Italian restaurant, only saving grace of popup event

Five restaurants offered a select menu of their best dishes, drinks and desserts

Kickstarting the festive season, an event ‘Dine with Rocky’ was held at the Alto Vino Alfresco at the Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield. Co-hosted by Rocky Mohan, executive director of Mohan Meakins, the event was a showcase of the best of culinary and mixology offerings from
the hotel.

Popups of the five dining outlets of the hotel were lined along the alfresco, with each offering a select menu of their best dishes.

The Whitefield Bar and Grill offered traditional tandoor dishes and barbeques. We tried their ‘Tandoor marinated pork belly’ and their ‘Lambchop’. The meat had been cooked well with the pork practically sliding off the bones, and the lamb cooked until it was soft and juicy.

However, whether the meat had not been marinated for long enough or the marination was not prepared with adequate spices is unclear, but the dishes could have used a good dose of seasoning.

We moved towards the station set up by Alto Vino, the in-house Italian restaurant. They offered an assortment of salads, such as the ‘Roast Beef Salad’, and ‘Shrimp Salad’. Both were made using fresh greens, and minimal dressings that made it light and tasty. However, once again, we found that the meat would have fared much better with some more flavour.

They offered a ‘Mushroom tart’, which would have been tasty had it been served fresh. The mushroom filling was really tasty, but the tart base was soggy, making it a great letdown.

Their ‘Spinach Ravioli’ and the ‘Chicken Ravioli’ was light, buttery and creamy— making them the dishes that won our hearts.

M-Café put up a large assortment of Indian cuisine with a focus on Awadhi cuisine. We were unable to try all the dishes offered, as the selection was vast. We tried their ‘Pulav’, ‘Fish
Polichathu’ and Prawns curry’. The curry and the rice were only so-so, but the ‘Fish Polichathu’ was an absolute letdown. The masala flavours had not seeped into the fish, making it completely devoid of any flavour.

The Whitefield WBC Baking CO offer a wide selection of desserts. Their ‘Classic Key Lime Pie’ and ‘Baked Hazelnut Chocolate Tart’ were the stars of the evening.

While the food did leave us reaching out for some salt-and-pepper shakers in our minds, the service was certainly admirable. The open-air setting and the wafts of cold breeze, as well as the cocktails from M Bar, definitely made the occasion merry.