FOOD: METRO PLUS/RESTAURANT REVIEW/PORTABELLA, BANGALORE

It’s probably Indiranagar’s best-kept secret. The restaurant has been
 open for about six months now and sees brisk trade during the week,
 mainly expats stepping in for a quick bite of lasagne or confit, and
positively bustles on the weekends.

Thing is, amidst a veritable forest of eateries all within a stone’s
 throw of each other, all shouting for attention, all on or in the
 vicinity of Indiranagar’s 100 ft road, Portabella, situated as it
is inside the Hotel Basil Ikon, may be just a tad too subtle.

The place has a moniker that is Italian; the food is French
nouvelle and actually, it’s a smooth meld. Yes, olive oil and
 vinaigrettes make their due debuts but also know their place
 and thanks be, it’s a subdued place.

The soups are light, with neither the base vegetables nor the
 herbs overpowering the other. The starters are accompanied
by tangy and creamy sauces, delicious to the last drip. The main
courses, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, span a compact range
of cheeses, veggies, mushrooms, Chilean salmon, duck and a
 neat selection of the fruits of the sea like red snapper, prawns
 and seer.

To tame that sweet tooth, there’s tiramisu...but of course...
chocolate mousse, warm chocolate brownies, and mango
and blueberry cheesecake. Oh, and the Portabella diner
gets a demitasse of coffee on the house. What he or she
also gets is that the chef, Bangalore boy Vikram Shandilya
Udaygiri, is really having fun with the food and its preparation
 and presentation thereof. And when the man wielding the
skillet (one who honed his skill at a Michelin-starred eatery
near Lille in France, no less) is having so much fun, it’s a cert
that the diner, too, ends up emulating the chef.

While a meal for two (average prices, Rs 1,200) won’t break
your wallet, it doesn’t come too cheap either. Then again,
whoever said the best things in life come cheap?

Portabella is at Hotel Basil Ikon, 1215, 100 Ft Road,
Indiranagar. Call: 40401313

SHEILA KUMAR