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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

The Day When Wishes Came True…

December 10, 2012 by TheWhiteRamekins

Saturday Brunch @ All American Diner India Habitat Center 4It was around 8 on Saturday morning and I was still sleepy inside the warmth of my quilt, when M called up. It was her 5th wedding anniversary and M and A wanted to celebrate it differently this time with all of their close friends. She asked, if we had any plan for the weekend. Generally, my weekends go crazier and more busy than the weekdays. And it comes very naturally to me that I get more active compared to weekdays. There is so much to do on weekends. Sometimes I feel like a headless chicken running around wanting everything to be done. But that’s not possible, you see.

Saturday Brunch @ All American Diner India Habitat Center 2Anyhoo, so coming back to the plan for the weekend, as soon as she asked the question, I started planning and prioritizing my activities at the back of my mind within fractions of seconds {this is how I fret…and I hate this about myself}. But then suddenly, She suggested if we could go visit this beautiful place called All American Diner at India Habitat Center for the brunch. Brunch on a weekend!!! That was something I had been longing on for a long time, and this place was special. Brunches are the wonderful meals, someone might have invented. I mean you can splurge on good food, chatting with friends for hours. I call it food spa.

Saturday Brunch @ All American Diner India Habitat Center 1So finally after a very long time, my wish was going to be true. And M and A had managed to call up everyone and we all headed towards our destination. While we were still not there, NP, another friend wished, how wonderful it would be if we could get the seats to sit outside.

Saturday Brunch @ All American Diner India Habitat Center 5When we reached the place, it was jam packed and we hadn’t booked the table and there was a waiting queue for 30 minutes. But we stuck to the idea of sitting in the patio and we were happy to wait for sometime for that. By the time we were waiting, we checked out the menu. There was also a buffet which looked quite enticing to most of us. We ere seated within 30 minutes and then it was time for the delicious grub. There were quite many options starting from cereals, fresh juices, salads, freshly baked breads, soups, gourmet cheeses, cold cut platters, eggs, sweet pastries, pasta, creamed vegetables, baked tomatoes and our ubiquitous south Indian breakfast menu. God, we just couldn’t stop.

After all every thing was so picture perfect. A bright sunny day of chilling winters, a close group of friends seated on white painted metal furniture under the parasol on a lush green patio, enjoying the good grub, sipping coffee and chatting for hours on a relaxed weekend. What else you need in life !!!

Saturday Brunch @ All American Diner India Habitat CenterAfter the brunch, we also went for a little heritage visit to Qutub Minar, one of the tallest Minaret in New Delhi, the heart of India.

Qutub Minar New DelhiAnd the day was not over yet, we had bonfire at B’s place. This was another long due wish. And S cooked us a wonderful meal including Indian roasted chicken and Lentils on a makeshift open fire stove, one of his specialty.

Indian Cooking on Open Fire StoveSometimes we have small wishes or dreams, which we keep on procrastinating for days or years sometimes. And then a magical day comes when they all get fulfilled, and that too when no one could guess for it. And this day was one such day.

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: all american diner, brunch, food, india habitat center, new delhi, qutub minar, travel

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

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