No Food for Thought

Pomodoro would like to have us believe that it is styled on an osteria,or a trattoria,but its luxurious surroundings and exorbitant prices beg to differ.

Apart from its lavish ambience,Pomodoro offers nothing much to the diners

Pomodoro would like to have us believe that it is styled on an osteria,or a trattoria,but its luxurious surroundings and exorbitant prices beg to differ. The recently opened lavish restaurant at The Hilton,Janakpuri,is a far cry from its modest Italian origins. A trattoria is a casual eating joint,with low-priced local cuisine,and caters to large communal dining. In an osteria,on the other hand,the owner of the house hosts the dinners and has regular patrons. But the 70-cover plush Pomodoro is all about exotic Italian cuisine.

Seated comfortably,we are open to discovering authentic Italian cuisine in the heart of West Delhi,otherwise known for heavily spiced meals. Beginning our meal with the complimentary milk bread,we move to a platter of Bruschetta (Rs 500). The six pieces of grilled Tuscan bread (two of each type) come in bite-sized portions and are loaded with herbed mushrooms,sun-dried tomatoes with walnuts,melted Fontina cheese and chopped spicy tomatoes with fresh herbs. The herbed mushrooms are tender and creamy and go well with the crisp bread rubbed with olive oil and garlic. The tomatoes,however,are not very appetising: the sun-dried tomatoes are too salty and the walnuts do not have their crunch. The spicy tomatoes lack the pungency you get from using fresh herbs. In fact,our server insisted that we add more black pepper to everything,perhaps he is used to receiving queries about the lack of flavour. Fontina cheese,not easily available in Delhi,is severely underutilised and cannot hold the bruschetta together. What makes it worse is the irony in the name of the restaurant pomodoro is Italian for tomato.

For the main course,we order the Rigatoni alla pastora (Rs 550) larger penne tubes tossed with minced lamb ragout and Pecorino cheese. The pasta is a little hard to chew,but the lamb ragout is evenly spiced and requires lesser flavouring. Next,we get the Scalopine di pollo alla Valdostana (Rs 750) chicken breast with mushrooms and Fontina cheese in white wine sauce with tagliarini pasta noodles. Unlike its exciting name,the chicken is too chewy for comfort and has not absorbed the flavour of the sauce or the cheese,leaving us a little disheartened.

We figure wed drown our sorrows with the famous Italian rum infused dessert,Baba al rum (Rs 380),but are left picking only on the fruits around it. The sponge cake is too sweet to be swallowed and the flavour of the rum is only in the centre of the cake,which is decorated with kiwis,strawberries and green apples. With rubbery chicken and saccharine overdose,this trattoria will have to work harder to get loyalists.

Pomodoro

The Hilton,Janakpuri

Meal for two: Rs 2,000 (exclusive of alcohol)

Contact: 41234123

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