“Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. ”
Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram
I was happy to be back for a meet up with the Delhi Bloggers Table. It was a special meet at Varq, the award winning modern Indian gourmet fine dining restaurant at the Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. ‘Varq‘ refers to the beaten gold / silver edible leaf which adorns many a dessert and sometimes savoury dishes in the Indian subcontinent. On the same parallel, the restaurant Varq is said to be symbolic of preciousness, luxury and elegance, a harmonious blend of traditional and contemporary sophistication.
With the expectations sky high, we headed for Varq which was hosting a table for the Blogger’s Table. I’ve taken a small break from the group, but they were good enough toinvite me back that night {with open arms as they said}. The heart of our table, the very sweet, large hearted, bubbly, vivacious and fantastic Cookaroo was being given a farewell.
Sadly, she is following her better half who has been posted abroad. The wretched news was broken to us a short while ago, and has been difficult to digest. With time whizzing by, no opportunity to catch a few last moments with her can be missed. A table at Varq was reason enough to make the day special! Also special because we had Nachiketa back from a stint at the Le Cordon Blue, UK, one of the Top Culinary Schools of the world.
About Varq … Grand Master Chef Hemant Oberoi has taken Indian food to a different dimension with new techniques, innovative presentations and usage of organic produce and spices. He has reinvented Indian food with unusual creations and pairings thus creating an exclusive gourmet dining experience. Varq has recently been recognized among the 101 Best Restaurants in Asia by The Daily Mail and has been voted among the Foodie top 100 restaurants announced by Glam Media. Varq has featured in the top 50 restaurants in the Eleventh annual listing of The S. Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants Asia List.
The ambiance is stunning. Art work by celebrated Indian artist Anjolie Ela Menon adorn the walls of this limited cover restaurant. The work done almost 35 years ago was restored some time back and adds amazing dimension to the interiors. Varq also has a Private Dining Room where we were hosted. That has some stunning art work as well!
Chef Oberoi is said to have taken Indian food to a different dimension with new techniques, innovative presentations and usage of organic produce and spices. Reinventing Indian food with unusual creations and pairings, Varq retains the Indian traditional way of cooking while using exotic ingredients like sea bass, sand crab, black cod, morels and Iranian berries.
We were greeted with an interesting array of coolers from Pineapple Basil to Orange Tamarind. The Orange Tamarind was fantastic and many of us enjoyed refills of this interesting pairing. So refreshing and so different. Just right for the season!
A special chefs menu had been put together for the table and began with an ‘Indian chaat’ styled amuse bouche. Gone in the blink of an eye, it gently teased the palette with undertones of lime, ginger, mango, chaat masala.
The first course followed … the Varqui Crab or Varqui Khumb {mushrooms}. I opted for the latter. It was an interesting pairing of a finely chopped mushroom stir fry with curry powder, ginger, garlic etc layered with crisp filo pastry. The first bite made me think ‘over spiced’. It eventually grew on me. I still think it was a little over spiced. Too much curry powder maybe? A great idea though.
Time for the Haleem aur Kebab or Palak Patta Chaat. Both were absolute winners. I savoured both. The galouti kebab was perfectly done, the haleem better than even the one we enjoyed at Dum Affairs, and the chicken gandheri delightful! ‘Gandheri’ is sugarcane in hindi. The chef had innovatively wrapped the chicken kebabs around sticks of slivered sugarcane, and served them in shot glasses. The surprise element was the fingerlicking good raw mango chutney at the bottom. The pairing was spot on, and left us chewing on the sugarcane stick and wiping the chutney clean!
The Palak Patta Chaat was a winner too. Once again the chefs creativity shone through. Little batter fried balls of spinach and chickpea flour were tossed in a delicious sweet and sour chutney. Served between 2 crisp fried spinach leaves, the one on top with a garnish of shiny trademark ‘varq’. Delectable! The polished clean platters were testimony to its deliciousness!!
Soup or broth time and offered a choice of Lobster Rassa or Kala Chane ki Cappuccino. I chose the latter. The soup didn’t go down well with me, maybe because I’m not a kala chana/ horse gram person. The humble horse gram had been given an interesting dimension, a makeover of sorts, topped with a ‘cappuccino’ cream. Sid and Sushmita did enjoy the ‘cappuccino’.
The meal was interspersed with specially hand picked brewed teas. Halfway down came the show stopper palette cleanser, a ginger lime sorbet. The Japanese ginger was quite overwhelming, not quite soothing to the palette. Nothing to beat the tamarind sorbet at Blue Ginger. That was the best ever!
Already quite stuffed, we marched onto the main course. Sounded like an interesting choice – Sea Bass on Spiced Potato Dauphinoise or a Kali Mirch Murgh {chicken breast with a creamy black pepper curry}. The chicken was really disappointing, very very average. The vegetarian Jaituni Malai Paneer {Olive Cottage Cheese} was equally so. It’s difficult to go wrong with cottage cheese.This one was all wrong. The Sea Bass on the other hand stood out. Fish done perfectly in a piquant creamy rich raw mango and coconut curry sauce, what a great dish this turned out to be! Everyone who opted for it really enjoyed it.
Did I forget the ‘Martabaan ka Meat’ and the ‘Martabaan Chole’? Disappointing again and maybe best left forgotten. The mutton was just average with no discernable pickling spices. The chole too sour and over spiced. The ‘Martabaan’ or earthen jar concept again won my heart, but sadly the dish a let down. The pizza style mozzarella tomato kulcha {flatbread} served alongside was excellent though! Cooling sides like a yogurt preparation, and salads were noticeably missing.
It was time for the dessert platter which came beautifully and innovatively plated. The chefs passion shown through. So much care, so much talent. The sampler offered a trio of Apple Kheer, Jalebi and Khaas Malpua. What I really loved was the apple kheer with ‘chena’ at the base of the glass. It was excellent … the balance of flavours, the fruit, the cream, the very idea! It more than made up for the courses I didn’t enjoy.
This happy yet sad, energetic, excessively boisterous and very chatty table finally bid the good hosts adieu. Thank you Bhavna, Deepali and Nafisa for playing the perfect hosts. We really did have a wonderful time and you were very gracious. Thank you too Chef Oberoi and your team for all the attention to detail, the effort you made to connect with each of us, and the time you spent with us on the busy night.
Thank you Taj Mahal Hotel for hosting the table. Any shortcomings were more than made up by the ever attentive staff, always there, delighted when we enjoyed something, anxious when we didn’t. They are what makes Taj what it is!
Note: I found the menu was slightly over spiced and not easy on the palette as a whole. Maybe not for summer. The chef might consider adding some traditional coolants like a raita or a lassi, maybe a salad? While a few dishes really did stand out and were excellent, the menu altogether did fall short of a restaurant as celebrated as Varq. I did come back somewhat disappointed.
The others at the table that night were Sid, Charis, Sangeeta, Sushmita, Rekha, Mukta, Parul, Nachiketa, Ruchira & Himanshu. It was wonderful meeting up after such a long time. Ruchira you will be missed {to put it mildly}. Virtual meetings are never good enough. Come back soon! Only you could have thought of individual gifts for everyone, the quiz, the handwritten cards, the works! Thank you for the stunning platter. I can’t wait to use it.
“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.”
Chinese proverb
Yet another evening well spent with good food midst good company. This time around the Bloggers Table was hosted at Pan Asian for an oriental meal with Japanese Chef Nakamura. It was set to be an interactive dinner, hosted in a private dining room, a lesson or two in Thai/Japanese salads, and maybe a go at the teppan grill. We battled New Delhi’s traffic to get there, resorted to the Google Gods to find the way … and walked in slightly late to be greeted by the very courteous and smiling staff at Pan Asian who escorted us to a private dining room reserved for the table. The evening took off pretty soon with food, food and more food making its way to the table throughout the evening. I overate … really did. Again. The thing with small bites is that you lose control over how much goodness you can embrace; a definite way to overeat. The starters were delicious. An assortment of sushis and tempura, dumplings, dipping sauces, pickled vegetables, boiled soy peanuts … the works. Could have been a meal in itself; should have been a meal in itself! We talked, laughed, giggled, wined and nibbled; ate till we were ready to burst. Would have loved a live salad demo with Chef Nakamura but that didn’t happen for some reason. We did have a go at the teppan grill. Much to the chefs horror, we managed to char some silken tofu. We also dabbled at yakitori grill. That was fun, the end result of chicken yakitoris, amazing. The simplicity of Japanese street food, the subtle flavours came through beautifully. And there was more! I did small taste tests from here on. The Miso Soup was so comforting. Then came duck. It was the first time my tastebuds met ‘duck’! Indeed a nice first meeting with Peking Duck served with Cucumber, Spring Onion, Pancakes And a Chef Special Sauce ending up in delicious rolls. Mmmmm…!
There was tonnes to eat, maybe more than we could handle, me at least. By the time the main course arrived, I could barely eat any more. The KaengPhak or Green Curry Thai Style was perfect. I loved it, and wished I could have had more. I also loved the Kung Phad Xo or Pan Fried Prawns With Thai Style Chili X.O. Sauce.
Crispy Hua or the Stir Fried Sliced Red Snapper Chili Garlic Sauce was the show stopper as it was flambéed at the table. Neither me nor Ruchiracould take a bite as those eyes stared at us while the flames leapt high!
It was a sticky sweet end to the meal with Fig And Toffee Pudding served with Darsaan or crisp honey noodles. The dessert was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t have asked for a better and more satisfying end to the meal. The whole Pan Asian experience was very nice; the food, the ambiance and the staff, all excellent. Thank you Pan Asian for hosting us!
“Cuisine is the tactile connection we have to breathing history.History and culture offer us a vibrant living society that we taste through cuisine.All cuisine is a reflection of the society from which it emanates … in the end cuisine is the result of culture”
Clifford Wright
It’s been a while that the Bloggers Table got together and what could have been a better, more beautiful place than Blue Ginger at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. A beautiful hotel, steeped in culture, a landmark among Delhi hotels. The interiors are enchanting, and the Private Dining Room which hosted the boisterous and chatty group of us, stunning.
Blue Ginger takes its’ design cue from the influence of the French-Colonial aesthetics that still suffuse Vietnamese society. A private dining room seating 12 is located off the main hall. The center-piece is a mother-of-pearl inlayed dining table and a beaded chandelier- amazing works of hand-crafted art in them.
It was an invite to sample a Business Bento Box Lunch, atthe Blue Ginger, the Delhi handle of a series of Vietnamese restaurants the Taj runs in India. A call to experience the brand new culinary journey of the unexplored land of Vietnam at ‘Blue Ginger’, the capitals contemporary Vietnamese restaurant.
Executive Chef Rajesh Wadhwa joined us briefly to introduce us to a lessor known cuisine. He spoke about the influences on the cuisine, local, Thai, Burmese and French of course as Vietnam was a French colony. He also spoke about the challenge of incorporating vegetarian food into the menu in India as the concept of vegetarian food is practically non existent in Vietnam.
The lunch was FABULOUS … though I definitely over ate. We expected to eat out of bento boxes, and that the portions would be controllable! However, the management decided to spoil us and took it upon themselves to have us sample everything the menu had on offer.
We ate non stop, we talked non stop, sometimes guffawing loudly, enjoying the company and the ambiance of the beautiful interiors. Just as well that we were in our own private room which meant we didn’t disturb other patrons with our incessant chatter. First to appear was the amuse bouche, a sweet little bite laced with sriracha that gladdened the heart. I chose the vegetarian first course as I am a very partial vegetarian! It was brilliant!! Fried tofu, tangy well balance fresh mango salad and spring rolls. Individual helpings of dipping sauces, lime and a chili mix were on hand and the first course went down in a second.
We reached out and dug into Sangeetas‘ peppered lamb morsels, served again in salad leaves. It was nice! The salad was common to both courses; maybe the spring rolls too. The grilled chicken was really nice, seasoned delicately and succulent. Never easy to get it so perfect, and Ruchira next to me made neat wraps of it in the lettuce it was served with, expertly dipping into the sauces … making a delicious meal of it.
The palette cleanser made us swoon … a neat soft melt-in-the-mouth sweet tamarind sorbet! Who would have thought? It was refreshing, teased the palette and was outstanding! A beautiful new sorbet flavour to consider if you ever have the opportunity. … We marched on to the main course!
The crispy lotus root was‘pièce de résistance’ ! It stood out and how. Very close to a well made ‘aloo ki tikki’, it was reminiscent of Delhi’s street food. A crisp outer coating, finger licking good flavours and a sticky sweet and sour sauce that clung on to it! Excellent and worth going for seconds!
Then came more food, and more. Lemongrass scented braised lamb shanks, a reflection of the French culinary influence, and were succulent and falling off the bone good! Then, along came stir fried lobster, edamame beans, sticky rice, noodles, spicy vegetable red cari {really nice}.
It’s never easy to develop a parallel vegetarian course from a cuisine that doesn’t offer anything ‘vegetarian’ but the chef and his team achieved it. A challenge no less, and a result quite remarkable. I think I forgot to mention the baguette! That was excellent too, one of the best I’ve eaten, and once again a reflection of the French touch!
The dessert brought forward a loud cheer, as we were served petite portions of 3 different desserts. Chocolate Bombe with Coffee Mousse with Amaretto Chocolate Sauce, Lemograss Ice-cream, and Ginger Coconut Caramel Custard. The coffee mousse was really light as air and was dug into first, and then left for the end.
I enjoyed the lemongrass ice cream too … refreshingly different and connecting well to the flavours of the far east. The caramel custard was slightly overbaked as it wasn’t wobbly and light. It was my least favourite of the three. I was happy to return to the coffee mousse.
I have always liked the concept of a bento box. I think it’s a brilliant way to offer a business lunch. With such a varied and well balanced menu, there is enough and more on offer for both vegetarians and non vegetarians at Blue Ginger. The flavours delicate, lilting, caressing and beautifully understated, yet quite intense, my first ever Vietnamese meal couldn’t have been better. Thank you Blue Ginger for hosting us.
“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”
Gilda Radner
The Best thing in life is ‘the unexpected’. Pinch me, was I dreaming? This was one of those days. Didn’t think in our wildest dreams that we’d get an opportunity to meet up with Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris of MasterChefAustralia. They’ve created tsunami like waves in India on a multi-city visit promoted by the Aussie government. Savouring Indian food from fine dining to street food, rickshaw rides, book signings, farm visits, jalebis & malpuas, chai & much more, miles of newspaper columns ran daily accounts of their India trip! The Bloggers Table was honoured to be a small part of the visit.
What Masterchef Australia has done to food in India is HUGE! Schedules were built around the MC TV slots, dinner appointments cancelled, generations glued to the telly to watch the euphoria and emotional drama unfurl; a strange sense of disbelief as the youngest to the oldest sat united in viewership. Uncanny but true. The show changed the way we perceived food, especially the ability to home cook & create! A generation of young culinary enthusiasts were born, while ‘resident’ cooks became innovative and adventurous!
So when we heard the duo were visiting there was a song in the heart, yet a good meeting seemed out of reach. It was Astha’s hesitant call late one evening that nearly had me pass out. She asked if I was free on Friday to meet Gary & George. I almost died! Free?I was already doing a crazy jig. The kids were duly warned not to fall sick on Friday, the 27th!!
This is what dreams are made of. The invite was for an informal breakfast with Australia MasterChefs Gary & George hosted by the folk we love to love – good old Saby {Chef Sabyasachi Gorai, India’s top chef}, the very sweet Chef Astha at the wonderful Olive – chic, rustic and warm!
Informal breakfast with Gary & George strictly by invitation only?You will not believe how I shot up in my teens eyes. Suddenly from screams of “No, you’re kidding, don’t tell me, not possible…” to “YOU ARE???” Then it was a L O N G list of friends who wanted autographs …
The day was truly the best in a long time. Love the idea of a breakfast meet where everyone walks in chirpy, bright & happy, tea and coffee are on the boil, good moods bubbling happily and clear headed mindless chatter takes over!
‘Olive Bar & Kitchen’ never fails to deliver. The hospitality, the punctuality, the attention to detail, the warmth, the camaraderie … so characteristic of this beautiful place!
As always, we were greeted by ‘ever charming‘ Astha and nattily turned out Saby who is quite the best. Warm, friendly, funny, chatty, relaxed, hospitable … more about him at the Leonardo Meet & the Blogadda Workshop.
Sadly, Gary couldn’t make it as he got hit by the dreaded Delhi belly. George Colambaris was at his entertaining best. Spoke passionately about food, culture, the beginnings of Masterchef, Matt and his 45 minute make-up routine vs Georges own 5 minute make-overs. Oh, his love for the jalebi too, lactic fermentation and all!
“Supermarkets are for toilet paper!”You got to love this man! The audience hung on to every word he said, roaring with laughter at his witty quips. He talked about fresh seasonal produce, home cooked meals, introducing kids to ‘real’ food, growing vegetables in your backyard, how MasterChef changed his life …
He took questions from the audience which included an enviable line up of all the top chefs of Delhi who had turned up in their crisp whites to meet the two. The Ozzie wit shone through, a man passionate about his Cypriot-Greek heritage {reminded of my Greek witty friend Peter @ Kalofogas} yet characteristically Aussie in every way. Laid back, honest, so grounded, he spoke from the heart!
He did get flustered by a short, simple question from Ruchira, “Food or sex?”, she posed rather nonchalantly. That got him rather red under his collar and for once at a slight loss for words. The poor embarrassed guy eventually asked if there was another question!
We ate … LOTS! Good food once again, and well managed as always. Breakfast IMHO is a difficult task yet Saby & his team made it seem effortless. A sweet man piped delicious churros while masala chai did the rounds in earthen pots {a break from Olive tradition}. There was fresh fruit, cheese platters, varieties of tostadas, pigs in blankets, amuse bouches, financiers, baklava, chocolate fudge cake, nut tarts … and much more.
As you can see we really enjoyed the ‘event’ and loved the company too. Thank you Saby & Astha for thinking of us. It was truly wonderful …
The Best thing in life is ‘the unexepected’ as I said in the beginning.A good day got even better as I got an early Christmas from a friend and food blogger in Belgium as her sweet hub flew into Delhi for a music fest the same night. Thank you Finla for this HUGE surprise ‘sack’ of goodies you sent for me. I am at a loss for words, but brimming with ideas!I also unexpectedly won a Phillips Air Fryer at the Philips Foodathon the next day … lucks looking up!
“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.”
Ziggy
It was the high after an excellent and pampered dinner at The Leela, Gurgaon that carried the Bloggers Table to a supposedly fun filled and leisurely brunch to the Rose Café, Saket, New Delhi the next noon. Not a bunch to miss out on a fun Sunday afternoon together, even though a few of us were eating more than we could accommodate in a single weekend, we were game. Good company is always a promise for good times …The folk at the bloggers table delivered the promise as always … giggly, enthusiastic, chatty and click friendly. Rose Café, New Delhi, however didn’t! We failed to see the writing on the wall several times, willing to overlook glaring shortcomings, ready to forgive a lacking service standards, ever ready to accommodate an upcoming new venture which showed some promise, even forgave a bit of hair in a glass of water. Maybe we shouldn’t be so large-hearted after all!The first impressions were quite nice, but they didn’t last long. They were put to a brutal end by a rather obnoxious young man from the cafe, who, other than using physical force, accosted a few of us women verbally and rather nastily. Catch the horror story at the end … it was something that shouldn’t have happened!The place had this nice English rose look about it, distressed furniture that I love, a play of pastel pinks and blues that gladden the heart. Good overall feel to the place though the seating appeared a little cramped. I had happy thoughts of another good Pinktober blog post … short-lived though!It was pretty pink alright, though the stewards in pink shirts were a bit much for me. The other thing about the staff was a lack of any personal touch, eye contact or ‘café warmth‘‘. They were very robotic from word go … and didn’t get much better as the clock ticked!We were about 14 of us. That was definitely not too many for RoseCafé to completely mess up the orders, more so since we had called ahead. A few got food, the chatty women especially {thank heavens I’m chatty}. Not so the poor men, and that got them rather hot and bothered. 40 minutes without a meal wasn’t happening at lunch time. Also, have you ever been served jacket potatoes with dessert? ROFL … that happened too!To be fair, the thin crust pizzas were good. But then again, there are many more places that offer really good pizza with outstanding service, so would rather head there. Try Olive which is a stones throw from Rose Café, else head for Amici in Khan Market. For me, cuisine is the entire ambiance and hospitality experience. I’m certainly not heading back to this pink place in a hurry!The bruschetta was good too with a generous topping of goat cheese and caramelised onions. The spicy chicken bits were very overcooked and hard though the dipping sauce was zingy good with vinegar and green chili. Still, what’s a dip if the ‘main player‘ is bad news? The bunny chow was soft and the baked beans complimented it well.The only other thing that deserves some mention was the shepherds pie! The rest of the food was very mediocre. What was really noticeable was service standards, or rather, the lack of them! There was large scale mixing up and slip ups on orders. Drinks either came in doubles, or didn’t come at all. The staff were unable to recall who asked for what, which meant quite a few goof ups. I also heard that the eggplant parmesan was a disaster.Dessert was by far the biggest disappointment, especially for the baker in me. Can you possibly serve frozen cake at a table? The macaroons were cold {from the fridge cold}, and so was the lemon cake. The tiramisu was meh! The espresso cake with whipped cream and a caramel sauce was the only saving grace. The grand finale was a cake baked specially for the table, a layered raspberry cake I think. In many ways it looked like it was all dressed up with nowhere to go because it was served frozen. Knives and forks battled the slices which should have been melt in the mouth tender. Quite disastrous and a huge let down. Time for a new pastry chef maybe?Time for adieu … and that’s when the drama unfolded. An angry young man from the cafe decided to display his very inhospitable side over a matter which was bothering him. To add injury to insult, he almost physically asked us to step back in. He’d do well with a crash course in hospitality, addressing women, public dealing and social relations. The industry is clearly unsuited to his aggressive personality because this line is not just about food. It’s about the entire experience.The few happy good memories we packed to take away were rudely snatched away from us just as we left. NOTHING ‘ROSE-Y’ ABOUT IT, nothing worth going back for! The apology that followed did little to douse the fire as it came on demand, and carried on the inflame the situation a wee bit more. Thank you but NO THANK YOU Rose Café!
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
The Bloggers Table was privileged indeed to be hosted at the award winning Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon for a memorable Italian meal at Zanotta a few nights ago. It’s one thing having a philosophy of “Atithi devo Bhava – Our Guest is God”, and it’s another thing delivering it in every sense of the word. The Leela did just that! Hospitality and culture so seamless that in many ways it felt surreal!The Leela culture is noticeable in every employee. You can see the deep rooted Indian tradition, the entire team that works seamlessly to deliver the promise. Enter the lobby and look around, magically a genie appears; helpful, polite yet completely unobtrusive. It’s a beautiful hotel but more importantly run by outstanding folk!That was pretty much the ‘experience’ through the evening enjoyed in excellent company – GM Leela Roger Wright,Head – PR & Marketing Communications Vinay Narang, F& B ManagerShisheer Manohar and Exceutive Chef Emmanuel Guemonl from France.
Photo courtesy Rekha @ http://mytastycurry.com/
It was a pleasure to share the table with Roger Wright. His stories that ranged from Fiji, Down Under {a New Zealander}, his family, his commitment to staff training and motivation … and of course his tempting invite for a dosa Sunday brunch the next day {We sadly declined as ‘the table’ was off to Rose Cafe the next afternoon. That turned out to be another story altogether}
The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon was presented the Best 5-Star Deluxe Hotel (India) award, March 2011 & 2012. Zanotta was Times Food Award’s pick for Best Italian in the Region in both 2010 and 2011. If they hadn’t picked it for its outstanding Italian cooking it would have won awards for architecture and ambiance. The open display kitchen and private dining rooms are surrounded by the see-through wine cellar of breathtaking proportions.
Zanotta did not disappoint. From the welcome drinks served in the retro lounge that adjoins the restaurant on the 6th floor, to the company, the evening was delightful.What a memorable meal. We found ourselves reaching out for the bread basket time and again. I opted for the vegetarian selection and absolutely LOVED it! The soft mozzarella and arugula salad with tomato, orange and basil pesto had everything right. The Minestrone alla Zanotta with pumpkin and rice was amazing too. I am not ‘soup person’, but was transformed rapidly into one! The next course was common for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Home made ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms floating in a silky smooth tomato sauce. A sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and you could sense how nicely the flavours married! Perfect again. Then came the show stopper, something Roger introduced to Leela from Down Under – a sorbet but not just any sorbet! It was dramatic sorbet served in a snow globe of sorts, sitting on a bed of ice. You could hear a loud collective gasp when the very delicious sorbet appeared. A work of art!Crespelle with spinach & ricotta {♥♥♥} followed. These were ‘Florentine style’ pancakes stuffed with ricotta and spinach, served with tomato and parmesan. Amazing, cheesy and to die for! The portion sizes were just right and fresh produce brought out the best flavours in each dish!Excellent wines were paired with each course. They included Chardonay from New Zealand and another from France, Allegrini from Italy, and a Cabernet Shiraz from Australia. Time for dessert and once again a winner! Bitter chocolate semifreddo with candied orange peel. Really nice!! {I had to finally abandon the camera because the light was really low!}The NCR has some beautiful luxury properties, and The Leela is one of the finest examples. The group takes pride in it’s people, the ‘bedrock of the organisation‘. Warmth, positivity, camaraderie; the ease of relationships up and down the hierarchy is so visible and so comfortable.
Couldn’t have asked for anything better! Thank you Roger Wright and your wonderful team!
