Bistro – The Italian Experience!

Bistro – The Italian Experience!

I had been to a restaurant at Oakwood Premiere a couple of years ago. The experience is hardly worth a mention. We decided to give the hotel another try and we honed in on another restaurant at Oakwood Premiere. The restaurant we chose this time was ‘Bistro’. We opted for a 5 course limited menu option through a ‘fine dining experience’ website. 

Bistro is done up with candle light on the table, wine bottles, cute EVOO-Balsamic dispensers, salt-pepper mills and stem glasses. A very elegant set up! There were gourmet items for sale in a large display against the wall. The restaurant was not very brightly lit hence did not check out the stuff for sale but, from a distance, I could see huge jars of green olives, packets of prunes and more. Awesome stuff!

Our server (a beautiful girl from enchanting North-east India) handed us our special ‘limited option menu card’ and politely gave us time to make our selections.

For drinks we chose Fresh Lime Soda (I’m the eternal teetot) and they were served in Mason jars. I so loved the idea of drinks being served in them. The drinks were very well made. A perfect balance of sweet and sour with fizzy soda.

Fresh Lime Soda

Our first course was a choice between soup and salad. I won’t be caught dead chewing leaves hence I chose the Chicken & Barley Broth. My bestie who loves ‘greens’, and eats enough to make up for all the salads I steer clear off, chose the Chicken Caesar Salad. I ignored the greens and flicked a crisp crouton and a teeny-weeny piece of chicken from her salad. Both the soup and salad were well seasoned and flavorful. An A+ for both the dishes.

Chicken & Barley Broth

Our second course comprised of appetizers and our selections were Assorted Crostini and Grilled Paprika Chicken Kebab. 

Assorted Crostini

The Crostini’s were crisp and the toppings were tomato (which I steered clear off) and mushroom. I chose a Crostini topped with mushroom. It was nice but on the dry side. I drizzled a bit of EVOO and voila! It turned into an appetizer that I could not get enough of. The Kebabs, served on a skewer with potato wedges, were also very nice.

Grilled Paprika Chicken Kebab

Our third course was ‘Pasta’. While my bestie chose Penne Alla Sorrentina (tomato based with mozzarella), I chose Fussili with Chicken, Onion, Jalapeno in Alfredo sauce.

Penne Alla Sorrentina

We all have our quirks in regard to how we want our pasta cooked. My bestie prefers it ‘al dente’ with a wee bit of sauce coating the pasta and I am the exact opposite. I prefer my pasta two-three shades softer than ‘al dente’. I can see the gourmands rolling their eyes. *Oh! Bite me!* We mentioned our individual pasta preference to our server and the dishes served to us were spot on! The Penne in tomato sauce was quite the regular type but the Fussili in Alfredo sauce blew me away. Creamy, cheesy and oh! It hit all the right spots. I’m a Bawi (Parsee) who loves cheese; resultantly the Bawi in me experienced a cheesy gastronomic orgasm in the mouth. Ufff! That sounds very dirty! *evil grin* But it was not. It was sheer heaven! :-) 

Fussili with Chicken, Onion, Jalapeno in Alfredo sauce

For our main course my friend selected Chicken Scallopini, Capers, Olives, Spaghetti Aglio Olio E Pepperoncino, while my selection was Herbed Grilled Chicken Breast with Mushroom Jus. The Chicken Scallopini was very well made, no complaints at all.

Chicken Scallopini, Capers, Olives, Spaghetti Aglio Olio E Pepperoncino

The Herbed Grilled Chicken, though, was overcooked and very dry. I must mention, though, that the mushrooms served with the chicken were to die for! Beautifully sautéed and beautifully seasoned! I would have happily dumped the chicken and opted for a plateful of those awesome mushrooms.

Herbed Grilled Chicken Breast with Mushroom Jus

Our fifth course would have been dessert but by the time we finished our main course we were stuffed to the gills hence informed our server to skip dessert.

Our dining experience was priced 800 per person, all inclusive. They were kind enough to include a fresh lime soda for each of us hence we only paid for one extra drink (the third one).

All in all, it was a fantastic evening. It was an evening of great company, very good food and, intermittently, good music. We couldn’t have asked for more. Oh okay, there is one thing we could ask of them. They should stick to good retro music. ;-)

A Special Mention:

After I clicked photographs of both the mains, we requested the server to re-plate the dishes in a way that we could equally share both the mains. They were extremely accommodating and very politely agreed to do so. Agreeing to these small, though cumbersome, wishes of a customer to keep them happy is the making of a good restaurant. A BIG BROWNIE point to Bistro for customer service!

Ambiance: 4/5

Service: 4.5/5

Food: 4/5

Address: Oakwood Premiere, 81, Mudhwa Road, Koregaon Park Annexe, Pune.

Tel: 020 26747474 / 020 67257788