Welcome to Mediterranean paradise!

Fruity Sangria

We’re a fan of delicious food, lots of it. But you know that feeling when you’ve overeaten, said no to nothing and can imagine your waistline sitting in one corner sulking. We’re not a fan of that sneaky emotion called guilt.Delicious food should ideally be guilt-free and that’s exactly what Olive Beach’s new summer menu does so lavishly.

Olive Beach (Verandah area)

Devised by Chef Saby, a Spaniard herself, she was clear that a lot more than fried and buttered delights were needed to tackle the hot and humid Delhi summers. “We’ve designed tapas - Spanish for light snacks - basically to eliminate fried food and replace it with light oils, wood ovens, char-grilled lean meats and non fatty fish.” 

The tasting kicks off with, Gazpacho foam (Rs 349), simply translated cold tomato based vegetable soup. Now traditionally we’re not a fan of cold soups having been brought up with the eat your ice-cream cold, drink your soup comfortingly hot adage.

So when a deliciously cool soup served with a baguette crustini garnished with extra virgin olive oil and olive dust showed up, it was all we could do to refrain from requesting a doggy flask.

Gazpacho foam

Sizzling Gambas

Next up were the sizzling gambas(Rs 599): Tiger prawns cooked with cherry tomato, and roasted garlic in a healthy splash of white wine reminds you why four ingredients can make a cracker of a dish (Or maybe we’ve been watching too much of Masterchef).

Then came the Croquetas. Now these are available in three options of Vegetable, Chicken or Fish. Croquetas is bread soaked in milk, which is then filled with cheese, vegetables and your choice of protein, served fried. “Ah, so the lure of oil you couldn’t resist”, we asked. So Chef Saby asked us to just try one. Here’s the (may enter expletive here) thing, you just can’t! We blame the garlic infused mayonnaise served with it, but the truth is unlike the fried nuggets/bread rolls we’re so used to loving, there’s a deception about croquetas,probably in its lightness that makes you feel you’re wolfing down nothing!

In Appetisers, Mezze platter non vegetarian (Rs 899) with its Tahini prawn, chicken kebab, Moroccan lamb kebab accompanied by three dips, Lebanese pickle, and fattoush is served up on a rustic wooden board. The mix n match follows a simple logic: diffuse the heat of the meat with the coolness of the dips.

Mango Semi Freddo

Amongst the desserts, we tried the Mango Semi Freddo(Rs 399), a brulee Mango brunoise with a green mango sorbet. But it didn’t tickle. It could be because the rest set the standards too high or that general feeling of being overstuffed. Oh but wait, a chocolate we enjoyed a few hours later still seemed delicious. So maybe skipping this dessert is a good idea.

Note: A copy of this review has also appeared in the Financial World. The reviewer dined at Olive Beach, Hotel Diplomat, Sardar Patel Road, Chanakyapuri, Delhi- 110 021