Café Amaretto, South Point Mall, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon

Nestled in a niche corner of the South Point Mall, this dainty little café should be on your list if you want to experience authentic fine dine style Italian cuisine with beautiful art paraphernalia adorning the walls of the place. Welcome to Café Amaretto, an elegant yet classy place with a touch of artsy grace.

The place is done up in soothing white interiors reminding you of the typical Italian restaurants and in the evening, this café is lit up in romantic lights, thus amplifying the ambience.

Shayal Taunk, the owner of this lovely place, is an enthusiastic young entrepreneur with a taste of the Italian way of life. She started this café as an art gallery but eventually, she converted this into a full fledged Italian restaurant where you can explore the paintings and buy them as well along with the best of what Italy has to offer in gastronomy. So let me offer my insights on the enchanting dishes offered here :

Focaccia: The taste of warm and freshly baked focaccia in winters is enough for a person to go into food coma. And the ones baked by Café Amaretto is worth mentioning. The bread is warm, soft from the inside and slightly crispy from the outside with the subtle flavours of fresh garlic, thyme, bell peppers and red jalapeno prominent in it.

Bruschetta platter: The platter showcases caponata, yellow bell pepper and tomato feta cheese bruschetta sprayed with white sesame and is one of the best I have ever tasted. The tomato and feta cheese one is the finest among the three – with the fresh dainty juliennes of tomato and soft and salty feta cheese over a thin toast. The caponata bruschetta has finely chopped onions and eggplant with sweetness dominating it. The yellow bell pepper one is well balanced and soft.

Pan fried prawns with garlic chips: Finally there is a place where the prawns are not smelly enough to destroy your appetite. The pan fried prawns are kept over thin slices of orange and topped with lemon butter sauce and garlic chips. The prawns are well cooked, soft and chewy. The presence of orange slices gives the dish a slightly sweet flavour in addition to the subtle tanginess of the sauce. The garlic chips are fried though not deep fried thus retaining the pungency and the added caramelized flavour.

Tomato Basil Soup: We really need to move over the ready to make tomato soups, because hey, they are laden with preservatives and not good for health at all! And the flavours are not captured well in them. The one presented here is freshly prepared and will make you yearn for it, especially since the winters are here. The consistency of the soup is thick and the presence of chopped garlic and basil leaves provide some bitterness to an otherwise sweet and tangy soup. This one is served with buttered toast.

Mushroom salad: These days, chefs are experimenting with mushrooms quite frequently and yes, we are not complaining at all! The salad here is made with fresh and juicy button mushrooms which are finely sliced and mixed well with peanuts, garlic chips and rice puffs. Myriad flavours live in this salad: sweetness and tanginess due to the sauce and onions, crunchiness because of peanuts and rice puffs and chewiness because of mushrooms. The thin slices of garlic chips provide the extra pungency to an already rich salad.

Ravioli with tomato bread filling in lemon butter sauce: Of all the raviolis I have had, this has to be the most exquisite one. The ravioli is soft and freshly made and is filled with a fresh and fine mixture of tomato and bread. The ravioli is literally melt in the mouth. And the sauce accompanying it makes it that way. The sauce is subtly tangy and creamy and complements the ravioli well.

Spinach and Ricotta crepes: The crepes are mushy and creamy from the inside and flaky from the outside with a very fine mixture of spinach and ricotta cheese. The sauce is tomato based and is freshly made with the balance of creaminess, tanginess and sweetness. The presence of walnuts provides an extra crunchiness to an otherwise melt in the mouth dish.

Chicken with black pepper and mushroom sauce: The chicken is extremely soft and flavourful with the sauce slightly spicy and bitter. The chicken is served with juicy and chewy mushrooms and crispy zucchini chips.

Ricotta cheesecake with strawberry sauce: The cheesecake is soft but firm, and the saltiness, tanginess and sweetness in it are finely balanced.

Salted caramel: Served on a biscuit base, the cream has prominently salty and slightly sweet.

Tiramisu: It tasted quite bitter to me though it was heavenly soft.