Set down a short lane off Gregory’s Road, the first impression of Rocco’s Italian restaurant is a beautiful house, especially at night. The style and the decor give a fresh modern look but set in an older building. We are here, six of us, followers and friends of Sunil Shamdasani (with his trademark array of jackets) enjoying one of his wonderful cuisine selection nights. He does his prep well and in the four times we have been on his nights out, he has eaten in the restaurant prior and has pre-planned the dish selection.
So, on to the cuisine, we start with a creamy prawn bruschetta, light and very tasty. There is one plate with 8 pieces. The restaurant is noted for its pizza range and we share a medium size, Sunil selects the margherita option. We follow this with a sharing plate of avocado and apple salad. On to arrabiata pasta in pink sauce, chicken spicy pizza, chicken parmigiana accompanied with potato wedges, mushroom risotto, and crab and prawn tagliatelle pasta.
Like many restaurants these days, this one also operates on a BYOB policy, for both wines and spirits. All our friends prefer to take our own wine. We spend between Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 4,000 rupees a bottle and it’s not uncommon for some of us to take two bottles a couple. Most in the group are red wine drinkers, but like others I like to start with a well-chilled white wine. In another restaurant we frequent less often, they charge Rs.18,000 rupees plus for a bottle of wine that you can buy in retail shops for Rs.3,500 plus.
I used to live on Gregory’s Road in an amazing, well-designed open-style house which was an excellent location for entertaining friends and having business dinners. Close by was a French restaurant, with a whacky chef come manager/ owner. It is now the very successful Harpo’s Bayleaf, with a great food selection and reasonably priced wines. Our old home became Epicure, run by Wendel, and was an up-end quality restaurant. It was reasonably priced with a BYOB policy. Great success but for some reason didn’t last long.
So, we are planning our return to Rocco’s at 29A, Gregory’s road, with another bunch of friends. Our next gourmet night out with Sunil is Thai food, stay tuned in for the next report!