Home to plenty of fromageries that supply buratta to celebrated dine-ins across the country, Bengaluru has long been offering Italy’s culinary heritage in the form of restaurants and pop-ups. While the current trend in the city is to offer the basics, Shangri-La’s Caprese is aiming to bring authentic fares from the Southern Italian region of Puglia.
Chef Simone Loisi, Chef de Cuisine at Shangri-La Singapore’s Italian restaurant Waterfall Ristorante Italiano, has taken over the kitchen at this fine-dining restaurant to bring Puglia to the plate with his heirloom recipes. His culinary journey started at 13 and after having worked in restaurants across Europe and Asia, he has curated a special menu for folks in the IT capital, which will be running till May 7.
Celebrated world over, Italian cuisine is one that focuses on the technique of deduction or addition to bring out an ingredient's best flavour. It is so much more than cheese, tomato passata and a good serving of olive oil, despite what Elizabeth Gilbert tells you.
To bring this Italian gastronomic experience to the table, Chef Simone Loisi hosted team Indulge to taste the special menu. The afternoon started with a serving of wine, white or red of choice with bruschetta on the side.
After a small and fun session on how to make pasta from scratch, we made our way to the table set to serve the five-course menu largely divided into zuppa, antipasti, primi piatti, pizza piatta and dolce.
We were first served Zuppa Ortolana or what is popularly called Greengrocer’s Soup, made using potatoes, onions and preferably seasonal vegetables. After the healthy serving of soup, we sampled Burrata Pugliese, which came with sun-dried tomatoes dipped in olive oil and toasted breadcrumbs. This delicacy, creamy as it should be, is totally recommendable.
Next up, we moved to primi piatti, a part of the course that usually contains a pasta dish and is served before the first main course. We traded the Spaghetti Alle Vongole with tiny baby clam topping for Penne All Assassina, which is a cult Pugliese recipe. This dish, served with freshly made penne cooked in sweet tomato sauce is slightly savourier than you would expect it to be.
Craving for some more Italian delicacies, we moved to the main course and sampled Pizza Bufalina, a simple yet quality fare served on traditional Pugliese Bread with buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomato topping and a dash of olive oil. Hands down, the star of the menu!
We wanted to skip the dessert after overindulging but someone at the end of the table mentioned Tiramisu, which, guilty as charged, made us stay for a little longer. For Dolce, the chef served Pistachio Tiramisu, a unique sweet treat layered with sponge cake and pistachio cream and finished with sliced dry fruits. Yum in its first bite!
Lunch and dinner meal for one: INR 2,500 onwards. At Vasanth Nagar till May 7.
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