The Park Pod’s ‘Italia’- or another name for finest Italian dining in Chennai

The Park Pod is the luxury and boutique hotel of The Park. Italia is the fine dining restaurant of The Park Pod.

Italia is located in the heart of the city of Chennai at the Khader Nawaz Khan Rd. The entrance is a narrow gate, although broad enough for a truck to enter. This gate leads you to a grand entrance through a corridor. When you park the car you can see the chic crowd seated and enjoying through the glass wall of Italia’s first floor dining hall. I do not think they have a dining area in the ground floor- a word of caution if you plan to take anybody who has a problem climbing few flights of stair case.

The smoking zone is a nice pool side. Generally the smoker’s are pushed into a balcony of sorts. Smokers could well be delighted to have the pool side to smoke with a beautifully lit up tree to gaze on while they smoke. Although smoking still remains as injurious to health as ever. Getting back to the point, Italia’s ground floor entrance is a nicely lit (not brightly lit) pool side which takes you to a spiral stair case at the end. This stair case opens up to a very well done lounge area. It is uber posh. It has this very beautiful water running through woods. A lot of wood works in the interiors making it look really rich. Inside the lounge, the restaurant everything is very brightly lit up.

You are invited inside by the very courteous staff and are given an option to be seated in the exterior side with a glass wall which allows you to look into the pool or you have the choice of being seated in the interior portion where you can gaze upon the tastefully done restaurant.

Italia offers true Italian food. I know so does a pizza outlet, what I meant was that they have a lot of Italian variety to offer other than the regular Pizzas, Fettuccine alfredo, Bruschetta etc. The varieties offered are galore. Be it meat or sea food that you desire or beverage or dessert.

The service is very good. Very courteous. They know what they are serving and ask you in which order do you desire to be served. Are knowledgeable enough to advise on portions, kind of food, drinks etc. And yes they are quite fast! Now, that’s worth an applaud.

They begin by serving the complimentary bread with different sauces which you can start having with your drinks while you ponder with all the long Italian dish names which are difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to comprehend. For appetizers we ordered a platter of sea food fritters- this was how I am describing the dish, the name slipped away from my mind. It was delicious they give some 5 varieties of sea food (3-4 piece each small ones) with a sauce. Extremely good.

We ordered just one main course and one dessert both of which were just excellent. The dessert was a deadly chocolate mousse; the quantity is enough for two. The main course would be enough for two if you have ordered a starter, a drink for each and a dessert. If you skip any one of the things, you might have to order one more main course to be full.

In the beverages you have option of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. Good number of cocktails or ‘mocktails’ to choose from. I had a Margarita which was fab. I forgot what hubby dahling had, whatever it was he seemed content.

Let’s come to pricing – a meal for two with starters, cocktails, one dessert, one main course came to Rs. 3000/- pricey but worth it. It is specially worth it if you are taking your romantic interest for a special treat like I was taken out for my birthday treat.

I would want tell all you people out there to try out this place specially if you love Italian food.

At the end of it all I want to say is thank you for stopping by. and a special shout out to the husband ‘Thank you, you made my day.’  And ‘when did you say we are going there again?’ ;-)
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Pizza - my first home made ones

In my earlier post on wheat flour cake, I had mentioned that before I ventured into the journey of Atta cake we were through with our dinner which was pizza. More accurately my very first home made pizza. Well, don’t get too excited, I didn’t make it from scratch as in the pizza bread was a 6” pan pizza bought from the local grocery store. Maybe I’ll muster the guts (more importantly the time & patience) to make pizza from scratch one day. Till then I don’t mind basking in the glory of what I experimented the other day. I made 2  kinds of pizza – one was with tomato based sauce with topping of chicken and capsicum and onion with mozzarella cheese. This pizza tasted just like the chicken pizza that you normally get in the pizza outlets. What I was little more excited about was the Pineapple pizza.  I am going to mention both the recipes here. Where as the Chicken Sausage Pizza is a definite item to be liked by all and tastes exactly like the pizza outlets’ pizza. The pineapple pizza is for people who want to try out something slightly different.

Chicken Sausage Pizza ( with capsicum, onion, tomato and mozzarella cheese)

(Recipe for one 12” pizza)

For the sauce:

1. In a mixer make a paste of 3 tomatoes
2. In a wok heat 1 tsp oil (any cooking oil) add ½ tsp of minced garlic
3. Add the tomato paste
4. Add 1 tsp chilli powder, (1 tbsp Tabasco is a better substitute), ¼ tsp sugar and salt to taste
5. Continue stirring the mixture till the sauce thickens. Before removing from fire add ½ tsp oregano or any other herb seasoning of your liking.

For the Chicken Sausage topping

1. Finely chop one large onion and 1 medium capsicum
2. Chop the chicken sausage (3 pieces -6” long would be more than sufficient)
3. In a wok heat 1 tbsp oil fry the onion till transparent-around 3 minutes; lower the flame and add the capsicum and fry for 5 minutes
4. Add the chopped chicken sausages. Now add pepper, 1 tsp schezwan sauce, 1 tbsp tomato sauce and salt to taste
5. Stir for 2 minutes. Remove from fire

Spread the sauce on the pizza base (take care to leave a border of half inch) and spread the prepared chicken sausage toppings along with few pieces of chopped tomatoes. Grate generous amount of Mozeralla  Cheese all over the pizza.

Pineapple Chicken Sausage Pizza recipe

      For the sauce:

1. Bring out 2 slices (not cubes) of cheese and put in the centre of the pizza base next to each other.

Tada that’s it !

For the toppings

1. Spread out the prepared chicken sausage toppings (the one prepared in the above recipe) and put in pieces of chopped pineapple –here and there. Tear in a few basil leaves and add them as your toppings.
2.  Generously grate mozzarella cheese all over the toppings.

Trust me on this, that it is very very delicious. Try it to believe it. It ‘s quite simple too!

Tuscana Pizerria, Chennai (it’s so much more than a pizerria that it should be called pizetcetra)

Like I have mentioned earlier I enjoy trying out different kinds of cuisines or eat-outs & this Sunday we chanced upon a wonderfully different place.  I relish the idea of going to a restaurant which strives to offer some new cuisine or at least a new feel. Earlier I wrote a post on Sparky’s Diner which tries to represent the casual style of America. Tuscana Pizerria, as the name suggests tries to represent fine dining & Italian cuisine. Not tries, does represent the Italian food and art. Yes, art…they have put up some excellent paintings. Now ,I am no art expert here but I can guarantee that no body, even the person who has least interest in paintings can ignore the scenic paintings which adorn the walls of this Italian cuisine outlet. I regret to the utmost that I hadn’t taken my camera with me as it wasn’t a planned visit. Looking at those paintings made me realize why art thieves exist (now I understand Neal Caffrey of White Collar more & admire the flick- The Thomas Crown Affair more). Tuscana, which is located in the posh Wallace Gardens, Numgabakkam area of Chennai is undoubtedly one of the finest dining area in terms of ambiance and food. Our visit to Tuscana was a chance visit. We have been hearing about this place for past one year since it opened in November 2009 but never got a chance to check it out. This Sunday when we were just ambling around Wallace Garden, thinking of a place to eat we just happened to spot Tuscana. We were about to leave the place considering the parking headache. We were hungry, lazy, not in a mood to squeeze  the car or abandon it 2 kms away from the destination and then walk to work up the appetite as it was already pretty worked up, in fact almost fatigued ( we had had just 2 slices of toast and a poached egg for b’fast…what ? what are you frowning at? I know Sunday b’fasts are special but didn’t you read the letters l-a-z-y just now), just then we saw the board which read ‘Valet Parking’. A sigh of relief and a quick mental tick mark. We walked into the restaurant and we were welcomed by a very good looking Italian (?) gentleman who asked us if we had a reservation (the place was quite full and like Sparky’s full of expats) and was upset to know that we didn’t. He requested us to be seated at the small reception area from where you can see the kitchen area through a semi-glass wall. After a quick discussion with someone in the restaurant he came back and led us to a table meant for two. A waitress quickly pulled the chair out for me and saw to it that we were perched up comfortably. I was too awed by the paintings and smitten by the very vibrant colored cutlery and dining table accessories to even smile at her let alone thank her. As soon as I came back to my senses I looked at my husband and both of us said simultaneously –“NICE” which sounded more like “NAAEECE”. One thing I want to mention here is that although this place is wonderfully done, it is small and please do not mistake it to be a kind of place to cater to your needs of having tables far apart from other guests and have a pool or garden to look at, like you would on a very special romantic occasion like marriage anniversary, or proposal etc. This is a nice place to get your spouse, family or friends for a nice tasty lunch or dinner in a very pretty set up for a special occasion (not romantic although). It's full of people but it’s not noisy, although you can overhear some alien languages like Spanish or Italian from across the other tables. In the backdrop a good selection of music can be heard.

Anyways let’s get down to Business- FOOD. The menu is categorized in 7 parts- Bread & Foccacia (you get Bruschetta here-some 8 options are there); Soups & Salads; Pizzas – Veg & Classic (Non-veg); Pastas; Gnocchi & Others (includes lasagna and ravioli); Desserts; Shakes & Smoothies (includes chillers & aerated drinks).

We ordered  a 9” Classic pizza –Bolognese, Lasagna di pollo e Asparagus and a fizzy drink which had strawberry, mint and lemon – I can’t recall the name. The pizza had an exceptionally thin crust, I know this is something that is taken pride about but functionally it got too soggy to cut with a fork & knife or to be taken into hands and eaten. I am sure all those who rave for thin crusts would love this but personally I would have preferred a softer and fatter crust- not just because I enjoy soft breads also because of the ease of eating it. The sauce of the pizza which by the name you can understand was Bolognese (we opted for beef as suggested by them—another mental tick coz I hate it when the people taking orders have no clue as to what’s being served) was just perfect with marinara sauce as base and wonderful toppings of mushrooms, spinach mozzarella and a dollop of shave Parmesan. The pizza was just excellent and very different from what you normally get at pizza outlets. It just defied my idea of not ordering a pizza at a specialty restaurant. My argument being that we have pizza anyways so let’s order something else. It was hubby’s call to order a pizza and lasagna. 

Lasagna di pollo e Asparagus- this is just half the portion. You can see the layers of chicken,asparagus, pasta, and the sumptuous layer of cheese.

The Lasagna di pollo e Asparagus was layers of pasta filled with chicken & asparagus along with Béchamel sauce and feta. The whole lasagna put together was a smooth and soft casserole which while eating feels like tender and light but by the time I finished my portion (we had split it into two) I was like it’s quite filling. It just tasted the way it should smooth and creamy with a nice hint of asparagus although I liked the pizza more and this version of lasagna was a slightly bland choice.

The strawberry fizz drink which was served in a BIG glass was just superb. We were too full to order a dessert, maybe next time.

I almost forgot on giving an account on the prices.  As expected it was a little pricey. Our pizza was Rs.405, lasagna was Rs. 520/- and the drink was Rs. 155/-.  So if you include a dessert which would be around Rs. 200-/- and soup of Rs. 200/- (you can’t have so much), meal for two would come to Rs.1800/- Considering that you can’t have a soup, a drink and a dessert with the main course, my guess would be – a meal for two (2 main course, 2 drinks/ soups and 2 desserts) would cost Rs. 1200/- to Rs.1500/-

 A little bit of trivia- the MD of this place Mr. Vipin Sachdeva, started his venture into the food business by opening  Subway franchise in Chennai and then down the years he decided to pen his own brands starting with Fresca- Italian Gelato (ice cream parlours) and then Tuscana in 2009 and Kryptos by Willi (who is the director and COO of his food business team) in Sep’2010. The new ventures to look out for are ‘ Burgundy’s’ (a 24 hr dine in restaurant) , ‘The Jade Wok ‘( will serve authentic Chinese cuisine ) and ‘ The B-Bar’( a social music bar).

This is the place to be if you are hunting for a place to not only offer you authentic Italian food but also make you feel that you got a glimpse of Italy through the paintings. After our lunch the very courteous staff bid us adieu and brought our car in no time. I think they know that they feed us so well that we can’t stand  for a long time with a bloated tummy. The tummy which had hunger pangs and growling when we walked in, was now loaded with cheese and pasta and was in no way going to complain for another couple of hours and we headed home for a nice Sunday siesta.

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