Taste of Italy @ Toscano

A shopping marathon at Decathlon made us extremely hungry and we headed to the VR Bengaluru mall in Whitefield. We were looking for a place to whet our hunger and Toscano caught our attention after we pondered heading to Salt that was located opposite to Toscano. Toscano is Italian fine dining at its best with Green interiors, black boards and chalk work all over, a fad that has caught on these days. Our group had 2 restless kids in tow and I was pleasantly surprised when a waitress immediately headed over to our table with a neat goodie kit containing some crayons, puzzles and colouring sheets to entertain the kids thereby liberating the adults to carry on their conversations.

Amen to this. One of the quotes I found interesting

The special of the day. But we did not choose to have the platters

Some fresh bread was served at the table that killed our hunger a bit. It was accompanied with some herbed butter and olive paste which the kids relished. We did ask for refill couple of times that the servers obliged with no complaints.

Cost: Complimentary

Fresh bread slices with herbed butter and olive spread. Those accompaniments were obscured by the bread

Being beef lovers we decided to try out the beef Carpaccio for starters. I had no idea about this dish until it was served. It turned out to be thin slices of raw beef soaked in lime and topped with green olives, jerkin slices and served with mustard sauce. My face did fall on seeing the dish as I am not a great fan of raw meat, however the slice of beef with mustard sauce, jerkins and olives was a great combination and indeed the rawness of the meat was overcome with the tangy taste of the other ingredients. It was finished in no second and the kids equally attacked it as well.

Cost: 415 inr

We ordered beverages to go with our food. Hot apple toddy made me curious to try. What arrived at the table was a hot beverage of apple flavour with cinnamon. This was indeed very good and I did not mind the hot beverage as Bangalore weather is pleasant. If it was Chennai I would have regretted choosing this ;-). My brother had a virgin colada which was mix of cream and strawberry syrup. Coladas can rarely go wrong and this did indeed keep up that reputation. My sister in law had the Italian twist which was a mixture of citrus juices. They do serve alcohol as well but we stuck to the mocktails

Cost: All beverages were 195 inr

For the main course we had the majestic looking surf and turn with lobster. This was grilled lobster with beef steak with vegetables. The lobster was immediately popular with the kids and adults alike and had to be ordered again. The way my son and brother attacked the plate and demolished this in no time, I would say that it was well liked.

Cost – A whopping 1120 inr. But the sighting of pure bliss on my sons and brothers face – priceless

I got the bucatini pasta out of curiosity of not having tried this before and wanted to experiment this type of pasta. What turned out was a thicker version of spaghetti and ham with tomato sauce stirred in. The meat was in the bottom so I missed it at the beginning and wondered where all the meat was gone. I did not like the pasta just with its sauce, but the addition of the ham turned out to be a saving grace. I would have gone for another dish if there was an option of tasting dishes before order.

Cost – 565 inr

There is a saying never step out of an Italian restaurant without tasting their risotto and we got the risotto con pollo. This is a sticky creamy rice with chunks of chicken and veggies. This could be bland for some people, but we liked the mild flavour of the stock in the rice.

Cost – 565 inr

They do have some fish based dishes in their menu, but as I do not prefer the continental preparations of fish, I was sceptical to check it at the beginning. But the rest of the party were keen and got the Norwegian salmon. The dish was neat and the salmon preparation surpassed all my expectations and to be described in one word – kick ass. Juicy, it was served with nearly mashed potatoes.

Cost – 765 inr

Can one say no to desserts? Our tummy magically expands to accommodate the desserts. We chose the Chocolate mousse, Banofee pie and Toscano cassata. One can rarely go wrong with chocolate mousse and this was no exception. Light fluffy served on wafer and a bed of vanilla sauce this disappeared in a jiffy. Cassata was sponge cake and ice-cream. When we reached to this we were indeed beginning to feel heavy, but that did not stop us as we patiently spooned away this dessert. Banofee pie is baked caramel sauce and bananas on a pie crust. On any other day I would have devoured it in no time, but being heavy with all the food gone in already I patiently finished this as I did not feel like wasting a dessert.

Cost – All desserts 255 inr

For anyone looking for an authentic Italian experience I would recommend to look no further and head to Toscano whenever you can. Top notch service combined with some awesome good food, Toscano and Italy are here to stay in India.