Chianti is considered(Wikipedia citation: by whom?) as amongst Bangalore’s better Italian restaurants. As I do not live in Bangalore presently, I cannot attest to the general quality of the city’s Italian restaurants, but I hoped to God that Chianti’s quality would be better than the devastated, crumbling, dirty roads, severe air pollution and shattered civic standards that one endures when travelling to and from these Italian places. Matteo Garrone would understand. We hoped for a good time at Chianti, Indiranagar.
The ambience is smartly upscale, making extensive use of wood, mellow colours and comfortable upholstery. One can settle nicely into these environs and nurture ideas about enjoying a cozy Italian meal.
It was Friday afternoon(I reached late) and there were barely any tables occupied. From 2-30 pm onwards, only one other table was taken. Service by at least three nearby waiters was alacritous and clearly one of the highlights of the meal. They did not have much else to do, so our table was the cynosure of all eyes. In fact they were so keen that they ended up doing what was not asked for. Service charge(which you can choose not to pay if you’re dissatisfied with service) levied on the final bill is 10%.
The drinks list is skewed and rather hostile in pricing. No beer is offered! This is the first restaurant I have come across which is mean enough not to offer beer. One glass of wine is priced at Rs.675 to Rs.750. Indian wine bottles cost Rs.3000 and foreign wine bottles cost Rs.3750. We had Grover Cabernet Shiraz which was excellent in deep fruity notes.
The menu is divided into appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, seafood/meat main courses and dessert. Appetizers cost an average of Rs.500, the full size seafood platter Rs.2495, pastas approx. Rs 575, fish main course Rs 1045 and desserts Rs.395. A total of 15% tax and service charge is the last garnish.
When we ordered two appetizers - prawns aglio olio and calamari fritti - the waiter counseled us to go for a mini seafood platter - half the charge of the full platter(Rs 2495/2), and said it would include our selected items plus fish. It proved to be wise advice. Grilled sea bass had good flavour and was deliciously cooked-‘n’-seasoned along with an adroit touch of lemon. Fried basa fish was the most succulent version of this regulation fillet. Prawns aglio olio was fresh, tender and downright scrumptious with an expert anointment of garlic and olive oil. Fried Calamari could have done better but was decent.
Spirits revved up with such a nice appetizer platter, we looked forward to more larks at Chianti.
It had been a long time since my father had tasted a good red-sauce pasta. We asked the kitchen for their best expression of this and they recommended Linguini Pescatore(seafood-based). Unfortunately, it was so spicy that we could not taste anything. How can a highly regarded Italian kitchen mess up a marinara sauce like this? Forget depth of flavour, all one could taste was the chilli. The waiter overheard some comment about take-away and before we could actually say anything, it was taken away, parcelled and brought back to us in a bag!
We didn’t have much luck with Fettuccine Carbonara either. I have given up red meat, except for some very rare occasions when I have a little bite when it is part of a bigger dish. I requested less bacon and it was their decision to offer bacon separately which we went along with. The pasta tasted flat - not much of the creaminess or subtle umami that distinguishes this pasta. Even the bacon was mediocre.
Chianti managed to mess up both the red-sauce and white-sauce pasta that afternoon.
The recommended dessert here - Tiramisu - is presented in a technically accomplished manner. A vertical cylinder has smooth white walls and a dusted brown top, the body composed of alternating mascarpone and coffee sponge. The almond biscotti does give additional flavour and texture but the dessert lacked a high level of both richness and moistness one associates with this dolci.
Vanilla Pannacotta with berry compote and fresh fruit was also muted in flavour.
5 dishes, 3 glasses of wine and 1 zero coke came up to Rs.6222 including tax and 10% service charge which I paid as the service was definitely good(one can legally decline the service charge if the service is poor).
There is a notion in Bangalore that stand-alone European restaurants find it difficult to survive here. Chianti is not strictly stand-alone as it has some branches, but with this kind of experience especially when the kitchen has all the time in the world to do it right, how many customers will come back to make the restaurant survive let alone flourish? I usually do two visits when doing a write-up and as I live overseas, I may possibly come back in the future to try their seafood and chicken mains but it is not high on my list of priorities. Service is excellent but the kitchen cannot be so inconsistent as it was with us. Value for money, eventually, was poor. How can only one hit dish out of five dishes inspire confidence?
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