The White Ramekins

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Food Review | Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

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Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

The simplicity of ingredients and the freshness of Mediterranean cuisine has always intrigued me. How fresh a vegetable or fish can appear on your palate, is something which keeps me going back to the exciting flavors which this cuisine has to offer. The food is simple, fresh and alive with flavors, with which you can never go heavy and dull. Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi is one such place, which has to offer the similar medley of flavors with freshest of ingredients. Nestled between the bylanes of Qutub Minar and the greens of Delhi’s Ridge forest relaxes an ancient Mughal mansion, with a tall standing banyan tree and an open courtyard restaurant.

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

It transforms into an exotic meeting place for recipes from around the Mediterranean, which I got to experience few days back. Chef Sujan S. has created a new menu inspired from the seasonal and local produce and I was there to experience those exciting recipes which Chef has developed. It was a sunny day, so we preferred to be seated in the courtyard. All white painted walls and the sun peeking through the shades of a tall banyan tree had already made the afternoon pleasant and relaxed.

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

We started the meal with Wild mushroom tortellini,  Stuffed morel and mushroom consommé. The broth was high on mushroom flavors and the tortellini was perfectly cooked, al dente. It was served with some parmesan crackers and freshly baked bread and some popovers. The popovers were amazingly light and airy.

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

Next came the wood oven roasted Pumpkin & Green bean Salad with Mascarpone labneh, quinoa and popped amaranth. I am not a big fan of pumpkin in salads or savory dishes, but this one completely blew me out. The roasted baby pumpkins had lovely aromatic hints of orange and the fluffier mascarpone labneh paired the green beans well. The popped amaranth and quinoa gave a lovely crunch to the salad.

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

Deep fried Brie  and marinated beetroot with apricot pûrée and pine nuts was our next salad. Marinated beetroot had a kick of flavors and the pine nuts added the just perfect bite to the salad. Personally, I don’t like brie that much, so I gave it pass, but the beetroot kept the flavors simple yet amazing.

Another salad of red wine roasted plums and figs with rocket was something which completely bowled me over. Boy! it was a party of flavors in your mouth. Still dream about those complex sweet and sour flavors balanced with the peppery rocket leaves. Really definitive and potent flavors!

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

As palate cleanser and before we move on to main course, we were served a Cranberry sorbet with green apple caviar. The sorbet had perfect sweet and puckery flavor and the green apple caviar added to the pink blush beauty of the sorbet. A delish way to move on to next course!

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

Main course started with white reef code with ratatouille and red pepper emulsion served with truffle mash. The fish was flaky yet tender, perfectly cooked. Ratatouille was presented in kind of deconstructed way and flavors were just right. The truffle mash was mind blowing, dreamily light, fluffy and high on flavor. Chef told that they source the potatoes from Mumbai, which have slightly savory flavor to them.

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

Next came the Gnocchi with broccoli and blue cheese sauce cooked in a cast iron pan. The gnocchi was tender and not too heavy on palate and blue cheese added the depth of flavor.  Next in main course was slow cooked pork belly served with carrot puree, maple glazed apple and a pork skin crackling. The pork belly had depth of flavors which probably have got in by slow cooking. Maple glazed apple and carrot puree mellowed the flavors, while crackling was super thin, light and perfectly crispy. Well balanced flavors and the beautiful presentation!

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

In the dessert menu, we got to taste tiramisu, strawberry mille feuille and petit four. Tiramisu had a nice kick of coffee and kahlua and was not overly sweet unlike many other places. It was just the way I like my tiramisu to be. Strawberry mille feuille had an interesting presentation. Instead of traditional way of layering, it came layered in a glass jar, with alternate layers of pastry cream, fruits and crunchy pastry. It was very light and kind of summary dessert, which was not too heavy on palate. Another favorite dessert of mine, but presented in an unconventional way. Petit four, a selection of four small servings of berries with honeycomb, butter cookies, chocolate bon bons and macaroons presented in a turquoise colored wooden box. A perfect and pleasing way to sum up the meal.

Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

Clearly, Chef Sujan Sarkar’s way of presenting the flavors from around the Mediterranean is unconventional yet remarkably pleasing to both the eyes and palate. His focus on using the local produce and fresh ingredients and to make every meal a colorful experience for Olive’s patrons is worth mentioning. All in all, it was a fine dining experience in a more relaxed and serene ambiance, that is what Olive Bar & Kitchen are famous for! Am I going back again? Yes, definitely, whenever I want to unwind myself from the stressful week and want to enjoy some quality time with friends and family over some good food and relaxed surroundings.

Buttermilk Cake Layered With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs

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Buttermilk Country Layered Cake With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs

It’s been cold here, like really cold…brrrr. Probably it is the peak of the winters, this year. All the schools were closed, for over a week, when my family visited me for a couple of days. I was on work most of the time they were here; sounds sad, no? But it wasn’t that bad. I somehow managed to take off from work for a day to be with them all day and night. Feeling of family visiting, especially kids, gets me shift my gears; and I turn towards my oven, even if it is in the mid of a week. I can sign up for all this frenzy any day. There is another benefit too, of firing the oven on a cold winter day, of house smelling of vanilla cake during early morning hours. I never feel tired of all this, never, touch wood! I had put my mascarpone to strain in fridge, two days in advance, knowing I’ll be left with less time when kids will be around! A fresh ripe batch of wonderful figs had already been bought, on my last grocery shopping! All I needed to do was to bake the cakes. And I was all sorted out to spend more fun time with them. When they were finally here, we went shopping, dined out, played games and last but not the least, we had the cake. I was surprised to see that kids loved these suitable-to-adult-palate-complex-flavors, besides their regular anything-chocolate flavor. And I am surprised more so, when the name itself is mouthful. It’s like party of flavors in your mouth.

Buttermilk Country Layered Cake With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs Buttermilk Country Layered Cake With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs Buttermilk Country Layered Cake With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs Buttermilk Country Layered Cake With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs Buttermilk Country Layered Cake With Mascarpone & Orange Balsamic Glazed Figs

Buttermilk Cake recipe adapted from The Cake Bible

Ingredients

Buttermilk Cake

6 large egg yolks
250 gm buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp vailla extract
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
150 gm unsalted butter {softened, at room temperature}

Filling/Layering

500 gm mascarpone {click here for homemade recipe}
200 ml low fat cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 – 10 fresh figs
handful of chopped pistachios

Directions

  1. For cake, Preheat the oven to 180 degree C. And prepare 2 6 inch round cake pans, greased and lined with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, lightly combine egg yolks, 1/4 of the buttermilk and vanilla.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients for cake and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and remaining buttermilk.
  4. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes to aerate and develop cake’s structure.
  5. Scrape down the sides, and gradually add the egg yolk mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the sides.
  6. Pour the batter into prepared pans, divided equally and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Let the cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides and invert onto wire racks to let cool completely.
  8. When completely cooled, cut the cakes into two equal halves horizontally, resulting into 4 layers.
  9. For filling, in a non-reactive saucepan, combine balsamic, sugar, orange juice and bring to a simmer. Cut half of the figs into wedges, lengthwise and remaining half into small chunks. Add them to the balsamic glaze in saucepan and let simmer for another 1 minute. Remove the figs from saucepan, using a slotted spoon into a plate. Let the glaze simmer again for 3 minutes and let cool completely.
  10. Meanwhile, beat the mascarpone with cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract, until light and fluffy. Keep aside.
  11. For layering the cake, put one layer of cake on the serving platter. Spread 1/4th of the mascarpone cream on it. Layer chopped glazed figs followed by some chopped pistachios. Put another layer of cake on it, followed by 1/4th of the mascarpone cream and chopped glazed figs and chopped pistachios. Repeat, until all the four layers are done. Top with glazed fig wedges. Spoon over the thickened glazed generously. Top with some more chopped pistachios. Let stand in fridge, until serving.