Shana Maria Verghis discovers mango chicken pizza and delicious cranberry sauce focaccia at the By The Way restaurant that serves conti fare
Ashok Vihar-Phase II is not the trendiest place in town. It consists primarily of residences, dotted by commercial buildings, many of which don’t seem to have been updated in a while.
Apparently there are some venues for local entertainment, like malls. But there is no five-star hotel to speak of. Instead, you have small eateries like ‘Imagination’, located within a ramshackle, community centre, that has a limited parking space. This is located beside a flyover.
Across the road, is a college, whose presence is very convenient client base for Bellagio, the two-year-old restaurant complex within the same community centre. Unlike the twin building beside it in red brick that has a rundown appearance, Bellagio is spick and span.
It has a side-entrance, that opens onto a neat, green parking area, (but you must drive through the ramshackle space). Bellagio’s owned by a real-estate developer and consists a continental cafe on two floors called By the Way, plus an Indian restaurant called Soul Curry. And there is a Chinese place called RED. They have separate kitchens for all three areas. The Indian and Chinese areas are apparently more popular. They remain shut after 3 pm. Their decor is elegant, with wine-glasses at tables and chic interiors. By the Way, the place we chose, was least impressive of the outlets. It’s got a cafe below, lounge above. The latter with its ugly couches and loud music was where we sat, a bit apprehensive. But we weren’t in the mood for desi or chinese grub. There’s no bar on this floor. Instead there’s a TV. And because of IPl, a trickle of customers metamorphosed. We barely saw them fill up the tables.
The first two drinks served were bad. One was fruity peachy slush. The second, lemon and mint. If it wasn’t for the courteous, cool manager, operations Mahipal Singh, we would have written the place at once. He swiftly got the barkeep to redo the drink (twice) to our liking. So we give them an A for persistence or should that be a PIJ
By the Way’s menu was a bit of a disarray. Burgers, salads, starters etc. But not in the order expected. A feta cheese salad we ordered appeared. Wow, was it lovely fresh with greens and olives. My spirits picked up. Then a starter of calamari appeared with tartar sauce. I finished most of it, but it could have crispier, more golden brown. I also had a slice of mango-chicken pizza and liked the piquant taste. Apparently they use chutney when the fruit’s not in season. Bellagio wasn’t sad sack after all. They do try and experiment. Even for this part of the capital, which is mainly filled with traditionalists.
Indeed, their cranberry sauce dripping in a foccaccia sandwich filled with chicken, accompanied by spicy tomato salsa was yum. Chef informed “you reduce canned cranberries with cream, and add condiments.”
The prawn risotto was fresh, though I could have done with more parmesan. And the caramel custard was as good as it gets.
So over all, I changed my mind about being dismissive, because the management was keen to put in best effort. All thanks to Mr Singh’s leadership! They have also been imaginative enough to turn standard recipes on their head and twist them a little. So we customers get innovation. And that I think, sits well with the mood of the times.