So it was birthday weekend the last weekend and I must say what an amaze weekend it was. Filled with calls from people I love and care about, quality, uninterrupted time with the hubs and lots and lots of amazing food. We decided to go out for a long lunch at Zanotta @ The Leela, in Gurgaon. This place has some amazing Italian food and on Sundays they do a 7 course Prix Fixe menu, which is to die for and you will agree as you go on to read this further 🙂
It’s a beautiful restaurant, wonderful to look at, just the right balance of posh and cozy, overlooking the wide roads of Gurgaon.
Photo Courtesy – Tripadvisor
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We got a reservation at 1 pm and we got a wonderful welcome from the chef herself, Chef Leidy who gave us a great personal tour of the Insalata bar which looked gorgeous with an amazing cheese spread, fresh grilled vegetables, caprese salad, a bean salad, shredded chicken and pepper salad, a ham salad, tomato stuffed with ricotta and smoked prosciutto with olives. Plus beautiful beautiful breads.
After we picked out our wines, we went ahead and ordered our first course – the pizzettes. I got one with Prosciutto with Arugula and the hubs got one with Seared Tuna. Both of these – DE.LISH.
With the size of the portions we thought how in the world are we going to be full (considering we had not even had breakfast in the morning and felt like we could eat the world :D) But then came the next course – Soup! I went for the Seafood Broth and it was nothing like any broth I’ve tasted before. Beautiful fresh prawns, fish and calamari poached in a light tomato broth with just enough fish. Topped with some freshly ground pepper, this soup had depth like no other.
By this point with we were almost kind of full – I couldn’t believe it. We did have the whole day to ourselves though, and didn’t have anywhere else to go. So we decided to just lounge around and continue sipping our wine over amazing conversation.
Then came in the next course though, after it had been a while. It was time for Pasta! While I went for the trusty ol’ Mushroom Risotto, the hubby went for a Spaghetti with Seafood, clams, prawns, fish, calamari, the whole works. And when I tasted the Spaghetti, laced with the most beautiful tomato sauce, I almost wished I hadn’t gone for the risotto, which by the way was excellent too.
Time for course no. 4 – Polenta with pesto and roasted red pepper sauce. Heaven. Nuff’ said.
This is a point in a 7 course meal when you just want to give up and say no more! It was already 3 pm by then but then our waiter told us they are open for lunch till 5.30 pm which was perfect and meant that we could go on and sit there for longer in between our courses and glasses of vino refills.
Course 5 – Fish course. I got seared prawns in a white wine reduction and fennel sauce while the husband got Pan fried seabass with sweet tomato reduction. Both of these – I couldn’t have higher praise. The fish and prawns, cooked to perfection and the sauce, just enough to cover the fish, beautiful taste but not taking away from the sweetness of the fish itself.
After this fish course I was like I just want to lie down here and never eat anything else but this food everyday of my life. Haha. I’m not kidding, it was that good.
Literally after this course we waited like 30 minutes before we let them bring the Chicken course in. This was Chicken baked with cheese, basil and mozzarella. This chicken breast was super moist, really well cooked and was infused with this gorgeous basil, laced with a little smoked tomato sauce.
This beautiful lunch ended with a dessert platter – Tiramisu, a lemon pancotta and saffron gelato.
All this, while being served by wonderful wait staff and the great chef who kept coming to our table to talk to us, this lunch at Zanotta @ The Leela was a wonderful birthday experience, just what I wanted – quality time spent with my husband and gorgeous food that kept us happy and full for the whole day. (Yeah we didn’t have dinner because we were still super full at 9 pm.)
Rating : 5/5
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