    Thanks
    Santosh Kumar

    ReplyDelete
  3. i along with a couple of my friends discovered global fusion more than a year back, and whenever i go to mumbai, we make it a point to do the adventure together. Eating there is surely an experience in itself, the prices are not five star, but the menu is surely more elaborate than one!

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