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Whenever I think of Italian cuisine, I may eventually think of the chemistry of pizza, the plethoric variety of pasta, the depth of nonna’s cooking, the increasingly delectable layers of tiramisu and the subsequent necessity of plumbing duo Super Mario Bros.
But the first thing that comes to mind is the scene from Master of None where the protagonist Dev Shah spends an afternoon making carbonara pasta from scratch for his partner Rachel, with the pasta maker she had gifted him a while back. It’s the reaching to a past to find a new passion that is so captivating as Dev kneads the flour, runs it through the pasta maker, takes a couple of spirals and prepares a delectable dish appeasing to his past, present and future loves.
This is the passion for craft I experienced last week when we took a break from a busy Wednesday afternoon and stopped by the Ritz-Carlton’s Primavera restaurant for their power business lunch.
The Primavera, nestled at the back of the Ritz-Carlton has a wonderful ambience overlooking the palm-tree speckled beachside, with an interior that lends itself well to an intimate dinner as well as an airy, relaxing lunch.
As we were seated by our host for the afternoon, Bento Amaral, we were distracted for a moment by the theatrical flame in the live kitchen and took a few seconds to watch sous-chef Pradeep Kumar craft a masterpiece.
In the meantime, Bento told us a bit more about the selection for the power lunch. With an emphasis on the power aspect, this is a two-course lunch that gives diners the choice to pick their afternoon adventure, so you can choose any combination of salad, main course and dessert.
I decided to go for the salad-main combination, while my colleague went for the main-dessert combo, giving us the full spectrum of the Primavera power combo.
While Chef Delfino Sanfilippo Chiarello was on leave that day, he, along with sous-chef Pradeep set the menu, with a different menu every day, based on the locally-sourced meat and produce of the day.
As you may recall, GulfWeekly had interviewed Chef Delfino a few weeks ago and the salad epitomised my favourite aspect of Italian culinary prep – the art of keeping a dish simple, with a signature unforgettable twist.
While it was a simple garden salad with cherry tomatoes, arugula and carrots, with a balsamic dressing, Chef Pradeep added dried roasted almonds as a garnish that gave the salad that subtle salty-umami taste that left me satiated yet eager for the next course.
We took a few minutes to talk shop while we watched the chef prepare the next course and our photographer and videographer captured scintillating shots of the prep that would make Dev hastily wipe away a tear of pride.
Our mains, mine the seafood pasta with prawn and cuttlefish, and my colleague’s, the braised beef short ribs served on a bed of mashed potato and green pea puree, soon magically appeared before our eyes.
Each was delectable, with the fresh pasta tossed in tomato sauce adding a sweet finish to the creamy seafood, making it yet another addition to the clean plate club. The six-hour braised short ribs were juicy, falling apart at the gentlest touch and each bite, combining the mashed potatoes, the pureed peas and asparagus, was celestial.
And to cap our afternoon, Bento brought out a gorgeous clay pan with panna cotta, an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and aromatised with a strawberry flavour, the perfect end to a business lunch that was both productive and palate-powering.
Stop by Primavera and talk business, as you try their lunch for yourself, priced at BD12net and available from Sunday to Thursday.
l Scan the QR code below to watch Naman’s experience and interview.
