Olive Bistro - Repas Parfait
Olive Bistro by itself has a reputation for the best Mediterranean food and heart of city eccentric and serene location adds quite a bit of followers for dining in this place. Located in the top of Durgam Cheruvu and having a serene view of the lake by itself and garnered around plush green bushes, this place is a getaway from City madness but still not far away from city and its chaos. The location, décor and ambience has been talked in tons by everybody who has been to the place and I'm no expert to review it and enough said about it. This coincidentally makes my first dining experience in this beauty of a place where previous visits or chances were always in a NO-GO situation. Finally got invited to preview their newly launched Autumn Menu which has some exquisite delicacies made by their Execute Chef Rishim Sachdeva who has been garnishing amazing reviews of his innovative styles of cooking and dishing out some really interesting master pieces. All excited, I visited this place for a dinner with other fellow foodie bloggers, I should say after the experience, I should agree - OLIVE BISTRO HAS IT. The aura, food, service and overall experience is one of a kind. If you are one like me why has been skipping this place, I think its high time you did and do not miss on a unique dining experience. Pricing might look on steep side but I feel the overall experience makes it up for occasional dining mainly if you are as a couple. The view , the privacy, the talks and the food makes it all the more worth it to visit it in lazy brunch times a or late evenings. One of the best place if you have Candle Light dinners in your mind.
Note: This review is based on Food Tasting Invite but review and opinion stands unbiased in interest of readers.
We started off with some nice mix of cocktails and mocktails which were indeed refreshing and acted as mild palate cleansers as well. From the cocktails, I liked the Barman's special (based on vodka) as it a mild taste throughout and wasn't too strong for my palate and so was Ivy Gimlet. The scotch based Gentleman's Buck was strong in the alcohol content and you need to be strong to finish. But the orange flavor throughout was nice and interesting. Friends tried the mocktails and there were pretty happy about it.
We started off with starters coming one by one. We started off with Funky Hummus & Smoked Falafel which is a platter by itself comprising of pita bread, home made fried falafels & crunchy chips. The hummus was definitely one of the flavorful ones I have had and the pita bread as well was very soft and scrumptious. The Falafels as such were crispy, flavor packed but a little bit of spice kick would have made me go WOW for this. The chips gave the crunchy texture required for the dish. .Overall an impressive dish. Next came in BBQ Cauliflower & Leek Flatbread. Cauliflower marinated in yogurt and also slow cooked over coal along with leek flatbread looked very simple but the flavors were bang on. The flat bread gave a nice texture along with the BBQ cauliflower was rich, simple and flavor packed.
Feedback from my fellow foodies always proclaimed that Olive Bistro has impressive pork dishes and how can I miss them when I'm here :) Chef has definitely WOWed me 100% on his pork dishes after relishing them I feel I'm in Pork-Heaven. The porkilicious feast started with Pork & Plum which was a perfect symphony of presentation and flavors. Home smoked and sous vide pork belly served with home made plum vinegar and carrots was just PERFECTION personified. The radish soaked in the plum sauce adding the sweet texture tot the well cooked pork was simply blissful. Just when I thought nothing could beat this, next came Pork Ribs. This dish visually had that simplicity , soulful dish feel and you can just relax and gorge on them. Made with amazingly cooked pork ribs glazed with a medley of flavors was served with carrots, kefir , sautéed greens was just pure BUTTER Heaven. The pork belly pieces just melted in our mouth and that crunch from the beautifully cooked carrots was adding flavor elevations to the dish. This is a MUST TRY.
From the mains, we got the Pork Belly Rice which is Chef's favorite by itself. The slow braised Belgian pork belly was served with roasted purple potatoes and spiced rice. The pork was as such cooked again beautifully and interestingly the spice rice impressed me in terms of its bold flavors which fortunately balanced the sweetness from the pork belly. Overall I would say Chef Rishim is Mr. Pork-I-licious. All three pork dishes scored home runs and do not miss them when you dine there.
We then moved onto some chicken dishes which came in one by one where every dish looked fabulous in presentation. Chipotle Chicken with kimchi. This dish was served with kimchi, sweet potatoes and feta cheese. The skewers were perfectly marinated in spicy chipotle sauce . The Korean spiced cabbage also had a flavor balance . The crispies served along with it was also a nice add on. Next came in Red Velvet Chicken which was buttermilk marinated chicken served with cup cake crumbs. The side of quinoa tossed in Lebanese sauce was a nice balance for the crunchy chicken. The crispiness of the chicken was perfect but not sure if it was due to Red Velvet powder , the chicken was bland and not heavy on seasoning. The last chicken dish was Maple & Chipotle Grilled Roast Chicken .This dish was my top favorite as on slicing it , it looked it may be dry but on one bit, it proved me wrong as it was super soft and perfectly cooked meat. The chipotle and maple marination added that unique spice + sweet combination coating all over. The chipotle salsa and sour cream did add the perfect condiment for it. The overall dish did impress me mainly on the cook of the chicken by itself.
Kefir Lime Fish cakes looked super appetizing, served with saffron aioli and pickled fennel. The fish cakes as such was very flavorful but lacked salt to my palate. Again the presentation scored here and so is texture. Next came in Slow braised lamb and this dish was pure perfection. Must try. Per Chef Rishim, this was inspired from Morocco travel journey, this 72-hour slowly braised lamb was perfect with the condiments of pea and mashed potato. I mainly loved the beetroot puree that glazed the meat completely WOW. The perfect finale dish of the evening was my favorite of the menu , also Chef's personal favorite as well - Grilled Tenderloin. Its normally very tough to perfect the cooking temperature of the meat mainly to medium-rare consistency as it needs culinary expertise. Cooked and served with organic purple sweet potatoes and home-made mango puree. The puree was out of this world, a little sweetness added to the perfectly cooked meat was BLISSful experience. Overall the mains mainly the tenderloin and chicken dishes scored big time and my expectation from Olive Bistro was met in great convection. Hats off to Chef Rishim for his creativity and execution of dishes that are simple but serene.
When the starters and the mains impress you so much to a whole gastronomic satisfaction, you obviously expect how will the finale of any meal work with you. Desserts normally sets the tone to wrap up an amazing meal. Normally to me it makes or breaks my total experience. From their new autumn menu, came in Salted Caramel Tart which came in visually one of the most amazing dish. The flavor was strong and to me (may be due to having cocktails earlier) I felt a strong caramel flavor but since it was glazed with sea salt, I could understand the flavors. The overall presentation was killer but the flavor could have WOWed me if it was not that strong. Next came in Tiramisu. Now this dish can either be got RIGHT or WRONG. You cannot go midway on this. The dish visually looked nice (again scores on presentation) I definitely loved the kahula sponge and the creamy mascarpone cheese but I felt the strong liqour kick flavor was tad down than my expectations. It didn't feel a typical tiramisu feel as it more was a perfectly made mousse consistency. The dish again lacked the perfection and flavor profiles that the mains showed.
We then ordered their signature dessert from their regular menu on staff's recommendation - Chocolate Fondant which was served beautifully (again with vanilla ice cream). The fondant as such was a little over baked as it lagged the guey runny consistency that you normally expect when you slice down the fondant in the middle. It had the right dark taste for me but if it had the runny choco consistency , I would scored it a 10/10. The addition of vanilla ice cream also didn't help much as the ice cream was itself wasn't of top quality and was OKish. The final touch to the Cookies & Cookie Dough which lacked visual appeal as others and looked average. The flavors scored average for me as well , as the cookie was too hard to crack and the ice cream sandwiched between them (again the flavorless vanilla ice cream) didn't impress me.
Overall I felt the level of culinary journey, the starters and mains took me over slightly slipped down south due to the desserts experience. The desserts could have easily been made master class if they had given an extra culinary eye for perfection. Nevertheless I expect them to refine them so that the whole dining experience becomes more memorable for anyone.
Verdict :
Olive Bistro - expect for the desserts part which normally could have WOWed me, the whole Autumn menu made me go WOW for the level of culinary class shown in presentation and bringing in complex flavors with simple ingredients. The menu overall is simple, soulful, earthy and straight on flavors and doesn't make you complicate your gastronomic thoughts. Chef Rishim has definitely impressed me in his curation of such unique dishes which of course if tasted sounds simple but visualizing and executing them to such unique platings is tough job. He has definitely met my expectations I had in this place and for most of it, I'm convinced that dining in Olive Bistro is not just food, its an aura of being yourself or with your loved partner and to laze around and glance the city with a view none like other.
Note: This review is based on Food Tasting Invite but review and opinion stands unbiased in interest of readers.