Aurus, the swish seaside lounge in Juhu that shut in 2012, was triumphant on two counts. It was a successful nightlife venue and a much-needed hangout on the city’s woefully under-utilised coast. In December last year, fine-dining restaurant Estella moved into the spot Aurus occupied to reap the merits of the enviable real estate. Naturally, diners crowd Estella’s outer beach-facing deck that was also thronged by celebrities in Aurus’s heydays. The cabanas and the row of tables nearest to the beach are bid for first. If like us you show up without a reservation, you’ll be assigned to the cavernous indoor dining room given step treatment by view-hungry customers.
The room was hauntingly deserted and broodingly dark with its black leather furnishings and walls covered in wooden slats, a hallmark of architect Sameep Padora’s designs as seen at the Indigo Deli in Lower Parel and at Craft in Kurla. For a glimpse of the water, you can perch at the bar that extends across the two sections of Estella. You’re likelier to hear the beach than see it as the place only opens at 7pm, when the crowd on Juhu beach ebbs and the tide rises. Even the al fresco deck is kept impractically dark, barring a delicate canopy of tiny LEDs twinkling over the tables like distant stars. The minimal use of electricity makes it a great date spot enhanced by the salty sea breeze and the light lounge music mercifully played at a conversation-friendly volume.
For the non-amorous, sight suffers at the cost of ambience. The menus are thus served with torches to aid with the ordering, but the flashlights also highlight the pricing. Here, appetisers are priced between Rs450 and Rs1,200, entrees between Rs750 and Rs2,800, and most of the meaty mains in the vicinity of Rs1,500; a cocktail will set you back by Rs900. While the new crop of city restaurants are championing local produce, Estella has taken a step back with its menu laden with imported and hence pricey ingredients: scallop from Tasmania, Hunter Valley tenderloin and Australian lamb shank. The service is efficient and polite and befits their fine-dining tag. The food is good if not unique; our meal felt like something we could’ve eaten at Olive Bar and Kitchen in Khar or Indigo in Colaba. Ultimately, you get the sense that you’re paying a premium for the location.
Estella bills itself as a ‘modern Australian’ restaurant since the majority of its imports are flown from the continent. Continental, however, is a more fitting description of its offerings that include a Valencia pilaf; Spanish shrimp al ajillo; Swiss chilli and potato rosti; and spicy Moroccan stew. The chicken wing cakes decompressed (Rs600), undoubtedly inspired by The Table’s excellent boneless chicken wings, was not as sophisticated as the original. In Estella’s take, you get a brownie-size stack of tender chicken covered in BBQ sauce that was pleasantly tart and sweet. The sauce was tasty but the bland meat had not soaked its flavour. The pistachio-crusted Lebanese koftas (Rs625) served on sticks with a dollop of elderflower yoghurt were first-rate. The nutty spiced lamb was so soft we had to hold it up with our hands. The savoury yoghurt infused with elderflower amplified the starter’s heady aroma.
The John Dory (Rs1,100), wearing a halo of jalapeno crab cream sauce and wilted kangkong (water spinach) greens, was the next hit of the evening. Two fish fillets were simply pan-flashed and kept deliberately clean to showcase the pool of rich, sweet crab sauce below it. Fine-dining though they are, Estella’s cooking leans more towards comfort than haute as proved by the fantastic cauliflower and blue cheese cannelloni (Rs850). The pasta crepes were generously cloaked with blue cheese and cheddar and stuffed with an equally indulgent cauliflower and cheddar mash. The piquant blobs of blue cheese and the robust plum tomato sauce splattered around the cannelloni elevated the bake from homestyle to sophisticated.
Desserts range from the run of the mill, such as chocolate fondant, to the uncommon, but justice is done to both. Among the more unusual sweet offerings is the delicious plum and frangipane tart (Rs575) in which a flattened disc of flaking filo dough was layered with velvety frangipane (almond-flavoured pastry cream) and embellished with tart sliced plums. The tart was served with a scoop of vanilla and creme Anglaise that doubled the guilt and the pleasure. The Belgian chocolate fondant (Rs575) was flawlessly baked and let out a river of molten chocolate over a plate smeared with salted toffee sauce that we shamelessly licked off with our fingers. The accompanying house-made peanut butter ice cream stippled with crushed peanuts was a thrilling final flourish to this ode to decadence.
Get: Pistachio-crusted Lebanese koftas (Rs625); cauliflower and blue cheese cannelloni (Rs850); John Dory (Rs1,100); frangipane tart (Rs575).
Skip: Chicken wings cakes decompressed (Rs600).
This review was conducted anonymously. It is our policy to wait at least a week after an establishment has opened before we review it.
Prices excludes taxes and a service charge of 10 per cent.
Estella, Nichani Kutir, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu. Tel: 79999 98232. Open daily, from 7pm to 1am. Get directions here.