A great deal of good food
Content Editor | Priya Bala
Top-of-the-line restaurants, elegant three-course menus and a super-affordable price. What’s not to like! Restaurant Week India is, in fact, an idea foodies should love, serving up as it does, an opportunity to check out restaurants they haven’t explored – for a variety of reasons, from being unsure about the food to the prices.
I met the young team behind the concept, Nachiket Shetye and Mangal Dalal, both graduates of prestigious culinary schools and passionate foodies, over a preview lunch at Olive Beach. Restaurant Week showcases three-course meals across 17 Bangalore restaurants priced uniformly at Rs 750 plus taxes. Yes, you can eat at the normally pricey Graze and Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs for just that, too.
At Olive, I began with a wild mushroom flan (the other options being the wine-cured grape and goat’s cheese salad and chicken bisteeya), ordered the baby eggplant and roasted tomato tart for main course and finished off with a sublime yoghurt panacotta. The other dessert, the chocolate peanut butter tart, was also delicious.
So, that’s what it’s all about, Mangal and Nachiket explained at the end of the meal. The compromise is only with the price, not the food or service. They’ve drawn inspiration from New York’s restaurant week during which participating restaurants make the best of a low season by showcasing their dishes at reduced prices to, possibly, a new set of diners.
This season’s Restaurant Week is from September 24 to 30 and includes 17 restaurants in Bangalore, and 20-plus outlets each in Bombay and Delhi. “It’s to be viewed as a celebration of a city’s culinary offerings,” says Nachiket. “Sure, the prices are attractive, but the`deal’ is not to be the focus”. Which is why they’ve taken care to vet the participating restaurants, ensuring they meet high standards and carefully scrutinized the special menus.
The menus await. And whether you return to a favourite or explore a new restaurant, this special week of dining certainly promises culinary pleasures aplenty. You can book a table, see menus and find all other details www.restaurantweekindia.com
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