It has been a long time since my first and only post on the Supreme Upper Crust restaurant/cafe was made after the very brief visit for a snack many months ago… However, I must confess that this particular instance is not the only visit to the place after that as I have been there once before quite recently, and it was an utter disappointment for me, which felt so bad that I didn’t even feel like writing about it here but ended up being quite vocal about it in their customer feedback card… Soon after that, one of my friends ended up pestering me quite a lot to give this place another shot as my experience must’ve been an accident… So, I decided to go back there once more and turns out he was right… Also, since I guess I was quite vocal about it in the feedback card, plus, me being a marginally known food blogger here, I was informed by the management that they (including their M.D.) recognised me from the CCTV footage and so, informed me that they have taken my feedback seriously and that corrective measures have been implemented… At the end of the meal, they came back and asked for my feedback to ensure that the previous mistakes have not repeated, which I feel is a promising gesture on their part…
Anyways, regarding the restaurant, it really has the look of any starred cafe and pâtisserie abroad… I absolutely loved the decor and it is indeed a class apart if I may say so… They have a large display case filled with their cakes and a separate section for the breads and there are various kinds of breads and cakes here which I have not seen anywhere else in Trivandrum…
This time, being for lunch, I started off with their French Onion Soup and their Caesar Salad and then for mains, I went for their Mexicano Spicy Grilled Tiger Prawns and then had a piece of their Baked Cheesecake for dessert and to wash it all down, a portion of their Blackcurrant Smoothie 🙂
So, the first to arrive was the French Onion Soup… This is a classic soup from the world of Haute cuisine thats one of my favourite soups to have… Traditionally its made by cooking onions in a meat stock with olive oil till they caramelise and then topped with cheese and/or a piece of bread or its gratinéed… Sometimes they add milk to it or thicken it with eggs or flour… Vegetarian version of this is made by just using water instead of the meat stock and then of-course seasoned with herbs like rosemary along with salt and pepper… This is a soup meant as an entrée…
The version here is the Vegetarian one and it has been made with the optional milk added to it… The Soup was seasoned with some Rosemary, Salt and Pepper and then topped with some chopped parsley… The soup came with a couple of pieces of bread, which included a corn bread topped with some cheese and then a bun both topped with some Oregano…
The soup turned out to be great… Quite a rich and almost creamy soup with obviously a strong taste of caramelised onions along with the flavour of rosemary in it… Only complaint I have is that I felt there were too many pieces of onions in the soup… The bun was quite tough to break and eat… However, the corn bread was a delight to have with the soup… The Cheese on top of the bread tasted great with the soup as well… Altogether this is a soup that may be a bit of an acquired taste for the average Indian palette but its something that I would love to have again… I do wish they do it gratinéed though with an option to do it with Chicken stock (thats just me)… 🙂
As I was getting done with the soup, they brought over my Caesar Salad… As per their menu, they have versions with Chicken, Seafood, Beef-Bacon and Salmon… I went for the Chicken version as I believe thats the best version for a Caesar Salad for me and of-course, there is also the skepticism because of previous experience that I talked about above and hence the safe choice… 🙂
The Caesar salad is the quintessential salad thats the most popular one all over the world that any restaurant worth the claim to serve “international” food should have that in the menu… Its usually a salad made with Romaine Lettuce and Croutons thats dressed with Olive oil, Lemon juice, Egg, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, Garlic and Black Pepper, even though the original recipe is said to have just the Lettuce, Coddled Eggs and Olive oil… These days, people use all kinds of salad dressings in it like Mayonnaise, Thousand Island, etc…
According to the menu, the version here consists of Lettuce, Parmesan Cheese, Tomato (Cherry Tomatoes) and Garlic Bread Cubes with the choice of the protein, which in my case is the Chicken… They have dressed the salad with Mayonnaise and seasoned with Oregano, Pepper and Salt and then served with the Bun and Corn Bread (without the cheese topping) that we saw with the soup… The Salad is placed on a whole leaf of the Lettuce and then garnished with a couple of springs of Parsley and a whole Cherry Tomato…
Quite frankly, this is definitely one of the best versions of Caesar Salads that I have had so far… No complaints at all here, except for the part that they way its served, its hard to eat with a fork without spilling over… The Chicken was cooked and seasoned perfectly and each and every piece of vegetable in it was crunchy and felt like it was freshly cut… I didn’t quite understand the significance of the two breads that were included though… The roasted garlic bread disks (even though menu says cubes) provided enough of the croutons component… The Mayonnaise was just enough to enjoy the salad, unlike most places where they drown the salad in it… Altogether a very refreshing salad to start your meal anytime…
Once I was done with the salad, I got served the platter of Mexicano Spicy Grilled Tiger Prawns… According to the menu, this is a platter consisting of Grilled Tiger Prawns spiced with Caribbean Herbs, finished with Lemon Butter Sauce and served with Saffron Rice and Green Vegetables…
However, what got served was Grilled Tiger Prawns with Buttered Rice with Vegetables… The Prawns appeared to be finished with a creamy and Spicy Chipotle and Rosemary based Sauce with Red Pepper… Then the platter had some grilled Vegetables (Carrot, Squash, Zucchini and Broccoli) and also the two breads that we have been seeing all along the meal 🙂 The rice didn’t have any Saffron in it, but was made with the fragrant long grain Basmati and finely chopped vegetables that it almost felt like a Fried Rice made in Butter without the Soy sauce 🙂 Everything was topped with an piece of Olive and Parsley and there was also a sprig of Rosemary in the middle as shown in the pics…
I absolutely loved this platter… Yes, they didn’t really serve what was written in the menu, but what was served turned out to be awesome… Perfectly cooked Prawns coated in the sauce thats to die for in my opinion… The rice was incredibly fragrant and that along with the flavours of the vegetables and the butter felt so good that I felt that it could be eaten as it is as well… The overall combination of flavours felt so good that this is indeed one of the best platters of food that I have had so far… Everything was seasoned so perfectly… But, once again, I didn’t quite understand what those two pieces of bread were doing in this platter as I felt that the taste of both those breads didn’t work here… My only complaint/suggestion about this platter to the Chef is that I wish they had removed the shell of the Prawns and then incorporated the head butter in the sauce itself, which I think would make the sauce taste even better… Also, please do remove those breads and only serve them as an option (maybe a croissant would be better with it)… 🙂
Once I was done with the Mexicano Prawns platter, I was served my piece of their Baked Cheesecake… For those who are unaware, a Cheesecake is different from your regular cake… This is usually made by setting a mixture of soft cheese, usually Cream cheese or Ricotta with cream, eggs and sugar over a crust thats usually made of crushed biscuits/cookies/crackers or sponge cake… The Cheesecake may be baked or not baked… In the baked version the Cheese mixture is poured over a half baked crust and then baked till its fully cooked and then chilled before serving it… Options of toppings include fruit syrups, whipped cream or caramel or chocolate syrup… The non-baked version is made by having the Cheese mixture set on the crust by refrigeration… In this case, they add in some emulsifier like Gelatine to help with the setting process… It is my personal opinion that only the baked version of the Cheese cake brings out the flavour of the cheese and the crust and gives it a much better texture than the unbaked version…
So, this particular version of the Baked Cheesecake comes with a Chocolate biscuit based crust with some walnuts and hazelnuts and the Cheesecake is topped with Rich Caramel Sauce…
Its no secret that I prefer Cheesecakes over regular cakes any day… This one confirms the end of my search for the baked Cheesecake in Trivandrum as I was indeed fed up with the non-bake gelatine version thats sold at most places… The crust kind of tasted like the biscuits used in Oreos and the nuts have a bit of a crunch to it… The Cheesecake was indeed rich and creamy and the caramel sauce on top added another dimension to its taste… This is definitely a cheesecake that I’ll be looking forward to having again…
As a drink, I had their Blackcurrant Smoothie… This was essentially a thick milkshake made with Blackcurrant served in a milk bottle as shown in the pics below…
This smoothie packs a punch with the flavour of the Blackcurrant in every drop… Its incredibly rich and creamy and very refreshing at the same time… Only problem with this is that unless to drink it quickly when served, the milk tends to split and then instead of a milkshake, this becomes a blackcurrant lassi 😀
When that happened today as shown in the pic above, I tried showing it to the waitress and she claimed that its not split and that its the ice cube melted and that I just have to mix it up with the straw… But from the taste, it was clear what had happened 🙂
Anyways, this was one of the best meals I have had in recent times and I am glad that I made the decision to go back… Now, I can’t wait to go again and explore the rest of their menu…
