GRAPPA GARDEN

Grappa Garden could best be described in my book as a bistro, which usually is a small restaurant serving continental food accompanied by wine and coffee. It definitely serves the typical bistro cuisine. The table set-up encourages you to try an interesting mix of their domestic and international brand selection, in an open yet classy ambience. The mood here, is perfect for a chilly afternoon brunch or even a cozy evening dinner. The food menu here is seasonal and as mentioned, changes accordingly. Also going by the theme, the preparations are made from fresh, local produce — that’s why you’ll find lots of winter vegetables used inpreparations around this time of the year. Typical to bistro cuisine, there are quite a few interesting preparations on the list. Apart from the soups, salads, pizzas and pastas, some preparations that caught my eye include the Devils on Horseback (prunes wrapped in bacon) and the Brazilian Rib Eye Steak to name a few. Also, as a diehard whiskey man, I always wondered why it’s not used regularly in restaurants for culinary sauces, as it tends to give an excellent flavour and zing to the dish, especially with meat. Here, you can get several such items, such as their Whiskey Pork Ribs, Orange Whiskey Ham and Chicken Bit-o-Whiskey. This season’s menu is quite flavourful. The Roasted Vegetables and Pasta soup, Barbecue Chicken Wings, Homemade Cannelloni stuffed with Garden Fresh Veggies are all musttries. The stuff here breaks the myth related to continental preparations — that the use of herbs, coloured peppers and thick sauces qualifies as a ‘continental preparation’, which is sadly, yet unintentionally practised and copied just about everywhere. It is good to know that here, they differentiate themselves as soon as you take the first bite. The roasted vegetables have that balanced smoky taste with the optimum use of herbs. The Barbecue Chicken Wings have this extra meaty chunk over the bone and the Homemade Cannelloni promises a wholesome meal. The Tiramisu or the Black Forest Bavarios are both equally delicious to top it all. This place breaks another myth as well — that every restaurant in that vicinity (Koregaon Park) can be assumed to be exorbitant.A four-course, shared, filling meal for two, would be less than Rs 1,000, something that is worth every penny for the quality of ingredients used, service, ambience and rather satisfying taste. Of course the wine list per bottle starts from the mentioned amount and it does not encourage wine served by glass. Nevertheless, this bistro’s food is absolutely fantastic!

Grappa Garden

Above Post 91,

Lane No 7,

Koregaon Park, Pune