New Year's Eve at Portland Steakhouse

Happy New Year to all you wonderful people! Hope your year is full of good food and fun. :) (I know I'm a whole 10 days late, but there's no such thing as a late wish, is there?)

Every year on New Year's Eve, I decide to go to one of those parties where I end up paying a bomb and get nibbles of food to eat, if the hordes of people give us a chance. One party, they ran out of food. Another, there was a queue so long, that I don't remember whether I reached the end of the line or not. Once, there was almost a stampede at the food counters.

So this year, we decided to do food justice and indulge in a good dinner instead of those measly bites. Many restaurants were offering some great menus, but after researching, I decided to go with Portland Steakhouse. The restaurant is located centrally and I've never had a disappointing experience so far, so that helped finalize my decision. They offered a 4-course meal along with a glass of wine for Rs.1649/- inclusive of taxes, which sounded like a good deal to me.

We walked in early to have enough time to devour our meal through the night. The restaurant was partially full, and to our pleasant surprise, the staff members had lit a bonfire outside (it's like a verandah just away from the restaurant) and it seemed to generate a lovely warmth through the air.

For our first course, our options were spread across 3 soups and 2 salads. Not being in the mood for the tried and tested tomato soups and clear chicken soups, we decided to go for the salads instead. While my friend ordered the Caesar Salad with Prawns, I opted for the Watermelon, Feta and Cucumber Salad. The Caesar Salad was lovely, fresh Romaine lettuce leaves tossed with Caesar's dressing, croutons, prawns and Parmesan shavings. I would have liked a little more dressing, but my friend didn't seem to mind. My salad was fresh and bursting with flavours. The watermelon, feta and lettuce were coated beautifully with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing that I loved. The cucumbers were sliced lengthwise too thinly, and I didn't enjoy them too much. I would've liked more texture too - crunch of walnuts, perhaps.

Caesar's Salad with Prawns

Watermelon, Feta and Cucumber Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing

Our second course had a lot more options - a total of 10 to choose from, which made us argue a lot over what to order. We eliminated the vegetarian options instantly, and after more such eliminations, we finally agreed on the Pasilla Chilli Beef and Melba Toasts with Salmon. I was quite excited about the Pasilla Chilli Beef - I had the Pasilla Chilli Chicken Wings at a bar in New York, and it was one of the spiciest dishes I've ever tried. The beef here didn't disappoint either. It was quite spicy, and balanced well with the sweetness of the bell peppers. The Melba Toasts were our favourite though. Smoked Salmon over cream cheese with dill spread on toasts make for quite the delicious, light appetizer. Also, say goodbye to table manners when you wolf down this one.

Pasilla Chilli Beef

Smoked Salmon with cream cheese on Melba Toasts

The third course was what got excited us from the very beginning - again, there were a total of 10 dishes to choose from, and it seemed to be quite a meaty affair. They had the Rib Eye Steak and New York Strip in the mains, but since we'd already tried both the steaks here earlier, we decided to try something else. Our other options were Lobster (for which you had to pay Rs.250 extra), Christmas Day Chicken, Duck and Turkey.

My friend picked the Roast Turkey with Gravy with baked sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, and I ordered the Crispy Duck with Chilli Plum sauce. I thought the turkey was a little dry and could have done with some gravy, and then we had someone from the management who offered to top the meat with more gravy (without us asking for it); so they definitely scored brownie points for service. My duck wasn't as crispy as I imagined it would be. I expected fried, crispy pieces of duck, but while the outer skin of the duck was a little crispy, it was doused with too much sauce, softening the skin and meat by the time I tried it. Yeah, one dish had no gravy, and one had too much. :) Other than that, I thought the sweet potato mash and cranberry sauce really stood out.

Crispy Duck with Chilli Plum Sauce

Roast Turkey with gravy, baked sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce

As you may have guessed, we were pretty stuffed by the end of our third course, yet there is always some space for dessert in my tummy. I ordered the New York Style Cheese Cake while my friend ordered Haroon's famous Apple Pie. The apple pie tasted yum and had a nice crunch to it. Though I think it lacked a little cinnamon and sprinkling of castor sugar to me. The cheese cake was beyond delicious, and had a consistency accompanied with that perfect tang to die for. Their apple pie is their signature dessert, but the cheese cake was the clear winner for us that night.

New York Style Cheesecake

Haroon's famous Apple Pie

We ate to our heart's and stomach's content, and couldn't have imagined a better meal for NYE. Maybe they should feature this menu more regularly, they might just have more takers.

Overall, my rating for this special dinner at Portland Steakhouse is:

Food - 7/10
Ambience - 8/10
Service - 10/10
Verdict - They treat meat with respect, and don't disappoint in desserts either. It would take a lot more to convince the vegetarians though.

Portland Steakhouse has a great menu and is easily my favourite place in the city for good steaks. They understand what "medium rare" actually means and the meat cuts (Rib eye, Chateaubriand, New York strip steak), delicious sides and a variety of sauces really makes them stand out from the rest of the steak joints. If you haven't visited this place yet, I suggest you do at the earliest. You won't be disappointed. :)