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Food Review | Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

February 9, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

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.

Filed Under: review Tagged With: delhi, european, food, Mediterranean, new delhi, olive bar & kitchen, qutub minar, review

Blogger’s Table @ Varq, Taj Mahal Palace, New Delhi

August 18, 2013 by TheWhiteRamekins

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

I get really picky when it comes to Indian cuisine, while eating out. There are very few places, which do all the traditional recipes really well. The heavily cream laden curries, is something I don’t care about. I loath it the most, when the kitchen tries to hide the blunders of unbalanced flavors under a greasy thick and spicy curry. And mostly, while I am celebrating with friends and family, I try not to take chances with new setups and stick to my favorites only. So, while I got to know about Blogger’s Table gathering at Varq, a contemporary Indian cuisine  restaurant at Taj Mahal Palace, New Delhi, I initially was a bit hesistant to go. But when I got to know, that the Blogger’s Table is giving farewell to it’s charmingly sweet Cookaroo, I could not resist. I had to attend this for her.  She’s following her husband for his work assignment abroad.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

Talking about Varq, the restaurant has featured in the top 50 restaurants in the Eleventh annual listing of The S. Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants Asia List. The menu at the restaurant is Grand Master Chef Hemant Oberoi’s masterpiece, wherein he has taken food to a different dimension with his new techniques, innovative presentations and usage of organic produce and spices.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

Varq’s interiors are studded with the art work of celebrated Indian artist Anjolie Ela Menon, which was done 35 years ago. With limited cover, restaurant offers a private dinning area also to it’s patrons, where we were seated.

The menu at Varq is a rich accumulation of Indian recipes evolved to the next level. retaining the Indian traditional way of cooking while using exotic ingredients like sea bass, sand crab, black cod, morels and Iranian berries.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

So, for the evening, chef had designed a special menu, which started off with an interesting amuse bouche. Indian Chaat Style. Interestingly, innovative! It took me to the street food heaven of Delhi!

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

In the first course, we were served Varqi Khumb, mushrooms stir fried in Indian spices, layered between thin filo pastry sheets, topped with a morel. I didn’t care about the morel. I found this a bit heavy to start a meal with. Flavors were okay, though over spiced. I liked it’s idea and the presentation more than the taste.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

Second course, was something which I dream about even today. The Kebab platter, consisting of Haleem, Chicken Gandheri and Galaouti Kebab. Haleem was very well done, all the flavors of meat, grains and spices nicely blended into and perfectly spiced. Galaouti was excellent and so was Chicken Gandheri (chicken lollipop on a sugarcane stick). Chicken Gandheri was served with a sweet and sour mango chutney, which nicely paired the spicy chicken meat. I wiped through the bottom of shot glass, in which it was served!

Third course offered a Lobster Rassa or a Kale Chane Ka Cappuccino, and without giving any second thought, I asked for Lobster Rassa.  Goan curry inspired seafood broth served along with prawn crackers. It had all the fresh flavors from sea. Really wonderful. I sipped Kale Chane Ka Cappuccino from Sid’s cup, and I didn’t like it in the first sip itself. Boring and having no flavors at all, though it was a nice makeover!

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

Then came the palate cleanser, a ginger and lime sorbet. Interesting flavors, but I did find it out of place. Ginger, too strong flavor to be a palate cleanser, rather the sharp flavor of Japanese ginger stayed in my mouth for quite sometime. Very overwhelming and sharp! But again, the presentation was nice and dramatic, served in a ceramic pot, with dry ice creating voodoo sort of thing at the bottom.

Next course offered Kali Mirch Mugh or Sea Bass on Spiced Potato Dauphinoise. I went for Kali Mirch Mugh. It was uninteresting in the very first bite. Nothing to be written home about, Ruchira, offered me some Sea Bass from her plate, which was pretty decent.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

Next served was Martbaan Ka Meat served along with Jaituni Naan. Again a disappointment, not by the presentation, but by the flavors. Nothing exciting, in fact mutton was average sort of, with no distinct flavors of pickling spices, as mentioned in the menu.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

Finally, an array of disappointing dishes came to an end (except for amuse bouche and Kebab Platter), with a fabulous dessert platter. It had a serving of Apple Kheer, a Jalebi standing on a Khoa (reduced milk) chunk, and Khas Malpua. All three were excellent. Right on spot! The dessert platter all made up for the lost experience.

Varq, Taj Mahal Palace

While all this food was being served throughout the evening, the attentive staff took care of us all very well. I guess, that is the best thing about properties like Taj, their unmatched hospitality and the warm welcome stands them out. It was an interesting journey through the beautiful and innovative creations of Chef Hemant Oberoi, though some of the dished lacked on flavors. Thank you Taj for having us over. Others who were present on the table were Sid, Charis, Sangeeta, Sushmita, Rekha, Mukta, Parul, Ruchira, Deeba & Nachiketa.

Filed Under: review Tagged With: blogger's table, food, India, new delhi, restaurant review, Taj Mahal Hotel, Varq

Blogger’s Table @ La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon

July 18, 2013 by TheWhiteRamekins

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon

French cuisine to me has been all about those amazing pastries, desserts like Crepe Suzette, delectable Macarons, yummy and crumbly pastries, mille feuille  and everything that has got butter in it, loads and loads of butter. Probably, I have a strong affinity for the desserts and that is the reason, I wouldn’t go beyond classic French onion soup, Foie Gras and Salade Nicoise with a warm crusty baguette when it comes to ordering a main course and would rather save my appetite for the desserts. Because, I know desserts would never ever disappoint when it comes to French.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 3

Until very recently, a dinner I had one of the finest ones in recent times changed my mind, when I got to introduced to a Riviera cuisine, an all new and different take on the classic french cuisine, which I knew about. Blogger’s Table, once again gathered for a dinner at La Riviera restaurant of this newly built property of Pullman Hotels at Central Park Gurgaon.  Riviera cuisine, as introduced to us by Executive Chef Tanveer Kwatra, is basically a blend of  food from Nice, Marseillaise regions of France and has modern interpretations with emphasis on fresh seafood and prime cuts of meat. It more strongly resembles to northern Italian food. Fresh produce like local olive oil, goat’s cheese, herbes de Provence are more commonly used.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 5

It was quite refreshing as well as exciting to know about the Italian connect of the food, knowing that Italian is the cuisine I love the most. La Riviera at Pullman, tries to use as much as locally available fresh produce but imports most of it’s prime cuts and ribs from the coastal region in France. Chef also told us, that how creatively, natural organic and fresh ingredients have been of prime importance in the menu at the restaurant. It was interesting to know, that they have got techniques to extract colors from fruits and vegetables, such as chlorophyll from spinach for the green color.

These were some of the dishes which we were served that night.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 4

Ciabatta with olive oil butter. Wow! I just fell in love with the olive butter, when I got to know that it has got no butter, but it hold the shape because of natural emulsifying agents added to olive oil, I couldn’t resist slathering my bread with a generous spoon of this amazing olive oil. A nice kick of olives in very first bite.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 2

Then followed Smoked Tomato bruschetta with garlic chips. You could literally feel the smoky-ness in those freshly chopped tomatoes.

Second course had Seared scallops and prawns with pistachio puree and noilly prat fumet along with Pan fried ricotta gnocchi, with cauliflower puree and saffron vinaigrette. Gnocchi was to die for and so was the pistachio puree.

Then we were served a nice and vibrant macerated asparagus and ruby grapefruit salad with smoked curd. The mellowness of asparagus paired really well with the tangy smoked curd.

Porcini mushroom risotto, very well cooked with a proper chewy-ness of the rice and the creamy-ness of porcini mushrooms.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 6

In next course, we were served Goats cheese tortelini with eggplant caviar. Tortellini could have been slightly well done, which I felt because personally I like my pasta to be cooked well. I am not the kind of al dente. I know, that would sound aweful to most Italians. But the eggplant caviar, I just polished off within few seconds, with eggplant being one of my favorite vegetables.

After the fifth course, we had our palette cleanser which was an orange sorbet. Strong tones of orange, it had that nice well balanced kick at the palette. I wouldn’t mind eating that as a dessert too. Infact, I almost felt that that this could have been the dessert {knowing that my stomach was full}.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 7

So after the palette cleanser, came an array of three main course, which we all shared, as we all were full. We were served Twice cooked best end of lamb with textures of root vegetable, Roasted beef rib eye and braised cheek pithvier with onion soubise and Spinach pithivier with arrabiatta sauce. Lamb was perfectly done, and that is the only dish I remember from that course. Everything else was just over-powered by the tenderness and the juicy-ness of the lamb.

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 1

By this sixth course, I had no room left for the dessert and was hoping that we don’t get our dessert served. But then, it came. And it created the magic. Manjari chocolate cremeaux, raspberry and champagne jelly and ivory chocolate milk, basically chocolate pot de creme served with raspberry jelly, in simple words. But, the magic was all about the chocolate that went into. World’s finest Valrohna. Oh My God! Now how could I’ve resisted. It was polished to the last bit. Every single bite took me to some dreamy world. Such soul satisfying dessert!

La Riviera, Pullman Gurgaon 8

It was a very nice and warm evening spent with all my foodie friends, with getting to know about the different take on classic French cuisine. La Riviera promises to serve some authentic coastal french cuisine and does this job remarkably well. Definitely, a place to visit when you want to spend a calm evening and enjoy the delicacies from the Riviera.

Other’s present on the table that night:

  • Parul from Shirazine
  • Mukta from Bake-a-mania
  • Sushmita from My unfinished life

Filed Under: review Tagged With: blog event, blogger's table, food, french, Gurgaon, new delhi, pullman hotels, restaurant, review, riviera cuisine

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Hi! I'm Himanshu - a home chef who loves to cook, bake, style and photo shoot... Read More…

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