18-month-old parmesan from Italy on your penne anyone?

Sample your penne tossed in a parmesan wheel imported from Italy, which is 18 months old
18-month-old parmesan from Italy on your penne anyone?

Last Saturday, the walkway leading to the resto-bar Radio Room was packed with those waiting to get in — a common enough sight every Saturday night. However, this time there was a difference, as the crowd cooling their heels at the portico was waiting for a table at Fromage, the two-week old restaurant at Somerset Greenways. While the name too is a giveaway, thanks to social media, the first thing you want to check out at this 40-seater joint is their cheese wheel. The huge block of parmesan imported from Italy is about 18 months old and is best when aged to 24, we are told. “We hope it will last for at least three months. However we didn’t anticipate the crowd on Saturday. We dished out 50 pasta plates for dinner, till we ran out of penne — which seems the popular choice,” says Abishek Chandrasekaran, engineer turned entrepreneur, who has teamed up with his friend Girish Subash to start this restaurant.

<em>Interiors at Fromage</em>
Interiors at Fromage

Blue is my colour
Curated and designed by popular restaurateur and chef Sandesh Reddy, the menu at Fromage is French-bistro inspired and has cheese in some manner or the other on nearly every platter. Well with 12 types of cheeses to showcase here, that is a given, we agree. We sip on a refreshing Berry Lemonade as we wait for a tasting platter of starters. Being a firm believer that anything with bacon is a winner — I munch on bite sized shrimp wrapped in bacon with delight. But it is the spinach, corn and cheddar tart that has me licking my fingers. When it comes to the sweet and spicy fried chicken wings — the accompanying mildly-stretchy blue cheese dip is the real hero. We suggest you order bowls of it and dunk everything in it — or just have it plain! Meanwhile the mozzarella fingers turn out to be crumb fried gooey-hearted cheese chunks and has to be eaten with the tomato salsa to truly appreciate the contrasting flavours.  

<em>The parmesan wheel we're raving about</em>
The parmesan wheel we're raving about

Flavour first
 Of course for mains one must try some pasta swirled in the much talked about parmesan wheel — an add-on option. Even though I reached for the seasoning on the table out of habit — the fusilli, thickly coated with aged parmesan and béchamel sauce, dotted with prawns and bright red fresh chillies — needed none of it. Delicious and flavoursome, we are thrilled that another wheel has arrived here this week — as we definitely want more of this. “The parmesan wheels we have are pure vegetarian — and doesn’t have any animal rennet,” informs Abishek, who also co-founded Ordook, the subscription meal initiative.

<em>Mozzarella fingers</em>
Mozzarella fingers

With plans of making this a franchise module, a great plus for Fromage is that besides sharing a common wall, they also offer the Radio Room liquor menu here. Expect to peruse a cheese and wine pairing menu here soon. Though the Oreo Cheese Cake looked tempting, we save it for another day — after all we have to come back next week to try the promised raclette cheese (think a curtain of melted cheese poured over steak and potatoes), another add-on option,  as topping for some dishes.

Meal for two at about Rs 1,300 (excluding alcoholic beverages). Details: 9962727979
 

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