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Italian flavours
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The pizza and pasta festival at The Leela Kempinski, Kovalam, is a gastronomic trip through Italy
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Photo S. Gopakumar
Mediterranean break All the pasta dishes come with a basket of toasted garlic bread
Chunks of olives, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, parmesan cheese and assorted wines welcome you to the Italian food festival at The Leela, Kovalam. The poolside ambience, cool sea breeze and cheesy, saucy aroma of the food work as a wonderful appeti
ser.
A glass of red wine (Planeta Burdese), from a selection of premium wines imported from Italy, was a perfect start. Baked Potato Gnocchi (with mushroom and boccancini), which I would vote as the innovative best, came next.
This was followed by Farfalle with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and walnuts. I savoured the creamy and crisp taste. We then had Corn and Wild Spinach Rotolo, a colourful platter of spinach and corn filled-rotolo in cherry tomato compote.
My friend, a devotee of seafood, tried the Chitarra pasta with shrimps and Porcini mushrooms sauce and declared it scrumptious along with the perfect combo of Castello Banfi (Fonatanelle Chardonnay Tuscany) wine.
Thin-crust pizza, loaded with cheese and freshly ground herbs came hot off the pizza oven, which was heated by firewood. Cheese (Parmesan and Mozzarella) and wines also form a major part of the cuisine.
Health plus
Executive chef Vijayan Parakkal explained the plus points of Italian cuisine, which usually has dollops of olive oil, garlic and basil. He pointed out that the food was a “healthy indulge.”
Said Vijayan: “It is freshly made with typical Italian ingredients, variety of Italian cheese, wild tomatoes, olives from Italy, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil from our spice garden. Most of the pasta – Chittara and Fettuccinni – are home made and we ensure that it has the right consistency and is done al dente.”
The chef recommended the Red pumpkin and Mascarpone Cheese Rivoli. As I bit into the Rivoli, its sweet flavour was set off by the toping of pine nuts, which made it crunchy and yummy. My pal tried the Penne tossed with Scandinavian smoked salmon with yellow lime sauce. All the pasta dishes come with a basket of toasted garlic bread.
It costs between Rs. 590 and Rs. 790 for each person for the meat and sea food selection. It is Rs. 490 for vegetarians. The flavour trip to Italy will be on at The Leela till December 31.
MAITHRI SRIKANT
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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