The Adventures of a Rabid Foodie – Preview of the Citibank Restuarant Week Menu at Bene

On Saturday night, the husband and I got an exclusive preview of one of the most exciting culinary events that is held in India every 6 months. Yes, I am talking about the much-talked about Citibank Restaurant Week India. This is an event that gives food enthusiasts a chance to sample the culinary offerings of some of the country’s most popular and exclusive restaurants at a highly discounted rate. How else can you have a 3 course meal at a 5 Star hotel restaurant or a speciality restaurant at only Rs 750 per head? This idea came into fruition in 2010 and since then, has seen many restaurants offer diners a wonderful dining experience – some restaurants choose to offer something from their regular menu while others create a special menu just for the Restaurant Week. Either way, it is an exciting culinary experience.

We were invited to try the special Restaurant Week menu at Bene, the Italian restaurant at the Sheraton at The Brigade Gateway. It was our first time and in spite of being ardent Italian food lovers, we never bothered visiting Bene before simply because the ride across town, through the legendary Bangalore traffic, seemed an insurmountable task to us. After last night’s meal, I would say that was a mistake on our part. Bene is the Sheraton’s take on a modern Italian diner but with authentic and hearty Italian food. A quick look at their regular menu and one can see that they aren’t only about pastas and pizzas (although they do have a wide selection of both in interesting flavour combinations). Their antipasti offering is also substantial along with their mains menu. But I got quite excited about the Restaurant Week menu. 3 options for the first course – 2 soups and a salad, 4 options for the main course – 2 veg, 2 non-veg and 3 options for the dessert course. The vegetarians are well-represented but being the carnivores that we are, we opted for the non-veg mains. Now on to the best part – the food. I have listed it out as per what we ordered.

Course 1 – SOUP/STARTER

Insalata Mista – Garden greens served with grilled eggplant, roasted capsicum, sun dried olives and ricotta cheese in a light lemon dressing

This was my choice and I enjoyed it. At first, I thought that the dressing was a tad bit over-salted but mixed with all the elements on the plate, each bite was refreshing and a perfect way to start the meal. The grilled eggplant was delicious and was cut into tiny little cubes. It was my first time having sundried olives and I think they actually taste better than the regular ones – they weren’t as salty and were quite sweet. Perfect for this salad.

Zuppa di zucchini – Green zucchini soup with mascarpone cheese

The husband didn’t want to order this at first – green soup made of zucchini didn’t sound appealing at all. He wanted to go for the safer option of minestrone soup but I managed to convince him otherwise (I wanted to try this soup but didn’t want to forgo the salad either). It was a good call in the end –the soup was hearty and soul-satisfyingly good. Perfect for all the wet weather we have been having. The zucchini flavour really came through – who would have thought that pureed zucchini would taste so good?

At this point in the post, I have to take a minute to write about what was my favourite thing of the night – and no, it wasn’t the wonderful wine that went perfectly with the food nor was it the delectable feast that was put in front of us or the beautiful plating – don’t get me wrong, all of them were close contenders for the title. It was the humble butter that was served with the warm focaccia bread that was placed at our table at the beginning of the meal. This was no ordinary butter – I could compose an ode to this butter, write an entire novel with this butter as the central character but I still wouldn’t be able to make you fully appreciate how mind-boggingly good it was. Pristine white with the texture of soft and dense cream (is it possible to be both?), this butter was churned by hand in the kitchens of Bene. Or made by angels. I don’t really know but I think the chef who came to hear my feedback was a little taken aback by the look on my face when I described how excited I was to be eating his butter 🙂

Okay enough about this butter – I might just start crying now.

Course 2 – MAINS

Pesce del giorno – Pan seared fish of the day with creamy mushroom risotto

I decided to go for the fish since I already knew what I was having for dessert (yes, I always order backwards – to me, there is no other way of doing it!) so this was my attempt to be smart about my food choices. The fish of the day was seer fish and it had a lovely little cream and tarragon emulsion on top. My fish was a bit overcooked but if one does decide to order this, then a little note to your server about how you would like it will take care of that. I didn’t mind it mainly because I loved the earthy full-bodied mushroom risotto sitting below the fish. Of all the things that I tasted last night, this reminded me the most of Italy. Bold, robust, simple flavors are what I associate with Italian food and the risotto was all of that.

Piccata di pollo – Piccata of chicken breast on tomato sauce with penne rigate

This was the husband’s choice and this dish was one of the reasons why I thought the special menu was well-thought out. Let me explain why – the 2 veg options for the mains were a grilled tofu (their attempt to create a meatless main dish) and a pasta dish. The non-veg mains on the other hand, had the meat or seafood, as was the case, as the star of the dish but so as to not let the eater down, risotto and pasta were added. Ordinarily one might think that risotto and fish or pasta and grilled chicken wouldn’t otherwise go together but since this menu is specifically for people who want to try some delicious food on a budget, it was designed so the diner could have a bit of everything. This is smart and I think most people will leave the restaurant thinking they got more than what they bargained for which is absolutely correct, in this case.

The chicken was a thinly sliced breast but somehow it was still juicy and tender which I didn’t expect at all, seeing the thickness of the fillet. I asked the chef how he managed to do that and he said it was a simple flash grill in a hot pan for 10-15 minutes and then the breast was finished gently in the oven while the plate was being put out. The pasta was simple, dressed in a basic tomato basil sauce and was the perfect complement to the chicken.

Course 3 – DESSERT

Panna Cotta – Blueberry Panna cotta with a berry coulis

The husband went for this one. The description on the menu may not appeal to some people – in fact, most would skip it and go for the chocolate mud cake with mango coulis – but he likes fruity desserts at the end of a heavy meal. But what actually arrived on the plate had quite a few elements that weren’t written about. There were bits of crumbled meringue, a geometrically cut kiwi, orange segments and two types of fruit coulis on the plate. They all melded perfectly together. My only point of contention was that the panna cotta, while it tasted wonderful, had a bit too much gelatine in it, no doubt to facilitate it to stand upright. But for me, the perfect panna cotta has to be slightly wobbly and very creamy. But the husband ate it all up and he had no complaints whatsoever – he loved it.

Tiramisu – Savoiardi biscuits in espresso coffee, topped with a rich mascarpone egg custard with Kahlua, rum and Bailey’s

I love tiramisu and I have had it so many times that I am now very fussy about how I like it to be. I was not bonkers over the presentation but I certainly enjoyed the taste of the Bene version. It was a traditional tiramisu except for the addition of the liqueurs but to be honest, I couldn’t really taste the Kahlua and the Bailey’s and I told the chef so. Hopefully they will add more to the custard when they open the menu to the public. But apart from that, the custard was heavenly and the coffee syrup packed a heady punch – just the way I like it.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable meal. A quick look at the menu and we realised that our 3 course meal that comprised 6 separate dishes with generous portion sizes would have easily come to about Rs 3000-4000 but since the menu was for the Citibank Restaurant Week, this will be available to diners at Rs 1500 for 2 people.

I think the Citibank Restaurant Week is a great way for enthusiastic foodies, like you and me, who would like to taste some delicious food in a fine dining restaurant without breaking the bank. This edition of the Restaurant week runs from September 23^rd to October 2^nd with bookings open for Citibank customers on the 16^th and for the general public, on the 18^th. In Bangalore alone, there are 22 restaurants that are participating and they cover the entire gamut of world cuisines. Check out www.restaurantweekindia.com for more information.

Go if you are looking for an exclusive dining experience and if Italian is your thing, then head to Bene for an authentic meal with salt-of-the-earth flavours. By the way, Chef Hemanth of Bene agreed to share his recipe for the wonderful zucchini soup so watch this space for more!

Buon appetito!