The belly rules the mind - Spanish Proverb
From Monday to Saturday Amadeus, the
Spanish and Mediterranean restaurant at NCPA, hosts a Flying Buffet. It's an
all-you-can-eat 8 course lunch. Priced at Rs. 1200 a head it is definitely
value for money - but it's not really the best Amadeus has to offer.
The place is beautiful - polished and
dimly lit in sophisticated hues of beige and brown. When we went last Saturday
the place was almost empty and the service was overly attentive. The staff to
patron ration was probably 2:1. 
The concept of a Flying Buffet isn't really perfected here. Some dishes are served family style and some plated - which is fine by me - but the plating really needs work. Our fish and chicken mains were very oddly served - two white and very different sauces in one side plate. Between them however, sat a winner of a barley risotto. I loved the kaffir scented chicken fillets - but I'm just a sucker for kaffir scented anything. The sauce bursts in your mouth with flavors that cross between lemon and lemongrass - and go great with the textured barley. The oven baked sea bass was relatively forgettable. Its French Bonnefoy sauce with subtle hints of shallots and white wine got totally overpowered by the bold kaffir lime.For tapas we were given the wood oven grilled Indian salmon with Lebanese Tahina glaze. Skip it, I say. It is, quite simply a grilled rawas with not much to write home about. The Cajun hot pot potatoes with blistered corn and roasted peppers had nothing Spanish about them but these very Indian chatpata baby potatoes could still have you going back for seconds.
The menu had its hits and misses. There
were some things I would love to go back for. The simple things. A chicken
pizza for example. They call it spiced peri peri chicken cocas (that's Spanish
for flatbreads and a big part of Catalan cuisine). It's spicy and cheesy,
topped with red onions and mushrooms, on a thin foldable base - but still quite
different from an Indigo Deli pizza.
The other stand-out was a chicken soup.
No, that's not what they call it. It's a "Portuguese mineola with baby
spinach and tender chicken". Served in quaint little cups, this clear
broth with its beautiful bits of fresh spinach and chicken bits really
surprised with its clean, delicate flavors.
Finally came the Spanakorizo - the Spanish (or sometimes Greek) version of the risotto featuring spinach and rice. This pilaf of spinach, tomato, chickpeas and chicken looked and tasted more like an Indian pulao A mound of rice heaped on a tiny plate, burying huge chunks of chicken, meant you couldn't really dig in without making a mess. I'd have preferred paella, something authentically Spanish that Amadeus is great at.
For dessert we had Cohiba chocolate cigars and a lemon panna cotta. The cigar was really a chocolate lover’s chocolate - the kind that coats your palate in thick paste. I wasn't particularly impressed by the panna cotta but that could be because I've eaten their frozen gianduja chocolate which is to die for. My hours of watching Masterchef Australia have taught me that panna cotta in a glass is cheating - it should wobble visibly on a plate without falling apart. That being said, my fellow diners who usually skip dessert, especially panna cotta, called for seconds.
The Damage: Rs. 1200 a head + taxes
The Address: NCPA, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai