food-and-wine showcasing at The Italian Consulate Kolkata

It’s now a global phenomena for Italian Cuisine to showcase their offerings to the cities where Italian Consulate is present. Basically, it’s an evening of food-wine connoisseurship at the Italian Consulate Kolkata and I was invited there for the second time this year, thanks to honorable consululate general Mr Damiano Francovigh. 

You can check my experience for last year at the Italian Consulate here

Seven of the best hotels presented their gastronomic offerings by their resident Italian chefs- flown down to the city of joy. There were HHI ( Chef Marialuisa Lovari), Swissotel (Chef Enrico Bricarello), Taj Bengal (Chef Giovanni Poretto), Novotel (Chef Andrea Misseri), The Oberoi Grand (Chef Mariagiustina Campagna), Hyatt Regency (Chef Mauro Ferrari) and ITC Sonar (Chef Vittorio Greco).

Apart from a good selection of wine, I spotted Campari at the bar counter. And combined with tonic water, it’s always a great combination for me. In the food offering, there was a great cut of pork shoulder from ITC Sonar and luckily, the lean meat- fat ratio was just perfect. the seafood Rissotto from Taj Bengal had the perfect balance of spice-quotient and was lovely. Tiramisu had always been a strong forte in Oberoi Grand and here also, it was no exception. 

On the next week, I was again invited to the ITC Sonar for their curated Italian pop-up by chef Vittorio Greco. a full sit-down pre-plated menu was being served at fraction of the price at West View Bar and Grill and it was a menu sampling session. 

    

                      The menu for the pop-up day

    

You can check my last year’s experience at West View here

The next Italian food tasting session was at Cafe Swiss, Swissotel …. It was their Italian brunch. On a lazy sunday, there we were at the Cafe Swiss, sampling the food. Somehow, I stuck to the basics. There was a good, damn good pizza counter and off course, I gorged on that and a live Ravioli counter. Dessert has always been a strong point for them and it was no exception there. Overall, it was a lovely meal. 

You can check my experience at Swissotel here

Bon apetit !!!

Comments and critics welcome. 

I can be reached at indrajit.lahiri@ymail.com / 9903528225