Wine & Dine-The Double Charm At La Piazza

There’s a double treat at La Piazza, Hyatt Regency New-Delhi till the 15^th of this month. One of the esteemed Italian chef Alessandro Sandrolini joins back the Indian barrack as Sous-Chef and is serving a 5-course meal. Where every course is paired by a glass of wine personally by Viraj Sawant, the well-known wine sommelier for Berkman Wine Cellars, London. Not only does he pairs the wine but is happy to educate you on the same if you are the curious kind.

I don’t consume alcohol personally but knowledge for sure is good, so I definitely learned a lot when it comes to pairing of wine with food, and moving beyond the basic red and white knowledge. It was interesting to know that weather and oak are two things which affect the wine as well as their consumer pattern when it comes to choosing one although the informed decision-makers are barely 5 percent from the total drinking clan.

Chef Alessandro Sandrolini has served this property from 2009 to 2013 and is well familiar with a lot of staff, so it’s a comfortable feeling to come back here, as he claims. The place honestly holds so many first-ever’s that it’s hard to list but few of them would be the first woodfire oven of Delhi was installed in this restaurant 21 years back. The first-ever Italian chef for a restaurant in Delhi and so on. The whole property is an intuition rather than a mere hotel now.

The food is simple yet classic Italian, my pallet started with a Parmesan Crème Brulee with white truffle oil which is to be paired with a light white wine which holds some sweetness. Followed on by a warm Asparagus Veloute soup which is not really a pair for wine in general Indian pallet but is a widely accepted one in the west.

The Mushroom stuffed Tortellini with brown butter sauce was definitely the best thing I had in a long time, with the pasta so soft and fluffy that it would melt in the mouth, I was recently exposed to Brown butter through Madeleine just a couple of days back and here I was gorging on the same flavour once again luckily. This dish has not been incorporated yet to the regular menu but I suggested the chef to make this a part of the same and would definitely be a winner as per my understanding.

The PLF (pocket loosening factor) for each person in this festival is 3900+ taxes and it’s only till 15^th Feb. It might sound like a big amount but when you come to think of it in a breakup of 5 glasses of wine-your choice, 5-course fine Italian meal, with a wine sommelier in a 5-star property it sure sounds fair.