Whine and Dine

The vertical restaurant is split in three levels. When we visited,the lower level was shut,so we settled down in the middle floor. The interiors are nice enough — dim lighting,a couple of cute corners decorated with couches and some decent watercolours. It’s an ideal place to relax and unwind with friends after a day’s work. The staff is also amiable and cheerful. Our server presents us with the menu,which is in the form of an electronic tablet. One nice feature is that while placing the order,you have an option to add a note to the chef. The menu is a mish-mash of Mediterranean,Oriental and Indian fare. So far so good.

We decide to try all three cuisines. We start with a chicken satay,followed by a spicy chicken ‘Nazza’. The latter is a pizza with a naan base and makes up the desi component of the meal. We were pleased to see our meal materialise within minutes. However,this turned out to be the last happy thought for a while.

The chicken satay arrives first,and while it looks like chicken satay,it doesn’t taste anything like it. It tastes of garlic,a little red chilli,and nothing else. The accompanying peanut sauce does nothing to alleviate the dish. Maybe it’s just us,but peanut sauce is meant to be a smooth,creamy,yellow-hued concoction,sublime to taste. The De Villa version resembles nothing so much as bottled honey chilli sauce with bits of chopped peanuts. What we failed to understand is that if the kitchen was going to use a bottled sauce,why not just use an actual packaged peanut sauce? This course is a total write-off.

The “nazza” comes while we’re in the middle of the satay,which we happily abandon. The concept of the dish is pretty good,but it fails in execution. The naan base is too weak and brittle to support cheese,chicken and various other toppings,and so,the slices keep collapsing. The flavours of chicken and tomato are drowned by the cheese,and half-way through the course,our server turns up with oregano,chilli flakes and even ketchup.

For our main course,we order Amsterdam Lamb Chops with mashed potatoes,buttered vegetables and apple sauce. First off,we’re not sure about the sauce. A good apple sauce makes the ideal accompaniment to pork,but not so much to lamb. The mashed potatoes are the worst we’ve ever tasted. They’re soft but that’s about it. Studded with broccoli (the mind boggles) and with an unpleasant flavour,the potatoes were our least favourite thing. The lamb was of good quality,but underdone and chewy. Enough said.

While De Villa does well in terms of ambience and service,the chefs need to get their act together. The sooner the better.

Meal for two: Rs. 1,800 (including all taxes,exluding alcohol)

Contact: 6561845