Italian cuisine restaurant Alto Vino at Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield recently launched a new menu, inspired by Italian-Mediterranean cuisine and curated by Sous Chef Satrujeet Das. When we dropped by the restaurant last Thursday, the chef hosted us for a six-course dinner. Trusting his judgment, we requested him to choose the dishes for our meal.
First, arrived Minestrone Genovese — a traditional soup with vegetables and pasta. The light soup, comprising broccoli, carrots and zucchini, started with herby notes of pesto and olive oil while for salad, we sampled Insalata Manchego. We forked a chunk of iceberg lettuce, sweet pears and a salty Spanish Manchego cheese together and that one mouthful was bursting with flavour! The combination of veggies tantalised the taste buds, the cheese uplifted the flavour and the plump, juicy cherry tomatoes watered it down and acted as a brilliant palate cleanser.
Next came Green Pea Arancini with saffron cream and pea purée (rice balls stuffed with mozzarella, coated with breadcrumbs and deep-friend) and Fritto Misto (batter-fried seafood platter with a side of mayonnaise). While the dry and crunchy friend chunks of prawns and sea bass were filling yet light on the stomach, the arancini made us consider turning vegetarians! The combination of the crunchy exterior, sweet and gooey mozzarella, savoury pea purée and tangy saffron cream sent us into a food coma and we wondered whether anything else arriving next would match up to this level.
Before moving to the mains, we tasted a Calzone (oven-baked folded pizza). It was stuffed with cheese and veggies like bell peppers but what made it stand out was the addition of baked cottage cheese on top, the sweetness of which complemented the otherwise savoury taste of the dish. But this didn’t wow us one bit.
But much like the hero scores a comeback after a lousy scene of having being beaten up, the mains redeemed the plot of the dinner. Polenta Lasagne (lasagne made of parmesan-topped polenta) and Sea Bass were served. While we liked the perfectly cooked sea bass (topped with chopped tomatoes, with a side of salsa), our votes went with the lasagne. With its sweet and creamy polenta (boiled cornmeal porridge) and the richness of cooked tomatoes in the stuffing, the dish was the best we could ask for.
How could we let go of Mediterranean cuisine without dessert? We were served a Cannoli Alla Siciliana (tube-shaped shells of fried dough with a sweet and creamy filling of ricotta cheese and dry fruits like pistachio). While the strong scent of cinnamon initially can seem overpowering to some, we loved the mildly sweet and chewy pastry. That none of the dishes, including the dessert, lost their authenticity on their way to cater to the Indian palate, makes us absolutely love the new menu and highly recommend it.
Meal for two: INR 3,500 onwards. At Whitefield.
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