This must be the first of its kind – dedicated Italian buffet – in Pune. La Terrazza, Hyatt Regency is positioned as a rustic, home-style Italian restaurant. They have A La Carte options, and also have a few three course Set-Menu options for their patrons.
This November, La Terrazza has launched a new Italian buffet option for their diners. The buffet will be available exclusively on Saturdays and will have a few different dishes each week.
Italian food seems to have captured the Indian diners’ fancy, what with David Rocco going around India creating pastas in Sarson (Mustard) Oil and local ingredients.
So what is it like?
The Italian dishes on the buffet at La Terrazza though are thankfully more traditional and closer to Italy.
You have a wide variety of choices on the Antipasto table with a range of vegetarian and non vegetarian choices. From the the thin cut Chicken Terrine slices to tuna and mackerel, you will get to taste a wide range of antipasti.
The live Bruschetta station gives you an option of some mushroom pate as well as the traditional tomato-olive oil-basil mix to top your lightly toasted bread.
Then there are some classic appetizers like the Prosciutto wrapped melon, which uses dry cured ham that is wrapped around bite-size pieces of melon.
And if cheese is something that makes your mouth water, the Bread and cheese station offers some more choices. You can start with a soup and some bread and cheeses like Mozzarella in oil or Parmesano cheese.
If you are a little less adventurous and want to stay away from the cold cuts, the buffet has the basics covered for you. This weekend we had a thin crust Pepperoni pizza. The basic cheese and Pepperoni pizza was crisp with generous amount of cheese. The Pepperoni on the other hand was a bit milder than some others I have tasted.
The buffet also serves both Pasta and a Risotto, these along with one Veg and one Non-veg starter, which are served at the table.
The bacon fritters were crisp with an intense flavor of bacon. Bacon lovers will surely like to pop a few of these.
The smoked salmon pasta needs a special mention. We were told that the restaurant uses Atlantic Salmon, and this is evident from the moment you taste this cheesy pasta. People who prefer their pasta slightly moist will like this preparation.
The Risotto on the other hand was cooked Al Dente and had a lovely taste of Asparagus blended with chicken.
The buffet also offers veg and non-veg main course. We had roast chicken and some lasagna this weekend. The paprika-rosemary roast chicken was mildly flavored along with grilled veggies and potatoes in rustic style. I like my chicken to be juicy and though not overcooked, this one seemed a bit dry.
A long celebratory dinner with friends and family must end in a dessert. The Italian buffet at La Terrazza offers a few options here too.
The saffron poached pears with chocolate sauce is something you will love if you like your desserts to be very sweet. The bitterness of the chocolate sauce balances out the sweetness of the saffron poached pears to give you that relief from the sweet taste.
There was also a huge bowl of Tiramisu. I scooped out some and ended up with a couple of dry lady fingers and a lot of cream.
Overall, I think the buffet is a great idea to explore some rustic, home-style Italian cooking and go beyond the neighborhood pastas and pizzas. La Terraza buffet has many options for a group with different tastes including vegetarians.
Leave a Reply