The meal began with the Kinoki Philadelphia Maki - Sweet shitake mushroom with cucumber and cream cheese. Do bear in mind these are tasting portions for two - This was nicely rolled maki, simple and a good way to begin the meal. I found the wasabi on the side grainy - a first for me but it still did pack a good punch. I also found it interesting that strawberries were added to the garnishes. 


The Tomato tea was up next and let me tell you that this is a rendition of a tomato soup unlike any other I have tasted. A clear, flavourful French style consomme with tiny dices of vegetables and crab vermicelli. The soup is poured into your bowl at the table and the wave of delicious aroma that envelopes you will have you pick up your soup spoon instantly in anticipation. And you will be well rewarded. I rarely finish soups just to make sure that there is enough of space for what is to come, but this is one I drank down to the last drop.


The Spinach and Coconut  Soup with prawn was next and this is a heavier, earthier soup where surprisingly the prawn and the spinach complement one another - nothing overwhelms and everything comes together beautifully.


The Sashimi platter was a compact yet loaded one - It comprised of portions of prawn, salmon, tuna, seabass and egg. The seafood, especially for sashimi and sushi is of topnotch quality. Chef Tanvi did tell us that they are particular about their vendors and that the fish supplied to them is on par with some of the established names in the industry. Good knife skills on the sashimi and the chef does take good care of making his presentation count as well.


Based on what the chef has on had, you will be served up a very nice combination or Moriawase Maki Roll platter if you ask for it. Pretty to look and to eat up, it has crab stick and tuna with avocado in the center and is wrapped up with avocado, tuna, salmon and finished off with some tobiko.


Vegetarians do not despair, there is a good deal of sushi choices for you as well. The Asuparagasu Roll or Asparagus roll being one of it. The crunch of some fresh asparagus combined with the creaminess of avocado make this a good one to initiate you into the world of sushi, or even if you have been at it for a while.


Mixed seafood nigiri - They tasted as good as they looked. There was no disputing the freshness of the fish. They were rolled well and made for a great mouthful. There are some things that just don't need an explanation. And yes we did a lot of sushi.


Heading towards the mains now, we decided to go with the Spanakopita - having heard a lot about it. The version we opted for was stuffed with feta and spinach and is served with a smoked tomato ragout on the side. When the glass cloche is lifted, the aromas are what food dreams are made of. The pastry is lovely, well layered and it all comes together rather well.




We just had to have something from the Teppanyaki counter and opted for the pork in Hoisin sauce. There are several sauces to choose from and you can have your meat and veggies tossed up just the way you like it. The Teppanyaki has quite a bit of flair to it as you will see from the short clip below.

Firing it up! #ruthdsouzaprabhu #Bangaloresrestaurants #teppanyaki

A post shared by ruth dsouza prabhu (@bangaloresrestaurants) on May 10, 2017 at 9:56pm PDT

We ended the meal on Fire and Ice - Broadway's version of a Baked Alaska that is fired up with flaming alcohol at the table. A refreshing change from the chocolate orbs that are usually the ones that make an appearance. This one was just perfect to end the meal.

A meal at Broadway is roughly in the Rs 3000 category. Another fun fact is that they have a truck of their own that will come to your home and cater up a meal live! How's that for a rocking home party? The place is kid-friendly too. The loos are nice and clean.

Broadway Gourmet Restaurant
Address: 2802, 27th Main Road, Sector 1, HSR Layout
Phone: +91 9845856677
Meal for two: Rs 3000
Serves alcohol: Yes
Valet: Not sure, we cabbed it.

This article first appeared in Indulge

Every month Italia, the popular Italian restaurant of The Park Hotel focuses creations on its menu from specific regions of Italy. Beginning on the 18th of January the spotlight is on Lombardy and Sr. Sous Chef Baseer Ahmed has a menu that deftly covers this northern region of Italy.

Lombardy cuisine is interesting in the fact that it draws its roots from multiple inspirations. The use of butter and cream are lavish as is the heavy use of poultry. Unlike the rest of Italy, polenta and rice feature predominantly in the Lombard region on tables, when compared to pasta. Chef Baseer explains that he wants to bring out food that is traditionally cooked in the homes of locals in Lombardy and this menu does it full justice.




Go all the way when you stop by for a meal here. Start your meal with the classic Bruschetta taken up a notch with the addition of bocconcini, a drizzle of balsamic and a garnish of fresh basil. This sets the tone for the rest of the meal.

You next order can be for the Insalata di pollo alla griglia (above)  – sliced, seasoned and grilled chicken breast tossed up with salad leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, apples, pears and a generous drizzle of balsamic and olive oil. A refreshing salad, which coupled with a heavy soup like the Zuppa alla pavese (below) will make a meal in itself. This soup is a rich chicken broth, given an added grainy texture with a touch of pumpkin. It is served up with a toasted ringed crust-less bread and a double sided fried egg. Though the egg seems a bit out of place on the soup, the flavour and texture of the soup are what you will like about it. 


The menu pays equal attention to vegetarian options which are often underrated in Italian cuisine but which I personally love. The Insalata di pere e parmigiano with salad greens, pears, parmesan and balsamic is good choice as will be the classic Milanese Minestrone soup.

Bringing the focus to the rice is the Risotto ai funghi porcini – a risotto that is creamy and flavourful thanks to the generous hand with the butter, cream and of course porcini mushrooms. The freshly hand torn arugula leaves that are placed on the risotto add that nice bite and a layered of texture to risotto which was done a little more than it should have been and was not al dente. But with the feedback offered, I am sure that is going to be taken care of. There is also a dish that features veal shanks over saffron risotto, which also brings in Lombardy’s love for the spice.


For those who love their fish, the Salmon al forno con finocchio e zucchini – oven roasted salmon fillet with fennel and zucchini is a nice choice. Baked and then finished on the pan, it is served in its jus along with baked zucchini and potatoes. The fish needed to have spent a little time more on the pan on the skin side than the meat side and this led to a slightly dry bit to the fish. Nevertheless, with the accompaniments, it does make a hearty dish.


Chef Baseer really loves his porcini mushrooms because you can see it make an appearance again in the Fettuccine al ragu e porcini – a pasta dish with a luscious tomato, basil minced meat sauce that screams Italian. The dish is a filling hearty one, with the tomato sauce being robust and just right on the tartness for me.

The Pollo ai porcini highlights the Lombardy region and its love for poultry brilliantly with these rolled chicken breasts stuffed, very interestingly with provolone cheese and porcini mushroom and served alongside polenta bread slices. The chicken is done well, with none of the fibrous character that chicken breast tends to take on and the stringy provolone makes it a hot, tasty morsel to eat. The polenta provides that great offset both in terms of flavour as well as beefing up your meal.

The menu also boasts of linguine and gnocchi offerings as well as options in seafood and red meat. Pizzas are another highlight of the menu – remember I told you to make plans to go all the way?

Alloro is located on the reception floor, to the right of the reception, in fact. It is a lovely, naturally lit up space. As soon as you are seated, your table will be laid with home made spiced butters and lovely basket of warm bread is brought for you to take your pick. I opted for the olive foccacio and was not disappointed at all.


We left the entire meal in the hands of Sous Chef, Chef Arun and asked him to decide on what we should have and even the wine that should accompany the meal. He chose to serve a heavy red Reserve- The Castillo De Molina, a Chilean wine, that could have done with some decanting, but still proved to be one of those wines that worked well from Antipasti to Dolce.

Another soup that came to the table was a first for me, the Bollito Misto - a wine based soup broth with beef and chorizo. This deep red coloured soup had chunks of chorizo, which in the wine based broth brought about an interesting blend of acidic flavours. The soup has done its time simmering and its evident in the flavours. I personally loved it, but can imagine it being an acquired taste for some. The presence of a Ribollita in the soup section made me very happy. Very few places know how to make a good one.


 Chef Arun brought to the table next the Panzanella Salad. Traditionally a bread based salad, this was an interesting twist with the salad presented inside a toasted, hollowed out bread shell - a salad Bunny Chow style if you may! Light, refreshing and very colourful, this salad packed all the crunch to make it a good one. And definitely not to miss on it are the Parmesan biscuits! Bite into one and tell me I am wrong!

I have never tried an Italian rendition of the soft shell crab and so this one, when brought to the table piqued my interest quite a bit. The Granchi Soft Shell is placed on a bed of warm parmesan sauce that is speckled with watercress. The crab is fried crisp and makes a perfect base for the sauce that can only be described as a good one way ticket to food heaven.

Our main course was the Guanciale di Manzo - Sous Vide cooked beef cheeks in a wine reduction paired with creamy polenta. Beef cheeks are not easy to work with - but these had done enough of time to quite literally be melt in the mouth. The creamy polento provided a great, if rather heavy offset to the beef cheeks.


Anoushka loves Apple Pie and so that made an appearance - warm with shredded apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and spot on.

Chef brought out the classic Tiramisu, because you can't really do Italian without thinking Tiramisu at least once. The orange segments add that nice citrus touch to an indulgent dessert.

Naturally, a bread basket comes to the table as did this lovely Bruschetta. We began the evening with a lovely Gruner Veltliner from the Gobelsburg Winery in Austria - a perfect way to whet the appetite.

We began with a Squid and Chorizo in a bowl of salad greens. There is no beating a good chorizo and these were a nice toasty crisp. It is the squid that stands out amazingly well here - each of the little curls is coated with a Chorizo paste, which has some of that interesting chilli mixed in as well. The saltiness of the chorizo, coupled with the smooth squid that had a nice bite, brought this dish together amazingly well. 

This beauty was for the vegetarians but of course I dug in as well - The Salt Cooked Onion with Parmesan Chilli and Star Anise. The onion here is placed inside a mound of salt and baked. Following which the center is scooped out, blended with parmesan cheese, chilli and star anise and stuffed back int the onion. A crispy and then chewy parmesan biscuit on the side with some more cheese and star anise dust.  

At this point we were also introduced to a lovely South African wine - Kumala, a Shiraz from the Western Cape. A lovely ruby red, not too dry on the palate and a good pairing with the meal. 


This pasta dish was one that truly packed in the novelty factor and a double whammy of taste. Agnolotti that had two stuffings, separated by a little twist in the center! While one side was stuffed with liquid smoked ricotto, the other had morels in a pepper aglio-olio sauce. Topped off with basil, garlic and tomato, this is one you want to go slow on, especially the smoked ricotto part. 


And for dessert - Drum Rolls and Trumpets Blazing, we welcome Ottimo's classic - The Torte Caprese Version 2.0. A much more delicate chocolate orb, dusted with edible gold, melts away when molten chocolate is poured over it, giving way to a blend of white and dark chocolate on the inside. Heaven is a place on earth you say? Well, Heaven is the Torte Caprese 2.0!!

This promotion is on at Ottimo at the ITC Gardenia. A meal for two is approximately Rs 4000

The thought of Italian food always evokes some great taste memories - piquant tomatoes, aromatic garlic, fresh basil and olive oil - simple ingredients which when used in a multitude of combinations with seasonal produce of a region can make even the simplest of meals an absolute culinary journey.

Bene at Sheraton is hosting Chef Giuseppe Lioce from Westin Pune for an Italian festival that is on till the 23rd of May. We were invited to partake of a tasting menu that promised to showcase the festival and believe you me, we came away promising ourselves to come back for more before the festival is done.

Chef Giuseppe, like most Italian chefs, has that charming way about him. The first part of the meal, he explained would be a showcase of some of his childhood memories - coming home to find that his grandmother had prepared something delicious to nibble on, or those great snacks that accompanied tipple sessions when out with friends. We ate a lot that day and its only fitting that I take you visually through the meal.

We began with the Pettole Pugliese as the Amuse Bouche - these with one-mouthful sized deep fried balls of pizza dough that had a light touch of olives and sun-dried tomatoes with some rosemary. As platters of these were placed on the table, chef came around with a glass that held some plastic injections filled with a bell pepper sauce. He asked us to pick a ball each, swipe the sauce below it on the plate, pop it into our mouth and then inject in the sauce.


It made for a great start to the meal, to be able to play with it a bit. I thought pizza dough balls may end up being thick, doughy and chewy, but these were light, airy and disintegrated deliciously in the mouth with the sauce from the injection providing it the perfect passage into our tummies.

Antipasti began with a carpaccio that you don't normally see - Carpaccio di Funghi. These wild mushrooms were thinly sliced and marinated in a lavender vinaigrette. Every bite gives you that light, flowery burst of aroma that spreads through your mouth and nose. These were served with shaved parmesan, green pea leaves and some edible girlanda flowers. I preferred to leave out the little dots of balsamic vinegar on the plate - it was too overwhelming with the otherwise delicate flavours.

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Next came the Frittele di Broccoli Calabresi, a throwback to Chef's good times with his friends and a dish commonly served in pubs. Put simply these are broccoli fritters with an olive Tapenade and Romesco sauce. Nice bite-fuls, completely non-greasy, but compared to the other dishes that were to come, not very memorable.


On to the non-vegetarian antipasti - These were the two dishes based on which, I quite unabashedly announced that I would like to take Chef Giuseppe home - the Capesante Mare e Monti - generous sized scallops came served on bed of sweet pumpkin puree and done with with Crispy Parma ham, sauteed wild mushrooms and an infusion of truffle honey that I can still taste just looking at it. Getting good scallops is a tough ask in Bangalore and the respect with which these were treated has to be lauded. The infusion of the truffle honey made for a unique taste profile to the dish and the saltiness of the baked parma ham crisps completely made this a umami kind of dish.


And then came the delicate looking Carpaccio di Tonno - Tuna Carpaccio with a light Italian dressing, rock salt infused with orange and a rocket salad. Lady Luck was shining down on us as we ended with an additional platter of the dish thanks to the one vegetarian dining partner at the table. We made good of it in a manner of seconds. Take my word, go slow with it as these are flavours you want to savour nice and slow.


And now came the Zuppa (Soup) - two offerings came to the table and we began with a tasting portion of the Zuppa di Fagioli - A creamy soup made of Cannelloni Beans and flavoured with some chilli, parmesan cheese and served with a Foccacio Pugliese to mop up all the soup that always manages to escape the spoon. A lovely soothing soup this one is.


My pick however was the Zuppa di Pesce or the Fish based soup. The flavour of this one will change with the day, as chef prefers to check what fresh catch is available for the day and then get to preparing this. On this evening, our soup had some calamari and something that took me back to my mother's kitchen - cockles. These little shells stick had their flesh ensconced in them and it was a pleasure scooping the bits out and indulging in this tomato-heavy bowl of homely goodness.

Moving on to the pastas - Chef made it a point to explain that he wanted to move away from the classics like Aglio Olio, Putanesca and Carbonara. And were we happy that he did. The first one to come out was the Orecchiette Alla Barese - These little round pasta were tossed in a cherry tomato confit with garlic, broccoli and the zesty pecorino cheese. Very satisfying.


Next up was the Paccheri Mare e Monti - these large tube-like pasta fold down to look a bit like lasagne sheets - the pasta was stuffed with calamari and prawns in a white wine sauce and what elevated it to that memorable next level was a pistachio pesto, which replaced the traditional basil pesto. Again, the pesto goes against what you expect and is not grainy, but rather smooth, and a superlative addition to the dish. This dish, chef explained was a blend of Sicily and Naples in terms of origin.

And we had another pasta, the Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe, a Roma specialty made of Tonnarelli pasta in a Pecorino and black pepper sauce. This was definitely my pick of all the pastas served. The kick of the pepper and the unmistakable zing of pecorino make this a dish you don't want to miss.


At this point, most of us at the table went into our second break of the meal. Despite indulging in tasting portions, we had a significant number of dishes done and were now going to move into the main courses. Short break later we began with the Branzino Livornese - A Baked Sea Bass, served on a bed of fried polenta with olives, anchovies, capers in a tomato sauce and spinach. The fish was delicately done, with a nice crisp skin. The polenta is the surprise package being uniformly crisp on the outside and deliciously soft on the inside. The combination of ingredients was a marriage made in marine heaven.


The Straccotto di Agnelio was next - a gorgeous Australian boneless Lamb Shank that had been slow cooked for close to 9 hours in red wine and served on truffle mash and rosemary sauce. Many find desserts to be a place where they find divine taste - for me it is in fantastically done meat dish. To use the cliches of being "melt in the mouth" would be disservice to how good this dish tasted. And the truffle mash... well I was quite tempted to asked for a separate bowl of it, instead of dessert.


There were two other main courses on the menu, and it was with deep regret that the whole table begged to be excused and so we moved on to the Desserts. Two very interesting ones to choose from - Millefoglie - A warm dessert filled with custard, and topped off with a berry compote, all served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.


The Pasticciotto is shortbread pastry filled with custard, nutella and served with a side of vanilla ice cream. Both desserts will have you wishing you had left a sizable amount of tummy real estate because they are so good.


The festival is on till the 23rd of May and Chef Giuseppe is a pleasure to have as a host. A meal for two will be approximately Rs 3000 plus taxes. The service, is as usual impeccable.