There’s a running joke among food reviewers about eating out in Mumbai — it’s either delicious and just INR 10 or it’s super delicious and costs INR 1,000; there’s no in-between. A failed attempt to eat at a famed restaurant in Juhu recently left this reviewer quite bereft and it was by sheer luck that we were redirected to Napoli by Shatranj instead. We were very thankful for this recommendation, as the night unfurled into a wonderful gastronomic journey that we will remember for a long time to come. Packed into a building overrun with restaurants, finding your way to Napoli by Shatranj is the first task — one that you will immediately forget the moment you step in to this cosy, yet slightly underwhelming Italian diner. By underwhelming, however, we mean classy and understated and not boring. The restraint in décor was much-appreciated and the perfectly curated music, playing famous Italian classics from the pop culture of the ’80s and ’90s, created an ambience that we were absolutely grateful for.
The menu was an extremely non-fussy one and yet presented us with ample choices. We decided, however, to play it simple that night and focus on just the food. Most of what we ate, we paired with wines and needless to say, they complemented the rich food flawlessly. But, let’s not digress anymore and get straight to the food. We began our meal with an Avocado Tartare and a Pepperoni Flat Bread. Both excellent choices to begin any Italian meal. The sweetness of the avocado only enhanced the rosemary-smoked creaminess and the fresh flavours of the tartare was a sublime marriage to the spicy savouriness of the pepperoni flat bread. Why was this called a flat bread and not just simply their differently-shaped version of a pizza — we’ll never know. We guess, it was because it was simpler in its construction? We’ll let the experts debate that. Moving on, we ordered a Herb Crusted Chicken and Garlic Prawns — a hardcore non-vegetarian course! The chicken was exactly what it sells itself to be and would be our recommendation for anyone who is particularly fond of a pollo course. The prawns were a classic recipe done to perfection. We’d like to assume nobody could go wrong with Garlic Prawns, but then you’d never know! People can screw up boiling water too, these days.
Quite stuffed already, we then decided to order another prawn dish, Paprika Prawns (since we were in Mumbai and this being a house favourite) and pair it with the much-recommended Il Colore Tagliatelle. The prawns were brilliant, again, and we weren’t surprised really — considering this was a Shatranj classic. The sweetness of the paprika paired with the saccharine salinity of the prawns far better than most combinations of the crustacean with pepper. The tagliatelle was al dente, just how we like it, and made for a great Instagram story — we just wished the garlic sauce had a little bit more spunk to it. It was delectable all the same and paved the way excellently for our dessert trio — Tiramisu, Churros Spirale and Chocolate Duo.
The desserts were absolutely divine and we couldn’t get enough of the tiramisu that reeked of impeccable authenticity. The spiral-shaped churros served with chocolate ice-cream and chocolate soil were also the best way to start a chocolate binge, one that we ended quite exquisitely with the chocolate duo — chocolate croquette, white chocolate curd and hazelnut ice cream. Stuffed to the hilt, we now had to wash it all down with two piping hot cappuccinos and the sweet coffees were the perfect end to a mind-blowing Italian meal.
INR 4,000 onwards. At 12, Union Park, Off Carter Road, Union Park, Pali Hill, Mumbai.
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