Journalism of Courage
Pomodoros ongoing food festival pays tribute to an essential ingredient tomato
Its luscious and delicious,and can make a bland dish blush a deep red. Pablo Neruda let his feelings flow in his Ode to Tomatoes,but it is unlikely that many restaurants will organise a food festival around this essential ingredient. Which is why the ongoing International Tomato Food Festival at Pomodoro,Hotel Piccadillys Italian restaurant,makes one sit up and take note.
Its a fruit,not a vegetable, informs chef Chander Shekhar,as we arrive at the 45-cover restaurant,whose live cooking station,with chefs expertly chopping,dicing and stirring up steaming dishes,is a treat for sore eyes. For the Festival,the team at Pomodoro has put together a four-course meal.
We are presenting dishes that arent on our regular menu, says the chef. So you have Gazpacho (Rs 85),Tuscan salad (Rs 125) and Feta-stuffed tomatoes (Rs125) leading the line-up of appetisers.
We try a classic meatball soup and find it too watery for our liking but flavoursome. The Tabouli salad (Rs 125) is light and refreshing and the finely chopped cherry tomatoes seem to have found a place in this all-tomato festival. The best part about the main course is that a dish order is served with a complementary glass of wine.
While waiting for our order,we sip on a Four Seasons Cabernet and read cards with tomatoes nutritive details present on each table. Our next dish has a complicated name but is much-recommended by the chef Strozzapretti. It is a flat pasta tossed in minced meat and thick tomato-ey sauce. Unfortunately,the pasta doesnt appear well stirred in the sauce and remains white and pale in parts.
The fresh tomato pizza,which arrives next,has a generous topping of jalapenos and black olives. The crust is perfectly crisp and despite being non-vegetarians,we enjoy this veggie version. And yes,the tomatoes were plenty.
If you are still keen on dessert,then choose from regulars like Tiramisu and fresh fruit tarts. The food festival is on till February 13.
