[Rating: 4.0]
Ambience mall at Vasant Kunj manages to look both posh and under construction at the same time. Lately it has been attracting some good fine-dining options. La Tagliatella, the international chain of Italian fine dining restaurants was the first to enter, and now Starbucks has made its debut here. I am here at the former to taste their pasta, pizzas and desserts.
La Tagliatella is situated at two levels, with a more open, informal seating downstairs and a comparatively more formal and intimate atmosphere upstairs. Its two entrances open on two different floors of the mall. The interiors are classical European and pleasing to the eye.
I am joined by Gaurav Malik, the Manager of the restaurant. I ask him how his food is different from what we get in so many Italian eateries in the city. His reply is “we do not attempt to tailor our product to individual products. The dishes you will get here are the same that are served across 135 restaurants all over Europe. The attempt is to keep the food light. We make our own pasta – twenty variants – out of durum wheat and many of our dishes use turkey bacon instead of the normal one.”
As we are talking I am served fresh focaccia sticks (pane) with various toppings (Rs 225) to signal the start of tasting times. The rotondo in carbonara sauce with turkey bacon (Rs 750) which follows has pasta stuffed with ricotta, mushrooms and specs of black truffle in a creamy sauce. Nice dish, with the softness of the pasta getting accentuated by the smokiness of the truffle and the bacon. Papardele pepe nero with peperoncino e gamberi (Rs 750), a flat peppery pasta with prawns and a kind of aglio olio dressing, is light and pleasant. The most exciting one is the vegetarian gnocchi with a spicy tremenda sauce (Rs 550), a spicy, velvety, exciting combo. In fact this is easily the best gnocchi dish I have had in a long long time.
It is time for pizza now. The portions so far have been super generous, but the pizza takes the breath away. What looks like a large flying saucer makes a perfect landing on my table and is cut post serving. Tagliatelle (Rs 650) turns out to be a beautifully baked this crust pizza with a lot of healthy looking toppings including pesto, turkey bacon and spinach. Equally good is Affumicata (Rs 750) a salmon and anchovy pizza.
With the tummy more than full, the dolce (desserts) start arriving. The Tiramisu (Rs 350) is fresh and competent, and the tre bombe al ciocolate (Rs 350) is a triple layered dish with dark chocolate at the bottom, white chocolate in the middle and milk chocolate at the top, in short, a chocoholic’s dream. Add to these some exciting ice creams that have been especially imported from Spain, and what one has is an impressive array of desserts.
La Tagiatella has a lot of things going for it – an excellent location, great food, service and décor. And while the prices are not as low as your friendly neighborhood Italian joint, they are much lower than other high ends restaurants. So whenever you feel like having taste of an authentic dolce vita, this is the place to head to.
Rating out of 5
Food: 4.0 | Ambience: 4.0 | Service: 4.0 | Overall: 4.0
Meal for two: Rs. 1800| Alcohol: Yes | Credit Card: Yes | Timings: 11 AM to 11 PM (Mon-Fri), 11 AM to 12 AM (Sat-Sun)
Address: La Tagiatella, Upper Ground Floor, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, Delhi | Phone: 011-40870747
