Bliss at Brunch

METHOD
Set the oven to 200° C and broil (grill) the peppers for about 15 minutes. Take out and place in a plastic wrap and secure tightly. This process allows the skin of the peppers to come off quickly and evenly.

When cool enough to handle, remove the skin and keep aside.

Whisk the olive oil and balsamic together and keep aside till further use.

Poach the sun-dried tomatoes in hot water for about 10 minutes till they are refreshed. Cool.

Cut the peppers in the desired shape and add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Toss the salad with the arugula lettuce and serve immediately.

THE sun seemed mild, even at 12.30 pm. Or maybe it was just the Enid Blyton-meets-P3P ambience that upped the happy quotient. Competing with the curiosity in the custom-designed picnic basket (stuffed with a crusty baguette, a bottle of Spanish wine, fruits, a bunch of flowers and a weekend paper) was the parade of faintly recognisable faces who obligingly faded into the background once the excellent wine had been consumed.

The buffet awaited, and oh, what a spread. Two cold soups, dips and spreads (hummus, guacamole, picada, pâtés, mousses), fresh oysters (in Delhi, yes, they are worth the exclamations), cold cuts, salads (including, rather surprisingly, the pedestrian Caesar). Round the corner, and there’s a choice of fresh and smoked cheeses (including some to-die-for feta and brie)… and this was just the cold counter. We made two trips, and didn’t have space for the hot entrées (including pizza that you can see and smell being baked in a wood-fired oven), which may have been just as well, because they’re not covered by the buffet tag.

The food at Olive is indisputably the best of its kind in Delhi at the moment, both in variety and in quality. But the ambience—the restaurant is located in a refurbished all-white colonial-type building—is its ace and one that only a fool would keep up his sleeve. Water fans add the necessary moisture to the dry Delhi heat, a live jazz band plays in the background, and the murmur of contentment buzzes around. Bliss!

Sumana Mukherjee