Trust The Oberoi, Bengaluru to give you a reason to check out the offerings from their celebrated chefs and this time around it was to introduce their new duo: chef Gaurav Kumar, renowned for his expertise in European cuisine; and chef Masoom Deodhar, queen of all things baked and whisked. Together, they present a seven-course dinner that celebrates Italian cuisine from its ancient Roman roots to its modern allure, inspired by the flavours of Sicily, Tuscany and Rome. We were at the preview, we first assumed we were going to be stuffed — we were pleasantly surprised by how light and delightfully satisfying the whole affair turned out to be.
We began our evening with not one, but two amouse bouches — Piccolissimo or Fontina Cheese Pops and Pane Italiano (1,000 BC) or Pane Carasau ‘Sheet Music’ Bread, dating back to before 1,000 BC, paired with Basilico Butter. The cheese pops were the perfect beginning but the bread wasn’t boring either — we just thought it resembled a rice papad, texture wise. We quickly followed that up with insalata (salad) course, Act of Piedmont — panna cotta, artichoke, asparagus carpaccio and pine nuts and were pretty impressed again. What came after was what really blew our minds though — an aperitivo called Divina Costiera with prawns, salmoriglio cream, quinoa cracker and avocado — a flavour marriage made in heaven. This was immediately followed by the antipasto course, a Cuore Di Bue, a ‘reconstructed’ Beefsteak Tomato, which was in all honesty our favourite course of the evening, simply for its absolute creativity.
This was very good food and we must say, we were now shameless fans of Gaurav’s craft already. It was now time for soup and Zuppa La Cucina Povera course featured a creamy Asparagus Velouté served with La Veneto, a heritage pumpkin sourdough ciabatta loaf that led us to the primo cardona course, an absolutely indulgent Duo di Ravioli — Butternut Squash, Burrata & Tomato and King Oyster Mushroom. Do we even have to say how much we enjoyed it? We then had a Parmesanita, an intertesting savoury sorbetto flavoured with parmesan cheese as a palate cleanser and then moved to our main event — Paesaggio Marino: The Sea-Scape with Chilean Sea Bass, Clams and Capers. This dish deserves a whole review on its own, we’re not kidding!
Now, absolutely stuffed, we were happy it was only dessert left. Dessert was however preceded by our second sorbetto palate cleanser, a refreshing an Iced Lemonchilo and then we finally concluded our meal with a Tesoro Di Amalfi, inspired by summer fruits and the sea. We will not reveal too much about this fantastic dessert and instead encourage you to check out this one of kind dinner this weekend, instead.
INR 5,500 onwards per person. Only for dinner. August 10. At MG Road.
Email: romal@newindianexpress.com
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