The final event of 2007 was unique.
While it was designed to announce the arrival of Star
Chef Bill Marchetti back in the Delhi culinary scene,
it was also meant to celebrate the passing year by tasting
some of the best wines that had won medals at IWC.
Though the 130-cover restaurant in
the Select Mall has not yet opened officially, it is
already doing a brisk business with up to 300 guests
a day, and the only option to conduct the evening's
proceedings was to close it for the mall visitors. Most
people still do not realize Bill's involvement in the
project, one of the 100+ that Mumbai based Blue Foods
Pvt Ltd. has undertaken successfully. He is the consulting
Chef for all the new restaurants that are coming up,
including an SK in Bangalore during the next few weeks.
The antipasti reminded one of the spread
at Hyatt lunches at La Piazza. There were plenty to
keep one busy for the whole evening. But the pizzas-
pepperoni and Margherita were too hot and tempting to
pass up. The thin crust is getting thinner and the new
restaurant is keeping up with times.
What really took the cake was the risotto.
It is not common to find al-dente in most restaurants,
not because chefs cannot make it. It is just that the
Delhi crowd is not very generous when it is served in
its original form. Perhaps, the condiment of multi-
region, multi-country, multi- varietal made us really
appreciate it. Of course Farfelle and Penne Marinara
had Bill's signature all over too.
The main course of duck, red snapper,
black pepper chicken and scallops would have been a
great one-of –four choice. But Bill insisted we
try all of them. Despite the 1000+ extra calories already
in the system due to his food and wine, they were too
irresistible.
Scallops were an ideal example of mismatch
and many did not care as much for them, perhaps due
to the red wine we had switched over to, earlier in
the evening.
Desserts had many debating whether
the cheese cake was superb (taking unfair advantage
of adding strawberries), or the crème brulee
with freshly whipped cream.
The cooking staff is obviously well
trained and exec Chef Das and his aides did a superb
job in making people pledge to come back soon. The newly
appointed waiting staff needs some polishing up but
were very cordial, cheerful and willing to learn. A
few lapses could easily be overlooked without Bill firing
them from the job.
The promise of confirmed seats in the
two PDRs and the wine friendliness promised by Bill
in the wine menu about to be released, will make the
evenings that much more friendly for the members and
their families.
