Fifty Five East

Celebrated Mother’s Day with a wonderful brunch experience at Fifty Five East at Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and it truly lived up to the occasion. The ambience was warm, elegant, and perfect for a family celebration, while the lavish spread offered an impressive variety across cuisines with equally delightful desserts. What stood out even more was the hospitality—attentive staff, seamless service, and an overall experience that made the day feel special for our mothers. A memorable place for celebrations with family and loved ones.

Had a rather shockingly disappointing experience during a Sunday Brunch. Not only was the vegetarian menu bizarre and short but the dishes were also placed in between multiple non vegetarian dishes or under them in a dark shelf. Delving into the vegetarian food cuisine-wise: The chaat counter - unimpressed with the paste like aaloo tikki chaat served with some gugni and loads of sev poured on it with lack of any depth in flavor/texture. Extremely disappointed after waiting and following up for this dish. The mini samosas were really good though. Ram ki laddu - cold & hard. Sushi - couple of veg options that tasted okay. No soy sauce found adjacent to it. Mediterranean - hummus, muhammara, labneh, fattoush salad placed next to the chaat counter. But the pita breads/falafel are nowhere to be found. So, one's supposed to eat hummus alone? Similarly, the veg appetizers doodhiya paneer tikka, kasundi broccoli were well done but lacked any accompaniments nearby. The green chutney was to be served after travelling to the litti chokha station.! Litti chokha, chole bhature, thalipeeth, mushroom soup, and the live counter soups (manchow, clear) were again okay but nothing to write home about. Chole bhature are ofcourse playing hide&seek behind a few non veg dishes. Maa ki Dal was alone thrown in the middle of multiple non veg dishes that we couldn't locate it the first time. Upon a lot of rigorous treasure hunt did we find another dal/curry near thalipeeth and a stuffed brinjal curry dispersed someplace else. Hence finding north Indian veg food was nothing short of an adventure. And yes, we had to request for steamed rice, roti, pulao and mix veg curry to actually make a meal ourselves. The veg pulao that they offered (as veg menu was short & lacking), was a tawa pulao which was on the spicier side. They were kind enough to send a couple of veg curries (paneer and mix veg) which tasted delicious but the roti/rice lacked in quality to complement them. Italian - veg Ratatouille, veg puff with spinach corn filling (but is unnamed at the counter) are the italian offerings. Pasta was only made in non veg and we had to ask for a veg preparation of pasta to be made that tasted mediocre again. Missing cuisines that are quite common in other buffets - thai, mexican,south Indian. thai veg curry with Jasmine rice, some nachos with salsa/guacamole are the highly anticipated ones in buffets in general and are offered in most of them. Hence the food and Savory were a serious let down in multiple aspects. The desserts however were a solace and the only savior after choosing this brunch. The array of full cakes, pound/bar cakes, the chocolate barks, Indian desserts, sorbet, DIY sago pudding, ukadiche modak, affogato, icecreams and entremets had variety and quality. The mocktails served as a part of the menu were also well made and are great thirst quenchers. Therefore this meal was all about having sweet treats with your loved ones while enjoying the live music. There was also a bangle making counter that made bangles for the female guests upon request and this was a highly unique offering in a brunch. As a part of mother's day, rose flowers/ Jasmine garlands (gajra) could be taken The food, in all its courses was underwhelming for vegetarians. Also, respecting the fact that it would be less confusing and comfortable to place all the vegetarian dishes to one side or have their veg/nonveg highlighting name plate would greatly help alleviate the experience. Service: Highly uncoordinated, create a noisy environment with their mutual communication and always appearing to be on the run. The requests placed at live counter weren't honoured and needed follow ups. Staff would stand in the way (of an already narrow & congested pathway) to discuss among themselves or manager disciplining the crew right infront of a dessert counter. Some of the staff at serving counters seemed indifferent to a question asked and lacked basic warmth. Overall, service needs alot of improvement and be more welcoming, warm and attentive towards the guests.

Here’s the updated version with that added smoothly: Yesterday, we went there for dinner. The Asian food was quite good, but the Indian dishes lacked flavor. Although the buffet offered a wide variety, the tastes didn’t really come together. Overall, the experience was pleasant. When the staff learned that we were celebrating, they surprised us with a cake, flowers, and a handwritten note, which truly made me feel special. Mihir was especially attentive and took great care of us throughout the evening.