Roma, Holiday Inn Cochin
By Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)
“Roma” the Italian fine
dining restaurant at the Holiday Inn, Kochi, with its graciously cordial
ambience, is a great place to dine in, primarily for the imaginative and
creative cuisine Executive Chef Joji Joshua, Executive Sous Chef Michael
Saju and their inspired team showcase with aplomb, these days. I am writing this blog to share a
recent memorable experience at this elegant eatery.
The guests are ushered into
a tastefully created space with comfortable seating, bathed in a muted warm
lighting that primarily cascades from those beautiful six pronged overhead lampshade clusters,
which hang delicately from the ceiling.
On seating, one is greeted with a welcome platter of assorted fresh
breads, hot from the oven.
There are individual dipping bowls, to prepare the
virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar smear, if you so desire. The starters
were the usual suspects, the kids made their own Pizza and the adults had their
customary Tris di Bruschetta, which included one slice each of toasted garlic
bread with cheese, olives and tomato-garlic topping. The children enjoyed the
bonus experience of watching the whole process of the Pizza preparation in that
flaming oven on view, in the open kitchen.
Chef Michael suggested Beef
Carpaccio as an appetizer and we all just loved it, I shall just delve in a
little more detail about this excellent beef discovery, which apparently is
very simple in its conception, but extremely complex in its construct.
Carpaccio (pronounced
"car- pah-chee-yoh") is a typical raw pounded meat, Italian appetizer
which was christened as such, in Venice at the Harry's Bar by the owner
Giuseppe Cipriani, in the early 1930s, after the Venetian painter Vittore
Carpaccio, famous for his signature red and white tones.
This simple delicacy, though
having a striking resemblance with some cold cuts, is actually very thinly
sliced frozen beef tenderloin, which has its edges seared to bind it. Mind you
only the freshest of the meats are used in preparing this dish. Stripped of all
peripheral fat, it is first seasoned with salt; pepper to drain out excess
moisture, then a bit of balsamic vinegar is added before it is banished into a
freezer, to be removed for slicing just before plating. The slicing requires
exceptional knife skills and that freezing helps in the precision cutting. The
slices are cut ideally 1/8th of an inch in thickness. These slices are then carefully
pounded with meat mallets to flatten them paper thin, any carelessness on the
part of the pounder, will reduce the meat to tatters.
Master Chef Michael had
plated the exquisite ensemble alongside a Cherry huddle, with a mound of Greens
in vinaigrette, in an aesthetic eye-catching platter of three raw meat crosses,
of two rolled Carpaccio slices one daintily sleeping on the other.
The fine grain of the pink
muscle fiber interspersed with an intricate network of white ingrained frozen
fat, makes the slices look very attractive. Cold on the tongue, one just feels the meat
melt in one's warm mouth the moment it is brought in contact with the saliva.
My children loved it and it is on the choice list already, for our next Roma
visit.
For the mains, we had three
mouthwatering creations of Chef Michael and Chef Siyad Abdul. They were
Fettuccine Pasta Con Costelleta di Vitello al Brasato (Braised Veal Chops with Fettuccine Pasta), Lasagne Bolognese and my personal favorite
Filetto De Manzo. The braised veal chops
were a standout and that is the one I would like to talk about today, only to
apprise everyone about that peerless grip on the flavours and the exquisite
culinary skills, these expert chefs are endowed with, at Holiday Inn, Cochin.
Veal chops are expensive, temperamental meats,
which need very careful cooking. They also have an alluring visual appeal; with
those little riblets sticking out of that soft meat bunches. They are
heart-warmingly tender and succulent when cooked perfectly. For me medium is
perfect, so after checking the individual preference, Chef Siyad disappeared
into the kitchen to attempt a perfect braise of the chops.
Braising is not as simple as it seems. It is a
very subtle kind of cooking, bordering on being a fine art, as it involves many
processes, like seasoning, searing, browning, sautéing, simmering, thickening
and finally plating with the right amount of sauce. All this patient effort, to
yield those fork-tender short ribs, which have a seared exterior and a
pink-along-the-bone interior. The potent sauce that was building in a simmer
all day is the perfect accompaniment to elevate the experience. This magic on
the plate is born on a skillet, where the chops get seared to a rich brown in
olive oil, before being set aside. Then the mirepoix having the holy trinity of
onion, celery and bell peppers are sautéed without scorching, before adding the
herbs, and deglazing with some wine and stock. This loose liquid mix is then
slow cooked to a sluggish density. The browned bits that stick along the inner
walls are constantly scraped off the saucepan for re-dissolving it into the
reducing sauce, to further intensify the flavors. Finally those browned chops
that were set aside after searing are laid half exposed in the sauce, one side at a time for slow braising. They are not fully submerged, but only two thirds in the sauce and left to simmer and absorb all those piquant flavors. The talented Chef Siyad had in fact put together
an absolutely delectable and near perfect interpretation of the braised veal chops,
which each one of us relished and shall remember for a long time. The accompanying
fettuccine pasta with a mushroom and spinach pesto completed the hearty meal.
We rounded off the
remarkable dinner with some splendid desserts that included a Tiramisu, Chocolate
Cheese Sandwich and an unusual herb spiced fruit Sorbetto which combined
diverse ingredients like basil, orange, ginger, kiwi & the surprise element
green chilly. This account has already gained epic proportions; hence I really
think it would be a good idea to blog about each of the other dishes in separate
posts, as they all deserve to be talked about in detail.
Personally, if I am in Kochi, I love revisiting Holiday Inn, as I know the current F & B team have an unrivaled mastery over their craft and would spoil you with their creative interpretations and variations in gastronomy. Great job and a big thank you to the fabulous Team Holiday Inn!!
Keep it up!!
Tele Numbers :-
Reception/Reservations
- +91484-3319000/4199000
Fax - +91484-4199111
F & B Manager Ganesh
Chalangodan - +918129497435
Restaurant Manager Manish
Pillai - +918129497460
Executive Sous-Chef Michael
Saju - +918129497451
Facebook Link :-
Website :-
Address :-
Holiday Inn, Cochin
33/1739 A Chakkaraparambu
Junction, National Highway Bypass,
Vennala, Cochin – 682028
Kerala, India
