Gone are the days when Chennai was looked at as a hub cardinally serving traditional south indian rice & curry and a piecemeal of tiffin variety. It has expanded it's wings not only across the country but also the globe in bringing together diverse cuisines from different parts of the world. Though there are a number of restaurants serving a good spread of global vittle, 'Montenero' is perhaps the first one to bring a variegated portfolio of exotic dishes all under one roof in it's newly opened outlet located in the vicinity of Nungambakkam.
Montenero comes with the caption "the world on a plate" and has an oeuvre of food items traversing across the length and breath of the atlas and brings to the table much sought after delightful delicacies. There are items hitherto you would have heard and it was indeed a pleasure consuming stuff which I've never really tried before. As an ever craving food lover always on the exploration prowl, I must confess Montenero ended up being extremely pleasing.
The stromboli which could be categorised as one of the avatar's of a pizza was the star of the day. This is basically a shaped piece of dough stuffed inside and topped with pizza ingredients. It was beautifully presented in a wooden pan flannel with french fries by the side and it was absolutely lovely to munch this softish piece of dough oozing with cheese and veggies. In the soup section we had a shot at the Broccoli and cheese as well as the almond asparagus. Both of them were sumptuously creamy and rich on flavours and it was quite a joy slurping them up spoon by spoon. The salad in the form of a flame roasted one contained a bunch of ingredients viz garlic, onion, carrot, zucchini, capsicum, cucumber, tomato ketchup, oregano, crushed pepper. This was spruced up and curried along wonderfully and the warm tinge proved to be the ideal confluence and the delivery pointed right on all counts. Another major surprise was on the tried and tested usual jalapeno poppers. I didn't expect much from this but they were breaded to brevity with just the right texture and it was all mouthwatering with cheese and jalapenos oozing out sinfully from those cute little cutlet balls. It also had a great companion in the mode of a fry sauce which is made 'in house'. And on the continental side we had a shot at the spinach ravioli with cream sauce. This was another show stealer. It had the right zip and this yellowish cheesy molten layer drooling on top of the greenish spinach was quite regal to say the least and just melted jocularly in the mouth. On Indian, we went for the panneer tikka satay. It was pretty decent but the cottage cheese lacked the punch and felt a little short on taste especially considering in relation to all the wondrous delights we encountered over the course of our dinner. We finished with the lava cake which was immaculate. The crumb pieces of chocolate went so well with the cake which was super soft and to boot a lovely scoop of vanilla ice cream.
On the whole it was a marvelous dinner living up way beyond expectations. The rates are par for the course and will definitely not make you slouch over especially considering what you get in return. The service was amicable and they were very much willing to assist and help us go about with our order which was very welcoming. The ambiance needs to be pepped up a bit. It looked a touch too gloomy and some shades of colour and brightness will certainly help the place boom. It's a small set up and would be good if they pack it up and get the best benefit from the seating arrangement.
They are still in the nascent stage and just taking my initial experience into count, I would without blinking an eyelid say that this was one of the best meals I've had in recent times. Right now they are in soft launch phase and about to be open full fledged very soon. Going by what I've encountered can confidently say that they have already sounded the alarm bells ringing and things only look set to get better with time. It's highly appreciative that they are trying something unique and I wish the team all the very success in making a mark in the Chennai food scene. Nungambakkam is studded with restaurant's in all corners and with the addition of 'Montenero' it's image as the food paradise of Chennai just got usurped a notch further.
Montenero comes with the caption "the world on a plate" and has an oeuvre of food items traversing across the length and breath of the atlas and brings to the table much sought after delightful delicacies. There are items hitherto you would have heard and it was indeed a pleasure consuming stuff which I've never really tried before. As an ever craving food lover always on the exploration prowl, I must confess Montenero ended up being extremely pleasing.
The stromboli which could be categorised as one of the avatar's of a pizza was the star of the day. This is basically a shaped piece of dough stuffed inside and topped with pizza ingredients. It was beautifully presented in a wooden pan flannel with french fries by the side and it was absolutely lovely to munch this softish piece of dough oozing with cheese and veggies. In the soup section we had a shot at the Broccoli and cheese as well as the almond asparagus. Both of them were sumptuously creamy and rich on flavours and it was quite a joy slurping them up spoon by spoon. The salad in the form of a flame roasted one contained a bunch of ingredients viz garlic, onion, carrot, zucchini, capsicum, cucumber, tomato ketchup, oregano, crushed pepper. This was spruced up and curried along wonderfully and the warm tinge proved to be the ideal confluence and the delivery pointed right on all counts. Another major surprise was on the tried and tested usual jalapeno poppers. I didn't expect much from this but they were breaded to brevity with just the right texture and it was all mouthwatering with cheese and jalapenos oozing out sinfully from those cute little cutlet balls. It also had a great companion in the mode of a fry sauce which is made 'in house'. And on the continental side we had a shot at the spinach ravioli with cream sauce. This was another show stealer. It had the right zip and this yellowish cheesy molten layer drooling on top of the greenish spinach was quite regal to say the least and just melted jocularly in the mouth. On Indian, we went for the panneer tikka satay. It was pretty decent but the cottage cheese lacked the punch and felt a little short on taste especially considering in relation to all the wondrous delights we encountered over the course of our dinner. We finished with the lava cake which was immaculate. The crumb pieces of chocolate went so well with the cake which was super soft and to boot a lovely scoop of vanilla ice cream.
They are still in the nascent stage and just taking my initial experience into count, I would without blinking an eyelid say that this was one of the best meals I've had in recent times. Right now they are in soft launch phase and about to be open full fledged very soon. Going by what I've encountered can confidently say that they have already sounded the alarm bells ringing and things only look set to get better with time. It's highly appreciative that they are trying something unique and I wish the team all the very success in making a mark in the Chennai food scene. Nungambakkam is studded with restaurant's in all corners and with the addition of 'Montenero' it's image as the food paradise of Chennai just got usurped a notch further.
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