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BENGALURU'S DENIZENS love to wallow in the warm, soothing pond of nostalgia. We love a good brisk saunter down the yellow-brick lane of memories. But if too much of a crowd begins to tag along, we’re quick to separate the wheat from the chaff. Using the other’s answers to our studied segues into the deep cuts or old wounds of this city, we determine membership and pedigree. This writer is breaking this city’s unwritten omerta and spilling some of its secrets.
On hearing that chef Abhijit Saha was opening Rosmarino Neapolitan Pizza & Trattoria at Carlton Towers in Indiranagar, this writer’s Bengaluru chronicler brain began to light up with all the connections in the local lore.
PEPPERED WITH HISTORY
More than two decades ago, chef Saha midwifed molecular gastronomy into the city’s food scene with his restaurant, Caperberry. Think beetroot masquerading as caviar, basil as sorbet and watermelon as a jelly, and other such culinary sorcery. Since Caperberry pulled down its shutters, he has leaned less on the culinary sciences and flexed with bold flavours in his other restaurants. From Mediterranean fare at Fava, Indian tapas and cocktails at RockSalt, Indian-inspired gastronomy at Saha in Singapore, and his most recent LYFE, a farm-to-fork eatery in Whitefield, this ever-curious chef has now turned to “wood-fired sourdough pizzas and handcrafted pizzas” at this new restaurant that “pays ode” to Southern Italian cuisine.
We kicked off our tour with a Smoked Lavender Elixir in hand. We’re so early to this party; they’re still navigating the bureaucratic maze of alcohol licensing in this state, but this brew with its lime-and-thyme smoke and faint floral notes was exciting, and we could see it being elevated with a splash of gin in the future. We grazed on a burrata & heirloom tomato salad, avocado on crispy polenta, chicken Milanese and prawn alla busara. The burrata was a oozy puddle of delight brightened by a herby gremolata on a sharp, sweet foundation of colourful slices of tomato; the crispy polenta with avocado mirrored the richness of a prawn sesame toast; bite-size chicken coated in breadcrumbs stacked on smashed baby potatoes was devoured as soon as they were set down and the plump prawns swimming in a robust, textured sauce were good too.
Pausing from stuffing our faces, my professor companion suddenly remembers the ghosts that previously haunted this location. He nudges this writer to draw back the brain fog to remember the rowdy and raucous TGI Friday’s and Opium, the after-hours den of vice. Legendary venues for this city’s veteran boozehounds and dancefloor bunnies. And of course, my contribution to this jog down memory lane, a dampener for sure: wasn’t there a huge fire in this building?
SLICE, SLICE, BABY
Thankfully, our half-and-half pizza, generously topped with parma ham on one side and lamb ragu on the other, was a delicious distraction. In our youth, we might have drawn a line between the bounty of cheese and bang for our buck. But as working professionals with erratic constitutions, we were tiptoeing around this munificence. Though the sourdough base and the flavours of the toppings stood out in their starring roles. My dining companions' roasted pumpkin ravioli was perfectly sauced, like gobbling little pillows of warmth and earthy spice.
Much like us, this city has grown up too. While many moons ago, we might have been plotting an after-hours, now we’re closing our account with a serving of cannoli siciliani – like a tarantella of textures and punches of ricotta, candied orange peels and nibs of pistachio.
Looking for that last bit of sizzle, extending our evening in the city’s rising chill, we ask for an affogato and an Al Presto; the former a velvet glove and the latter, an effervescent blend of cucumber, pineapple, mint and tonic.
Rosmarino Neapolitan Pizza & Trattoria brings together chef Saha’s culinary experience and ethos, but with a more friendly, easy-going feel.
Rosmarino Neapolitan Pizza & Trattoria is on the Ground Floor, 1 HAL Old Airport Road, Indiranagar, Bengaluru. Call 9606019838 for reservations.
