Imperial’s San Giminano offers authentic Italian comfort food on its small but piquant menu, says Uma Nair
If one is on the lookout for a quiet Tuscan-reflecting retreat that can be tranquil and near-perfect to dine at on a weekend, one should head out to Imperial Hotel’s San Giminano. Tucking in credible Italian cuisine with a menu that features an array of antipasti and pasta dishes is certainly what ideal Sundays are made of.
A Venetian Renaissance
Ever since this quaint restaurant came into being, they have been known for their Carpaccio. The name comes from the popular raw meat dish, which in turn is named after the Venetian Renaissance painter, Vittore Carpaccio, who had a thing for the colour red.
Sliced as fine as prosciutto, the raw red meat covers the entire plate and is decorated with fine lines of mayonnaise flavoured with mustard and a dash of worcestershire. As an antipasti, the Carpaccio with slivers of parmesan, marinated with potato shavings and seasoned with truffle oil is indeed one of the better and freshest versions in town.
Succulent Scallops
Even healthy and distinctly original are the scallops that a sea food lover can order. Each succulent scallop has a heart laced with butter and herbs. I loved the marine sea-taste of it against the asparagus, with a touch of vanilla froth and coriander to elevate the flavours.
The best thing about eating authentic Italian cuisine in Delhi is that it conjures up aromas and flavours that stay true to the origins. There is Moscardelli, tiny octopus cooked with tomatoes or a salad of radicchio and greens with halved-red-flame grapes, caramelised walnuts and nuggets of gorgonzola (Italian blue cheese) which is delicious.
Almost every Italian restaurant in town has disparate varieties of salad usually made with fruits and fresh leaves. Nowhere can you get shredded radicchio salad with a pungent anchovy and parmesan dressing like you do in the streets of Italy as well as Paris. This restaurant, of course, is an exception.
The Sea Bass and Lamb chops
We move on to order Sea bass fillets and lamb chops for main course.
The Sea bass fillets have a lavish blizzard of saffron garlic butter while at the same time, they are flaky and juicy, having been perfectly pan-fried. The bread basket is drrol worthy for bread-lovers, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. This is versatile baking, one morsel at a time.
The lamb chops with baked saffron polenta with scamorza cheese and asparagus is a blend of momentous meaty delight. I am informed that scamorza is very popular in New York restaurants. It’s an Italian spun paste cow’s milk cheese from the pasta filata family.
Shaped similar to a provolone in pear shape, it is available in many other forms as well. A semi-soft white cheese with a texture comparable to that of a firm dry Mozzarella, scamorza is made throughout Apulia and in some parts of Campania and Molise. The flavour and the texture is what adds to the taste. Both dishes offered authentic Italian comfort.
Sauces and Resilience
The accompaniments and sauces make the ensembles complete in this niche restaurant that has a small but piquant menu that surpasses many other Italian eateries in Delhi. Its resilience and its resonance can be accounted for in blending the smoky, the freshly baked and the oven fired grill.
San Gimignano takes what’s inherently good and makes it something elegant and memorable entirely. An Italian meal at its peak can be a transcendent experience — pure comfort wrapped in a cozy blanket of primo ingredients and a hearty wine to pair it down. This is the kind of food you don’t have to think too much about and you can walk away knowing you need to come back again to partake its pasta repertoire on another day.
