Viva Espana! Bangalore enjoys Spanish cuisine and wine
The flavour last week at Bangalore's fine dining restaurant and tapas bar, Caperberry, was distinctly Spanish - even more than usual. No wonder, as the evening of Thursday, 29th October saw the launch of week-long food and wine festivities in the form of the Spanish Food Festival in association with Torres Wines at the restaurant, reports Ruma Singh from Bangalore.
The Torres wines for the evening were a rosé, De Casta Garnacha Rosado, 2007; a fresh white blend which proved most popular, Viña Esmeralda Moscatel Gewurztraminer, 2007; and a red, the Gran Coronas, Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserva, 2005. All found approval from the select group of guests present.
The tapas for the evening were specially created by Chef Sergio Millet of Mas Rabell restaurant on the Torres estate in Spain, who had come down from Barcelona on behalf of Torres to cook for and oversee the Spanish Festival. With his speciality being the very trendy Catalonian cuisine and with over 14 years of experience as a chef, his creations for the week-long festival were keenly awaited.
The guest list included wine lovers, food aficionados and members of the press who chatted and interacted with Chef Sergio and Marc Perello, brand ambassador of Torres Wines in India (pictured here with a guest). When Marc was asked which wine in the extensive Torres portfolio was his favourite, he replied with a smile, "It's a difficult question...they are all like my children."
Torres wines have been making a splash in wine circles in the country of late. In Bangalore a staunch supporter has been Chef Abhijit Saha at Caperberry.
"Caperberry's cuisine is mostly inspired by modern Spanish cuisine. It was always my desire to bring in a chef from Spain for a festival of traditional regional cuisine preferably from Catalonia which is now inspiring the menus in top restaurants across the world," he said.
The highlight of the Spanish Food Festival was the Mesa Degustacion with a wonderful menu of Spanish delights held on the evening of Sunday, 1st November. The four-course menu included grilled asparagus with goat cheese, roast tomato and honey sherry vinaigrette/ slow braised beef cheeks with apple in textures and red wine sauce/ braised chicken leg and prawns in their own sauce paired with the Torres Gran Sangre De Toro Reserva Garnacha Syrah Cariñena, 2003 and Salpicon canelloni - prawn, scallop and baby octopus salad paired with the Torres, Viña Esmeralda Moscatel Gewurztraminer, 2007.
Bangalore is certainly coming of age as a city of evolved tastes and sophisticated dining!
