The Hindu Business Line : A food odyssey

World on a plate: Chef-entrepreneur Abhijit Saha and Shruti Shibulal, a former investment banker, have launched Caperberry, in Bangalore, offering experimental Euro-Spanish food.

Aditi De

Molecular gastronomy…

Cryo cooking…

Sous vide techniques...

Deconstructed recipes...

Degustation menu…

Speaking for lesser-travelled Bangalorean foodies (count me in!), our closest encounters with such nouvelle cuisine terms were virtual until recently. We skimmed through rave reviews of the world’s best restaurant 2006-09 — El Bulli at Roses, Spain, with its revolutionary artist/ philosopher/ cook Adrian Ferria’s 35-course taster’s menu. Or paid online visits to Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant at Berkshire, UK. The opening of Caperberr y in March changed all that.

Overnight, the city edged closer to the haute cuisine league. A surprising leap into the future, this signature venture into experimental Euro-Spanish food by chef-entrepreneur Abhijit Saha comes at a time when French food is passé, while sub-standard Italian cuisine — read cheap ‘pizza and pasta’ — is mushrooming across bylanes.

Saha, former Director, Food and Services/ Executive Chef at The Park, launched Caperberry in tandem with Shruti Shibulal, a former Wall Street investment banker and food aficionado. In 2002, an independent magazine survey rated him among the top ten chefs in India.

Centrally located, Caperberry yokes together a bar, tapas lounge, an art gallery and a fine-dining restaurant. Its name derives from the berry of the caper vine — deep green without, siren pink within — considered a stellar ingredient today. On the tongue, it is mildly lemony. Tantalisingly, ‘caperberry’ in Hebrew translates to ‘provocation of desire’!

Though the standalone venture’s contemporary décor woos the eye but partially, its food and service are outstanding. Our complimentary pre-dinner amouse-bouche (palate-pleaser) savoury tartlet signalled the chef’s style — both nuanced and nifty.

We opted for the six-course tasting menu, teamed with summery sangrias, including a pineapple-rosemary imbued white wine variant. Each course was served on elegant white china, proffering food as art, while the walls celebrated abstracted images of ginger and porcini, garlic and chillies, through the lens of Sudeep Gurtu.

The scallop, prawn and squid first course was brilliant, each tender morsel gold-edged, transformed by the traditional Spanish al ajillo technique, with accents of chilli, garlic and olive oil. A gazpacho duet followed — the cold tomato soup in a rotund cup, fragrant of summery goodness, counterpointed against a melon gazpacho in a shot glass, fruity yet full-bodied. Our palates thus refreshed, succulent Norwegian salmon bedded on delicate couscous hinting at porcini and orange, proved the perfect foil.

The piece de resistance followed — a perfect duck confit, delicate to the bone, offset by pan-seared, rich foie gras. Cooked by the super-slow sous vide or vacuum sealed method, it was offset by subtly wine-poached pears. The cheese platter boasted a rare Spanish Mahon cheese and ripe Brie, alongside succulent olives and marinated pears.

A dessert of lemon cream sandwiched between crunchy speculos biscuits, with a sweetlime sorbet, proved the right tangy pick-me-up for our satiated taste-buds. But the best was yet to come: a sensorial, winning Cryo Espuma. On a tableside trolley, the mango espuma/ foam flavour of the day was transformed by swirls of liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Centigrade. The dramatic Cryo technique cools the surface immediately, creating a soft shell. Popped whole into the mouth, the exquisite burst of mousse on the palate is to die for!

World-class cuisine must, of course, come at a jetsetter price (Rs 1,500 for the four-course non-vegetarian tasting menu, Rs 2,000 for the six-course option, while the vegetarian tasting choices range from Rs 1,4001,800). Each could be accompanied by Indian or international wines, priced at Rs 900 to Rs 1,250.

The a la carte menu, too, packs surprises between its covers — including appetisers like a deconstructed Salad Caprese, with liquid-centred mozzarella spheres in sync with orange balsamic jelly and tomato sorbet. Or soups like a jumbo prawn, mussel and squid bouillabaisse with miso and sake (a Japanese takeoff a la Ferria?). Main courses encompass a mushroom paella with garlic and parsley, a trio of aubergine (stuffed medallions, goat cheese cannelloni and aubergine-rosemary cappuccino), and butter poached lobster with shrimp cappellaci, artichoke barigoule and spiced foam. The tapas lounge menu stretches the imagination, through chorizo brochettes, olive and citrus fruit crostini, and more.

The Caperberry experience is designed almost as a nouvelle cuisine odyssey sans visa. Some aspects will woo you, while others will puzzle you. But Saha’s choice sourcing for the table and the bar, his eye for service detail, his experiments with flavours and texture, are indisputably outstanding.

Discerning foodies in Bangalore now have a real choice. For instance, the three-course lunch at about Rs 500 (salads-cold cuts, main course, and desserts), or a possible shift from the lounge to an extra-fine dinner. Caperberry is a bold step in the right direction.

More Stories on : Food & Cuisine | Hotels

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
A food odyssey

30-day fitness plan

No slowdown for the big day

The marriage parties

Omani brides hire special planners

Wonder-lust!

In memoriam

This magic is for real