The Multi-Cuisined San:Qi

Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Indian... it's a versatile feast for all the senses at this favoured Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai restaurant. Book a spot at San:Qi and dine on authentic flavours with a twist, like our editor did, with her favourite food writer

Text: Javed Gaya

The Four Seasons is, of course, one of the premium brands of the world and they are generally known for the size and grandeur of their hotels. So when the Four Seasons opened in Bombay at a rather unpromising location off E Moses Road near Worli Naka, one wondered whether the choice of location was right.
Although the hotel has 33 floors with one of the most happening rooftop bars in the city, Aer Bar, the lobby which is often taken as the cynosure of the hotel is disappointingly small and underwhelming.  But with the opening of Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai, two excellent restaurants were added to Bombay's dining scene.  Prato and San:Qi, the former being Italian and the latter a multi-cuisine restaurant, and this is what we reviewed.  
In our experience, the one kind of restaurant one should zealously avoid is called multi-cuisine – restaurants which seek to offer different cuisines in one experience rarely, if ever, pass muster as they invariably conceal the distressing reality that they hardly, if ever, get even one cuisine right. This is often the case with coffee shops, but that is influenced by the fact that one rarely goes to coffee shops for a seriously significant dining experience.
We have to say that San:Qi is the exception to the rule. It is a multi-cuisine restaurant offering Indian, Chinese, Thai and Japanese. It has a coherence as all these Asian cuisines and like the ITC Pan- Asian restaurants, it has specialist chefs to manage each station, so you get a sense of difference. You not only get a sense of difference; you get a taste of difference if each chef is allotted a separate kitchen, so in the case of San:Qi, Thai and Japanese is taken care of by Chef Rakshit Bajpai who has trained at the iconic Nobu Doha, which is situated in the Four Seasons Hotel Doha. The Chinese cuisine is managed by Chef Lin Lin Yang who comes from Beijing. The Indian is under the general control of the Executive Chef Anupam Gulati.
The menu has the advantage of being able to mix and match, Chinese Dim sum, Thai salads, Indian kebab as starters and a whole range of main courses. Given that all these dishes are authentic and are prepared by specialists, one has no qualms about the quality and one is spoilt for choice.  
We must make a confession, San:Qi has been one of our favourites over the years, it represents a charming oasis of luxury and opulence in the crowded dystopian world of Worli Naka. The very act of driving into Four Seasons Hotel is like an escape into another world with resplendent palms, it almost feels like entering a Dubai hotel, and lo and behold as you approach the Four Seasons, San:Qi stands out. It has openness, clean lines, an interactive kitchen and wine racks which all give it a very modern international look.
The current head chef who is singularly responsible for curating and orchestrating this symphony of flavours, Anupam Gulati, is an old Oberoi hand having spent his formative years at the original Oberoi flagship property, The Cecil in Simla. Prior to joining San:Qi around four years ago, he was a head chef in one of our favourite hotels in Goa, the Marriott in Miramar, Goa. He had vastly raised the standards there. Although an accomplished European chef, he has an acute understanding of both the international and Indian palate and expectations. We left him to do the ordering and he did not disappoint.
The sushi platter was exquisitely presented and curated; combining crunchy avocado, the ubiquitous salmon roll, fresh salmon sashimi and yellow-tailed tuna, but our very own favourite was the unagi, eel, which is something we prize above everything else. Unfortunately, because of COVID, the Japanese menu has been substantially curtailed in the main restaurant, which is disappointing, which we are sure is only temporary. Otherwise, one of the delights at lunchtime is the San:Qi Bento Boxes.
At Anupam’s insistence we had the kebab platter, the tandoori jinga was humongous and juicy, the chicken kebab was at it should be, the surprise was the malai broccoli which was exquisitely cooked. We then sampled the Dim sums which included the chicken shumai and scallion dumplings. Both were excellent.  
For the entrées, Chef Gulati had presented one of the signature dishes which was the Chilean sea bass in a subtle ginger spring onion sauce accompanied by prawn, egg and chicken rice. This combination worked beautifully and the Chilean sea bass had a milky tenderness to it which was delectable, it reminded us of another great dish which San:Qi used to do a few years back – the cod in a similar sauce.  
The Thai option of Lamb Krapau and Pad Thai noodles was less impressive. Lamb is hardly used in traditional Thai cuisine and so, in a sense, it is a substitute for a spicy beef. However, an American chef-restaurateur, Jarrett Wrisley, created this dish in his famous Thai restaurant, Soul Food Mahanakorn in Bangkok using lamb’s shoulder. It is generally considered street food, a simple stir-fry of chopped meat with tiny Thai garlic cloves, soy sauce and amongst other condiments and the crowning glory is the holy basil leaves. The charm of the dish is that it is paired often with a simple jasmine rice.
The krapau had the ingredients right, although the meat was not as finely chopped as in its original Bangkok avatar.  The pairing with the Pad Thai was not inspired as the dish had its own distinct flavour. Pad Thai, of course, has a myriad ways of preparation, although, in this case, we were a tad disappointed. The noodles were more like Singapore noodles not the flat rice noodles normally used with this staple and there was a concession to local taste with palm sugar overwhelming the flavour of tamarind, which should normally have predominance. It was an interesting twist on the Pad Thai but not to our taste.  
We ended the meal with an innovative concoction of Pecan Nut Fig and Maple Gateaux with Dolce Ice-cream. The interesting element to this dessert was the whisky caramel sauce, a rather daring combination which worked. This had the hallmark of Chef Anupam Gulati in terms of the sophistication and depth of the flavours.
San:Qi, we'll be back.