Spice Art, Greater Noida
If a prize was being awarded to Delhi’s ugliest restaurant, I’d nominate The Med. Vast and cavern-like, its look has 
barely changed from the days when it was known as Italianni’s. Pink granite flooring and yellow walls, fluorescent lighting —there’s nothing to evoke the mood of the Mediterranean.
Fortunately, though, the food more than makes up. Presided over by an Italian chef who has figured out the local palate, the chef’s own creations are by far and away the finest things on the menu. The tapas menu (it can be served while you are seated upstairs on comfortable sofas) changes every day, so what I sampled may not be on offer by the time you visit. What defines the tapas is that they blend classical Italian with Moroccan spicy bites that go down well with the local palate. Spanish cheese and honey (Rs 125) is a perfect tapas made of chunky wedges of Manchego drizzled with a miniscule amount of honey, the better to stick a hint of red chilli powder for a mild bite.
Cracked marinated Mediterranean olives (Rs 125) are not the usual bottled olives in brine that fill the shelves of our super-markets, but an altogether more refined offering, the sort that you’d get in a tapas bar in Spain. For those who can’t do without their dose of spice, try the harissa marinated prawns with charmoula dip (Rs 155), which is as spicy as any Indian starter, with more or less the same spices. In the same bracket are lamb bites roasted in charmoula - wedges of lamb dusted lightly with the blend of piquant spices that is typical of North Africa.
There is a fine jamon lberico on bruschetta (Rs 155) that really is Spanish ham, that is both tasty as well as filling.
The food menu too changes periodically. Chef Giovanni Leopardi has an obvious affinity with carpaccio, so there is a whole section devoted to just that I tried the Angus tenderloin carpaccio with parmesan, capers and truffle oil (Rs 695). Great as a starter, it is one of the best versions available in our city and compares favour-ably with the finest in the world! Other items in the carpaccio section sound interesting and deserve a future visit: smoked sword-fish prosciutto and scallop carpaccio. However, the outstanding one was watermelon carpaccio, feta cheese and Kalamata olive dressing (Rs 295), the chef’s own creation.
The other of the chef’s initiatives is to get a local supplier to make burrata, a strictly South Italian speciality of mozzarella with fresh cream beaten into it. Burrata features on the salads menu with roast-ed tomato and basil dressing (Rs 345). Unmissable. The Med also cures its own meats for braesaola.
VITAL STATS
Address: The Med, Radisson Hotel Delhi, National Highway 8
Tel: 26779191
Open from: 12:30 pm to 3 pm and 7 pm to 11:30 pm
Average cost for two: Rs. 2,400/-
Alcohol served; credit cards accepted
Related posts
