Peiskos in Hyderabad has Italian cuisine and Dilli delicacies to make sure everyone goes home happy

It’s hard to imagine sitting next to a fireplace and enjoying comfort food in Hyderabad, a city that is warm for 10 months a year. Yet Peiskos, which means sitting by the fireplace and enjoying food (a Norwegian word apparently), does not feel out of place in Marredpally, especially when it announces loud and clear, at the outset, that it is about Indian and Italian food. The food is fairly customised to suit the Gen X palate (thanks to campuses like Kasturba Gandhi in the vicinity) which is the target group of Prashant Gupta, owner of the 80-cover restaurant which opened seven months ago. But Prashant, who romances food, is quick to correct me: Peis means your very own place and kos means love. So basically it means love for your very own spot/place.”

Young and green
Easy to find (opposite St John’s Church), this restaurant is bright and cheerful, with glass walls facing the road bringing in abundant sunshine. The ambience has a young and easy cafe vibe with wooden table tabs and blue chairs. The wall has abstract art and Prashant says he loved the contemporary décor of The Moonshine Project and roped in Ashwin Pochampally of Design Space to design his cozy restaurant. The private dining room is for boisterous collegians who love to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. A mechanical engineer by education, the young restaurateur says, “My hometown Delhi is saturated with eateries. My sister lives here and it was easy to start here.”

Up for fusion
The Indian-Italian restaurant (with fusion cuisine) has a menu running up to 20 pages with all the classics and regulars that guests want to eat. However, among the ones that stood out was Butter Chicken Lasagna, an Indo-Italian fusion dish with flat pasta layered with Makhni gravy, minced tandoori chicken, cheese and virgin olive oil. Besides being click-worthy, it was also filling and melt-in-the-mouth, with a true Indo-Western flavour. The Mushi Mushi Mushroom pizza made of béchamel sauce, nutmeg and mozarella topped with parsley sounded and tasted interesting with its mild flavours. Torshey Paneer, made of mozarella cheese rolled in paneer and dunked in cashew gravy was outstanding.

The bite-sized eat was a good experiment in fusion cuisine. Master Chef Surender Kumar says he has ensured that the signature Dilli dishes did have a touch of Hyderabadi, what with extra chilli powder in Dal Makhani. But then that’s what customisation is about. We end the meal with Rose lemonade, a Delhi coolant with a hint of rose flavour. “We are trying out live music on weekends and hope it will heighten the experience,” he informs. As the cool rose lemonade passes through my throat, I almost utter, “If music be the food of love, play on.”
Price for two: Rs 1,500.