Botticino, the Italian specialty restaurant at Trident, is truly a marriage of traditional and contemporary cuisine at its finest. At Botticino, you can sample some ethereal Italian dishes. The food is always meant to touch your heart and the chef makes sure that this is consistent. To me, Botticino is an extraordinary Italian restaurant in Mumbai. It is one of the few perennially praised Mumbai-based Italian restaurants, where every delicious meal is also a work of art. It is a place where you can relax and treat your tastebuds with a rainbow of flavours. Here, you’ll be served delicacies from Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Lazio. Botticino at Trident BKC also serves a few Italian classics with a wonderful makeover: the signature dishes are worth trying!

 

 

Chef Sushil is not an Italian himself, but he creates magical Italian dishes with ease and perfection. He did Masters in Hotel Management and has years of experience in Mumbai and Middle East. A gold medalist at The OCLD, Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development, the new Chef goes to great lengths to bring the best in lovingly cooked Italian food with a whimsical presentation. He unlocks the simplicity, zen and sophistication in Italian cuisine. The new menu is designed to suit everyone’s appetite and a few dishes are even customizable, as informed by the chef.

 

 

It was a pleasure to share my lunch table with Kainaz Daver, the Communications Manager at Trident BKC. As we relished each dish, she told me more about Botticino and Trident as a whole. While the conversation kept on going, we kicked off with an amazing Amuse-bouche: Crisp-fried Parma ham with smartly tubed melon jam. The dish is, however, not a part of the regular menu.

 

 

We followed up the amuse-bouche with a simple and delicious salad, called Botticino garden greens with asparagus, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and hazelnut vinaigrette. I loved the well-chosen ingredients in this salad. The toasted and caramelised hazelnuts provided textural contrast in this fresh salad. The crunchy salad leaves, artichokes and oranges served on a bed of tomatoes were bestowed with an amazing sparkle that just awakened my senses instantly. The salad was light, crisp and refreshing.

 

 

We were also served Grilled prawns and scallops with saffron fonduta and spicy quinoa, one of their signature dishes, and accomplished grilling made them taste effortlessly silken. I loved the way the scallops tasted in this dish: sweet, succulent and meaty. The overall dish had a hint of spiciness, which was brilliant! The prawns and scallops were grilled to perfection and the quinoa was perfect with the seafood. Doesn’t that presentation make you crave for this dish right now?

 

 

The soups were truly comforting! We were served three kinds of soups. The first one was the classic Ligurian style minestrone with basil and garbanzo beans, served with a piece of crisp bread. Such simple and hearty soups, loaded with vegetables, are always a crowd-pleaser. Minestrone is the soup in which the choice of vegetables varies with seasons and regions, and there are so many versions experimented with so far. You’ll love the Chef’s version: a humble Ligurian-style minestrone with pesto Genovese (basil pesto). Minestrone can’t get any better!

 

 

The second soup was a delicious home-style Italian soup: Parmesan cheese fonduta with poached egg and black truffle. The luxurious simplicity and the meeting of cheese with poached egg and truffle is like a therapy to the senses. The moment you sip one spoon of the soup, you have the urge to have more.

 

 

Just when I thought that there can’t be any soup better than the one I just had, God smiled. And there the chef was, smiling too. He suggested that we try their signature soup, called the Green pea soup with bacon ice cream. Bacon ice cream is quite popular worldwide, although it is not very common in India yet. This was the first time I was trying bacon ice cream, and that too in a soup. Frankly, I was not quite sure if I was going to like it. I took a bite of the ice cream and sipped the soup…surprisingly delicious! I relaxed and enjoyed the soup with the ice cream for the next few minutes: each spoonful was a flavour explosion in my mouth!

 

 

Among the other interesting dishes in the menu, Porcini mushroom risotto with spring onions and parmesan cheese and the Chicken Sedani caught my attention. However, I tried an amazing pasta dish originating from Piedmont, called Scallops and prawn agnolotti with fennel cream, pernod, olive tapenade and orange foam. The seafood-paste-stuffed fresh pasta called agnolotti was unique, as it had beautiful brown and white stripes, which made the dish stand out! The adding of orange foam over the agnolotti was definitely a stylistic and appetising touch of molecular gastronomy, but taste- and aroma-wise, the foam had just a hint of orange. I wouldn’t mind if I were given orange foam with a stronger dose of citrus note. The sauce served, however, was just perfect with the pristinely flavoured seafood agnolotti dish. The interaction between the flavors of scallops, prawns and oranges and the attention towards colours and textures made the dish unique in its own way! The gradual change in the textures is something I loved about this dish. In short, it was one of the best Italian pasta dishes I tried in Mumbai.

 

 

For the main course, Kainaz ordered one of her favourite dishes: The chilli and fennel crusted snapper with olives, potatoes and orange sauce. I tasted a portion of it and was sold out on the taste! The main-course portions are huge and the presentation is very attractive. For vegetarians, there is an amazing signature dish: do try their Spinach and ricotta crepes with bell pepper reduction and parmesan. Next time, I would love to try the Eggplant Parmigiana, Char-grilled tenderloin with rosemary roast potatoes and three sauces or the Ossobuco Milanese with saffron risotto and gremolata.

 

 

Then we broke for dessert, and I wanted to try something different. So I deliberately didn’t go for their signature Tiramisu this time.

 

 

I started with the Baked chocolate and berry fondant with wild berry ice cream and finished off with Pomegranate and celery sorbet with Grappa. The baked chocolate was gooey from inside and had a rich chocolate flavour that is reason enough to die for! Kainaz, who is extremely health-conscious, settled for sugar-free mascarpone and bitter chocolate ice creams, which were delicious. Next time, I am going to try the Gianduja chocolate tart with maple walnut ice cream and orange crisp. Doesn’t that sound sinful?

 

 

The pomegranate sorbet landed up graciously on our table. Kainaz suggested that I taste a spoonful of the sorbet first. It tasted great! Soon some premium grappa wine was sprayed over it. Kainaz suggested that I should taste the sorbet again. It tasted quite different this time. Yes, a delicate sorbet was transformed into an unexpectedly intense, sophisticated flavour!

 

 

 

 

 

At Botticino, be sure to fill up the feedback form after your dining experience. Here, they are always open to suggestions and each customer feedback is taken very seriously. Each morning, all the members of the restaurant meet and read out the feedback forms filled by their guests the previous day. Another interesting fact is, they will be introducing a card for each Botticino guest very soon. This card will reward you with complimentary food and/or drinks on your next visit. How cool is that!

 

 

The epitome called Botticino at Trident BKC is a place where flavours and creativity always come together on your table to make your Italian dining experience a truly memorable one. Thank you Chef Sushil, Kainaz and Visheshwar Raj Singh, for inviting me over. Thanks to the well-balanced and well-paced flavours, Botticino is one of my favourite Italian restaurants now.

 

 

 

Trident, Bandra Kurla, Mumbai

C-56, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex,

Mumbai 400 051, India

Trident website: www.tridenthotels.com