BENGALURU: It might be a busy mid-week but Smoke House Deli is still buzzing and the minimal white decor is a welcome change to our work-weary souls. But the new board menu looked equally, if not more, comforting and we’re surprised at some of the combinations being served. Ragi, millets, jowar and the words ‘gluten-free’ appear multiple times. Little did we know that we’d turn into fans of these grains really soon.
There’s something completely different about indulging in breakfast for dinner. We experienced this first hand with the Poached Egg (avocado and cream cheese on toast), Soulful Bowl (flavoured yogurt, mixed fruit and millet muesli) and Chocolate Pancake with mascarpone frosting and homemade orange marmalade. Lightly spiced, the warm, runny eggs and avocado hit all the right spots and was one of our top favourite dishes of the night. The soulful bowl may have been made with sugar-free yogurt but the millet museli, pomegranate and bananas that come alongside make up for the lack of saccharine. Pay closer attention and you might even catch the delightful zing of orange zest, which provides a subtle burst of flavour. The pancakes too were sugar-free, making us feel much, much better about the extra forkfuls we couldn’t resist. Chef Debashis Biswas’ creations had us convinced that we’d never see a dull morning again if we started our day with these fun combinations.
We nibble our way through a Burrata Salad: Burrata cheese served with a in-house mixed fruit jam. Here again, we’re surprised by the chef’s creativity when he tells us that the bread is dusted with hazelnuts and parmesan cheese. This was easily our second-favourite dish of the night, thanks to the fresh jam that complimented the bland cheese perfectly.
Our vegetarian mains included a Linguine Cress Pesto served with a vegetable caponata and gluten free tacos that won us over with the bajra base. It’s a dish that tends to get messy but the pickled cabbage filling made sure we didn’t leave behind anything on our fingers. We also tried the Double Chilli Marinated Scampi, served with a creamy crab rice. The most liked element of the dish was the simple demo of using chilly in two ways: As a marinade and as a sauce. The basmati rice too added an interesting texture to the risotto. The second dish, Fish In Parcel, was well-cooked and mild in favour, which went along well the lemony-vegetables and penne pasta it was served with.
We couldn’t say no to the Toasted Almond Mousse and Banana Hazelnut Praline Cake. The former, our preferred pick of the two, surprised us with a grainy texture to the chocolate sauce it was served with and we’re told it’s the ragi we had to thank for. A dessert that tastes good (special mention for the almond flakes) and is healthy? Why, that’s just the thing dreams are made of.
The new board menu is available at the restaurant’s outlets at Lavelle Road and Indiranagar till May 23. Cost for two: `1,500 approx