We stop by Sicilia and Dario’s and bring to you the taste of Italy

Just over six months old, Sicilia — the Italian and Mediterranean restaurant at City Point, Boat Club Road — is a  rather welcome addition to the city’s ever growing food scape of high-end, specialty restaurants. The place boasts of an authentic Italian experience, with a fairly exhaustive choice, that of course covers a wide variety in pastas and pizzas. But going beyond that, its starters and main course sections offer several savouries. The bread basket comes complimentary with all dishes and is unlimited.

The one thing we straight away recommend is the Scallapuno Di Pallo Ai Funghi  — a delectable dish of tender chicken and mushroom in mushroom cream, served with roasted peppery potatoes on the side, and salad. This could be a wholesome fare for two (the servings are fairly large), and with a mocktail or any of the drinks from the restaurant’s well-stocked bar to sip on, it becomes a full meal. Our choice of drink was fairly regular — Coco Bana (fresh banana, pineapple juice and coconut cream) — but exquisitely fresh!  For starters, we chose a dish of button mushroom in garlic sauce and a Lebanese one (among just two available), Hummus Bi Tahima — Turkish style chickpea puree with garlic, cayenne and tahini, served with pita bread strips. Both were excellent. The soups are kept limited, so as to serve it fresh and not frozen. We tasted tomato-mint soup (wonderfully aromatic) and ministroni soup (a bit bland).  We also dug a little into the ‘roasted chicken and orange salad’ — a tangy, crunchy combo of loloroso leaves, iceberg lettuce, orange dressing, walnuts and apples.

The Lasagnya Del Contandina was disappointing — so insist on more sauce or extra instructions even if you’re getting into familiar territory.

None of this comes too cheap. The starters will go upto Rs 200-250, while the main course should cost about Rs 300 -450. If the dessert is done away with (there’s nothing particular to recommend), a meal for two should still cost you anything between Rs 800 and Rs 1200.

The place seems to be a favourite jaunt of expats, who enjoy the variety and high quality standards that are maintained. Says manager Leonard Christy, “All the ingredients  — including the meat, oils, salmon — are imported, so the cost is bound to be higher. But we insist on the best.” The place decidedly scores better on food and service than on ambiance. The restaurant’s dim lighting and enclosed interior made it a bit too stuffy when the AC went off. For now, Sicilia could do well to up the ante slightly to completely justify its high price.

Sandhya Iyer

The one thing you can be sure of when you’re at Dario’s Restaurant. Cafe. Bar in Lane 1, Koregaon Park, is that the food on your table has made it there only after a thorough testing of standards. Vegetables and fruits are washed in mediclorex, certain ingredients like olive oil, capers, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese are imported from Italy and only the best of local produce enters the kitchen here. You should also know the menu card is not only a list of what’s on offer, but also a reflection of the owners — Dario and Rebecca Dezio’s —  ideology. It’s an all veg Italian restaurant to start with, and the theme, as reflected in the menu and the peaceful green environs of the place, is eco-sensitivity.

“I support the vegetarian movement as being more healthy and environmentally friendly. For our ingredients, we support companies who have a similar ideology to ours. Our salads, for example, come from Green Tokri, who have a passion to provide the best quality salads using technology and expertise to minimise the impact of farming on the environment. Products sourced from Italy are from regional companies, which are of a high quality but which are not necessarily commercial,” says Dario, who has a glowing 20 year old career working as a chef with reputed restaurants in India, behind him. Dario’s clearly is a labour of love, creatively designed (the paintings are by Dario himself), passionately looked after. “The aim of Dario’s is to produce simple, tasty and healthy food as if you were eating at an Italian home,” says the owner. The effect, naturally, is intimate.

The menu, more so the evening one, is well-furnished — including soups, salads, antipasti, pizzas (there are sweet pizzas with surprising toppings available, too!), pastas, desserts and what have you, along with many temptations from the bar and cafe. The breads are home-made and the pizzas are thin-crust, straight out of the wood-fire oven.

Try these pizzas, you must. We loved our Sicilian Pizza not only for its spicy toppings ( bell peppers, onions, cheese, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes), but for the crispy freshness of the base. Funghi Dario’s — a starter made of mushrooms, garlic, lime and extra virgin olive oil — was simple and delicious. Greek Salad was fresh and crunchy and the home-made Tortellini Pasta (stuffed with mushroom and cheese!) in white sauce suffused us with a warm feeling, made cosier by the overcast day outside. A Tiramisu later, we wanted to doze off on the adjacent lawns. This trip to Italy wasn’t hard on our pockets, too.

Renu Dhole