Loading ...UB City, the center of all things excess and flamboyant in Bangalore now host some of the nicer restaurants in the city.
After having spent a number of months driving by the “bling” city i decided to take the plunge and try out one of the restaurants, and the first just happened to be Toscano. Run by Head chef Jean-Michel this restaurant aims at providing an Italian fine dinning experience outside the confines of a hotel.
The Experience:
Making your way to the restaurant is an experience in itself, the long walk up the two flights of stairs should be more than enough to build up your appetite. I decided to take the escalator.
To Drink:
Starting an afternoon with a nice cold beer, or a glass of wine, is the perfect way to bring in the lunch experience. Toscano has a wide variety of beers ranging from the more common Indian beers to the more robust Belgians.
The wine list should satisfy all but the most finicky drinkers, though the one thing that really caught me off guard was the lack of a cocktails or hard liquor, and I was most certainly not going to ruin my meal with a mocktail.
Coffee’s and tea’s are available for those of you who pop in to the restaurant between lunch and dinner, though I’d probably still stick to a nice bottle of beer.
Getting Started:
As with any meal the tone is set with the starters. While you could dive into something heavy and filling I’ve always felt choosing something light, preferably leafy, is a nice way of ushering in the main course.
At the Toscano you have the following options, the toscano Caesar which in my opinion is a salad you should definitely avoid. However where the Caesar fails the mixed salad of goats cheese and sliced pears more than makes up for it.
Dig into the oven baked potato & brie cheese terrine or the crumb fried mozzarella if you want something more substantial.
The Main Course:
After having lined your stomach with starters jump straight into the main course. For the veggies there is a traditional Spaghetti Pomodoro ( tomatoes, parmesan and olives ) or the Fusilli pesto ( basil, garlic, cream and olives ).
Those of you who lean a little differently there is the always nice, and safe, lemon & thyme marinated grilled fish with spaghetti served with veggies and capers.
Continuing with the sea food theme you could try the pan fried herbed prawns with baby veggies.
With both the dishes above i should mention the portions are extremely small, specially in the case of the prawns. Plan on ordering a second dish if you walk in hungry.
The Roasted tenderloin with fresh garlic mashed potatoes and the pesto grilled lamb chops are a little more substantial though the quality of the tenderloin wasn’t as good as i’d expect from a restaurant with this level of sophistication.
If you are a pizza person this is probably one of the few places in the city which serves them fresh from a wood oven.
Finishing up:
As with any meal you need to finish off with something sweet. This restaurant does have its share of desserts. So if you have a craving for chocolate i would suggest the sinful chocolate Kahlua mousse or the apple cinnamon tart if you feel like something with other flavours.
All in all a very nice restaurant to have lunch at, but the food needs some work. It’s visually stunning, but where it falls short is in the way it tastes.
Oh, and yes please start serving some cocktails!!
The Fine Print:
Type: Restaurant
Cuisine: Italian
Meal Details: Lunch, Dinner and the small section of time in between.
Alcohol? : Yes
Meal for 2: A “meal” for 2 would set you back around Rs 1500
Cards? : Yes
Gripes:
The Food could be better.
Ratings:
Price: 3/5
Food: 3/5
Ambience: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Contact Info:
41738800
Getting there:
The Collection - UB City, Level 2, Concorde Block, 24, Vittal Mallya Road
Related Posts
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
