Delhi Lens: Olive Bar & Kitchen – restaurant review

Yes, as usual, I am late to the party that is Olive. But, as they say, better late than never!

When mom decided to come to Delhi, I was all in a tizzy planning fun things to do with her over the weekend, on the days I could manage to take off from work, and in the evenings after office. One place that was at the top of my list was Olive.

So on a Friday afternoon, dressed to the nines, we hit the road and made our way there. And boy, were we in for a treat!

Olive is an Italian restaurant, part open part indoors. We chose to sit outside, under the shade of an ancient banyan tree on a cool winter afternoon. The seating is spread apart, so you have a bit of privacy at your table and room to let your eyes wander. From the huge banyan tree to the open kitchen to catching glimpses of the interior of the restaurant, from where a blue shelf was winking out at us.

Examining the menu, we decided to take things slow…to stretch the experience of being there for as long as we could. The first thing to arrive on the table was a bread basket, and boy! Was that bread good! Warm from the oven, soft and fluffy and light. It’s the best I’ve eaten anywhere – hands down.

For our starter, we chose the Classic Panzanella, with wood oven roasted peppers, crusty country bread and red wine cumin dressing. The dish was beautifully plated, and yummy, with each bite leaving an explosion of flavors on the palette.

Next, we had a spinach, sun dried tomatoes, olives and feta wood fired pizza with a stone ground organic whole wheat flour pizza base, which again was very good. The only complaint – once it got cold, it became quite chewy. I guess you could put that down to the thin crust and to the fact that we were sitting outdoors on a cool winter afternoon.

For the pasta, I chose a tomato sauce with bocconcini and smoked scamroza. It had a flavor unlike anything I’ve ever had before, with the dominant one being that of the smoked scamroza, and I loved it, but mom didn’t care for it too much.

In between the courses, they served us a bitter-sweet fresh fruit sorbet to cleanse our palette and at the end of the meal we were served Petite Fours – two chocolates and a pretzel each.

Overall, I’d give Olive 4 of 5 stars – one star less because mom didn’t like the pasta and the pizza turned a bit rubbery towards the end. But I will be visiting Olive again…soon!