Water Front – the affair ends .
TweetLocated on Secunderabad’s Necklace road and facing the Hussain Sagar Lake the ‘Water front’ restaurant has an enviable location. Taking full advantage of its vantage point, the restaurant is structurally designed to embrace the great outdoor. Three of the walls are almost, all glass – ensuring a sweeping view of one of Hyderabad’s prominent landmark – the Hussain Sagar Lake.
My romance with Water Front began in 2007 when the restaurant had newly opened.Back then the decor was brilliant with the glass walls offering a great view, as we were served what could only be called phenomenal food. Adding further to the charm of this earthy toned restaurant was a live band (perched on wall) dolling out renditions of popular songs even as a larger than life aquarium formed the perfect backdrop to the bar. There were tastefully done partitions that offered each table a definate privacy.
I still remember how utterly delighted I was to visit this restaurant the first time around – the views, the ambiance, the music and the food screamed spectacular (so much so that the uber slow service was overlooked and forgiven). On my first visit we had tried vegetarian gold coins, a delicious salt and pepper prawn starter, various mock tails, biryani and dessert. In fact the initial impression was so great that despite the slow service and the exorbitant prices, I knew I would come back to this restaurant time and again.
Ever since that first visit in 2007, I have re-visited this restaurant 4 more times – the experience souring with each visit.
My most recent visit (and perhaps the final) visit to Water Front was yesterday – the city was shrouded in fog and it was a particularly beautiful day to be around the Hussain Sagar lake. The lake was filled to capacity and the fog seemed to merge the skies with the water, none of the manmade structures lining the lake were visible and an illusion of an endless horizon was a rare sight indeed.
But the charm of the restaurant was missing; the decor was lackluster with all the beautiful earthy elements taken away and the space reduced to a vast hall with plenty of tables. Usually a crowded restaurant where a reservation is needed to get the good ‘water-front’ seats we walked into an almost empty restaurant. Further, in stark contrast to my previous visits the wait staff was overtly attentive and seemed oblivious to give the few customers any privacy. The decor was uninspiring and the beautiful aquarium taken away and above all the food also failed to be the saving grace.
For drinks we ordered the Shanghai peach cocktail and the ginger and rock coke cocktail. This was followed by a Paneer Soya Chili starter ( our first choice of a broccoli starter was unavailable- but somehow magically broccoli was present in abundance in our main course). For main course we tried Thai flat noodles and a mixed vegetarian and soya side dish (cannot remember the exact names). Not only did these dishes fail to excite, the Thai course disappointed as it lacked the signature mix of clashing textures and flavours that I so love about this cuisine.
But the stellar failure was yet to come in the form of ‘Chocolate Heaven’ – the menu had us believing that this would a indulgence of passion fruit, chocolate and all things exotic but what was brought tasted more like a day old chocolate cake with a very negligible hint of fruit. This hard and stale dessert was neither smooth and silky or wonderfully gooey.
Yesterdays visit (and the ones prior) have been a testimony to the almost constant disappointment that Water Front now seems to be -truly a shame as I had always considered this restaurant a must visit every so often (despite its flaws).
Although the waterfront still does boast one of the finest views from any of the Hyderabad- Secunderabad restaurants, I will most likely not bother with another visit.
In what was once one of the most romantic and a beautiful restaurant’s the cons far outweigh the pros. Water Front seems to fail in keeping up with its original glory squandering away all the potential and possibility it holds.
