So the man works in the Westin building - it's a huge landmark for us because it signals the end of traffic bottlenecks on the way home, northbound. Plus, it looms majestically, reaching for the clouds - probably the tallest visible building until Omkar Alta Monte launched. I have hung around outside The Westin often, waiting for the man or seeking backdoor entry into the Oberoi mall. The man has often told me about his breakfasts at Pronto. Pronto is a cafe and the man quite likes their croissants, waffles and coffee. Once in a month or so, he breakfasts there and then proceeds to make me extremely envious about his access to a good breakfast place. The man's also often told me about Prego, which would be The Westin's restaurant - he had never really had enough time to go lunch at Prego. But we had been meaning to. So when Tastes Of Europe, an initiative by the EU decided to host a week of fine dining with focus on European cuisine and Prego was one of the restaurants hosting the week long menu - we pretty much leaped at the opportunity. Turned it into a date night, cancelled all plans because really, what is as vital as good food? i am not ging to say much about the ambiance except - I'd go back for that setting - it's mellow, it's airy and breathtaking.
As soon as I reached, I spent some time chatting with Sous Chef Shrikant - he's been at prego for a short while but has revolutionised the menu in more ways than one, along with Chef Ajay Chopra (of Veggistan, NDTV Good Times). Chef took us through the kitchen (I was quite dazzled by their wood fired oven, which I felt was pretty huge, while chef insisted it was quite tiny) and later, he also took us through every item in the menu. The menu spans vegetarian and non vegetarian options and irrespective of your choices, costs upto Rs2500 + taxes. If you intend doing justice to that, I'd say go ravenous and with a raging appetite.
This, basically, is the menu you will be looking at - the menu will be live until this Saturday so remember to hurry. We stuck to the vegetarian menu because vegetarian people - something that Chef Shrikant was ready to lament because so much of his adventure with the menu rests in the non vegetarian options - but hey, we were mighty impressed with sections of the vegetarian menu too!
I started with this watermelon beverage - the man stuck to orange. Mine was light, breezy and gently, naturally sweet. This is the only form I really like watermelon in so I relished it. I also used it as a palate cleanser because it did that job beautifully too.
From the salad course, we picked the Insalata Rucola e Feta - a Rocket/Arugula and Feta Salad - there was quite a bit going on there - fresh baby rocket, feta, toasted pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, lime wedges, but the hero was truly the caramelised walnuts - delicious, delicious. It lifted the salad to divine proportions. I am hoping to replicate this at home!
I am a huge soup fan so this course was not something I considered optional. I stuck to this vegetable broth with a side of garlic bread. It has a beetroot reduction that added cut through the general creaminess of the broth - if you are a fan of warm, rich and creamy broth with delicate and subtle flavours, this will rock your boat. It had sections of broccoli and carrot and I quite enjoyed it. The man, however, did not like this soup - which explains why he went pretty crazy with the soup he selected.
The man selected a good old rustic minestrone. I cannot get over this soup - i wish I had an extra stomach to also eat this one! It was warm, full bodied, bursting with fresh flavours, the basil added it's glorious aromas to the soup - that's the sort of soup that convinces you all is right with the world.
We got two pizzas - a classic and one that is also just as classical but less known. The Margherita and the Pizza Pane E Formaggio. The man is a huge Margherita fan - I settle for Margherita only when I am playing safe, which is rare. Surprisingly, my pizza, with hints of garlic and a smattering of parmesan on a flatbread, baby rockey and olive oil shining through? It was the show stopper. The Margherita was okay - we have eaten better Margheritas. So I'd say err on the side of the adventurous with this menu.
We also got small portions of pasta - linguine Aglio Olio - a classic again - but oh my, what a beautiful surprise this pasta was! The pasta was perfectly al dente, the parmesan was not overdone, it clung gently to the linguine, run through with curly parsley and red chilli flakes - it was complex, textural with a hint of extra garlic because hey, no matter how refined we get as Indians, we like our garlic full bodied! Delicious!
Next came the one course we are always excited to try out - the man coz he loves desserts - and I coz I make them. We usually always go for the unusual sounding ones because dessert is one course we love experimenting with. So the man quickly settled for the Giandouiotti - that's a semi frozen hazelnut mousse with chocolate - and quite boozy! It was nutty, flavourful, the mousse was smooth and textured with nutty hazelnut coated with chocolate - we were very glad that this dessert was not frugal because had it been a small portion, we'd have fought over it. This was the dish of the day for us. yes. I'd go back for it. Ditch boring old gelato and Tiramisu please (although I am sure those would be glorious too) and go for the Giandouiotti!
My dessert was this Panna Cotta. I am a slave for panna cotta and it gives me great pleasure to see it jiggle (let's not make any assumptions here, peeps!). It was quite delicious, the coffee was understated but still crooned through every bite. The panna cotta was smooth but in my opinion, and I may be wrong, slightly overset. It still worked well. There is a possibility i was entirely distracted by the other dessert. Go sample it for yourself before Saturday? Also, there are other restaurants across the city that are hosting the Tastes Of Europe festival so if one of those locations works out better for you, go! Details here: https://t.co/dGdAk8yRDI
No comments:
Post a Comment