Ossiano swims across to Mumbai

Gauri Devidayal meets visiting chef, Gregoire Berger from Dubai's Ossiano restaurant and enjoys a memorable meal with an aquatic theme at San Qi at the Four Seasons in Mumbai

- Gauri Devidayal

In an age when satire abounds, extensive tasting menus and a more casual approach is the flavour of the day, Chef Gregoire Berger, Executive Chef of one Michelin star Ossiano, is unapologetically embracing progressive fine dining. The restaurant located at Atlantis – The Palm, in Dubai, is a truly immersive experience. Guests can enjoy a menu inspired by the ocean and seas, in a dining room that is surrounded by a 40 ft aquarium filled with stingrays, sharks and fish.

The Ossiano experience was transported in part to San Qi at the Four Seasons in Mumbai in March 2023, in collaboration with Culinary Culture and American Express. To recreate the aquatic ambience, large screens surrounded the dining room streaming live footage of the aquarium in Dubai. Guests were welcomed with a glass of Villa Sandi Il Fresco Prosecco Treviso Brut DOC.

The eleven-course tasting menu, titled Wanderlust, kicked off with a trio of amuse bouche: an illusion of a cherry tomato, a Hamachi and bell pepper taco, and crab stuffed in a miniature rice paper crab. It was recommended to enjoy each of these in one bite. The unexpected burst of flavours that followed was a sign of the adventure that lay ahead and the course lived up to its name “Euphoria of a New Departure”.