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Effortless meld The main courses, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, span a compact range

It’s probably Indiranagar’s best-kept secret. The restaurant has been open for about six months now and sees brisk trade during the week, mainly expats stepping in for a quick bite of lasagne or confit, and positively bustles on the weekends.

Thing is, amidst a veritable forest of eateries all within a stone’s throw of each other, all shouting for attention, all on or in the vicinity of Indiranagar’s 100 ft road, Portabella, situated as it is inside the Hotel Basil Ikon, may be just a tad too subtle.

The place has a moniker that is Italian; the food is French nouvelle and actually, it’s a smooth meld. Yes, olive oil and vinaigrettes make their due debuts but also know their place and thanks be, it’s a subdued place.

The soups are light, with neither the base vegetables nor the herbs overpowering the other. The starters are accompanied by tangy and creamy sauces, delicious to the last drip. The main courses, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, span a compact range of cheeses, veggies, mushrooms, Chilean salmon, duck and a neat selection of the fruits of the sea like red snapper, prawns and seer.

To tame that sweet tooth, there’s tiramisu...but of course...chocolate mousse, warm chocolate brownies, and mango and blueberry cheesecake. Oh, and the Portabella diner gets a demitasse of coffee on the house. What he or she also gets is that the chef, Bangalore boy Vikram Shandilya Udaygiri, is really having fun with the food and its preparation and presentation thereof. And when the man wielding the skillet (one who honed his skill at a Michelin-starred eatery near Lille in France, no less) is having so much fun, it’s a cert that the diner, too, ends up emulating the chef.

While a meal for two (average prices, Rs 1,200) won’t break your wallet, it doesn’t come too cheap either. Then again, whoever said the best things in life come cheap?

Portabella is at Hotel Basil Ikon, 1215, 100 Ft Road, Indiranagar. Call: 40401313

SHEILA KUMAR

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