Tuscana - New Menu Launch

Tuscana on Chamiers has revamped its menu now. But, you have to wait... until Saturday! Why? Because the menu card is not printed yet - that's why! :-)

We were some of the privileged lot to attend the soft launch, which was followed by high-tea.

So at about 1630, the usual suspects landed at Tuscana. Chef Willi, the long-haired cheerful man was around in his red suit, almost reminding me of Santa, what with Christmas sseason and all that! Mr Sachdev did a round of introductions and we got started.

The new menu card has a thick glossy outer cover, with a red fiery Tuscana written on it. The pages are filled with various dishes that you might want to try on your next visit. (Psst: The rates have gone down on many items by almost a hundred rupees and yes, Vipin is aware of that! ;-))

But, if you do not get on your plate what's written on the menu card in Tamil, then please understand that the dish was simply lost in translation! (Obviously the chef and the translator don't necessarily agree with each other is what Vipin has to say about this)

The menu revamp excludes certain dishes that were available earlier. This is so because of the lack of availability of ingredients, or cumbersome process in procuring the ingredients.

Oh, the entire ERP system is changed as well. They have now designed it in-house, so they can pull out reports easily! (Now, why does that remind me of work!)

As we milled around meeting friends and taking photographs, the dishes for the high tea started streaming in. The welcome drink was more than welcome for the parched throat. A simple orange juice it was. The table had an array of bread sticks, hummus, olives and salsa.

Orange juice

Salsa

Bread sticks

Olives

Hummus

The first dish to arrive, as part of the high tea, was a bruschetta platter. Crisp bread with mushroom and assorted pepper topping was delicious. This was followed by cheese cauliflower tart. It also had carrots and some bell peppers.

Bruschetta Platter

Next to arrive was the much awaited pizza. Gluten free, Multi grain (this is on the new menu) and the regular variety were on the cards. The multi grain was good, except I thought the crust did taste like those multi-grain biscuits and perhaps could have been slightly softer on the texture. I loved the broccoli and spinach pizza. Perfect texture and the broccoli was perfectly steamed. Neither too soft nor too crunchy and yes, there was a generous dose of broccoli on the pizza.

Food was flowing from the kitchen, like some akshaya pathram and at some point, we were stuffed! A couple of us just stepped out for some fresh air and Chef Willi wanted to know if we were done. He brought the desserts out to us - coffee pannacotta and vanilla pannacotta with some blueberry topping. The coffee was good, while the vanilla was way too sweet for our liking.

As we wound up yet another launch, I realize again that the need for improvisation and innovation in the food scene is at an all time high.

Merry Christmas folks!

Note: Tuscana is on Chamiers Road, opposite Park Sheraton. They also have a restaurant in Nungambakkam.