BENGALURU : Summer might have passed us by a little too soon this year, and to combat the blues brought upon by the grey skies and the election drama, Smokehouse Deli has introduced a limited-period summer menu. Bright colours, fresh ingredients and summer-y flavours make their way to this menu, giving us a taste of everything that is in season now.
We started off with two cocktails – Pine-Chiller, which has vodka, fizzy pineapple juice, watermelon and mint leaves; and Summer Frost, a blend of mango, orange, pineapple and strawberry puree with white rum. Both drinks were refreshing, the first much like the popular mojito.
These were followed by the Beetroot and Wild Mustard Gazpacho – a cold soup with subtle hints of mustard with every spoonful. We tried both the salads on the menu – the first comprising sprouts, pickled vegetables, chia seeds and honey-mustard dressing; and the second, a beautiful jar of fresh summer fruits, crispy jackfruit seeds and baby aragula. Simple flavours and fresh ingredients had us going back for fork-fulls as we waited for the mains to arrive. First arrived the Linguini tossed in Cress Pesto with a Caponata made with eggplant, and we loved it. The subtleness of the pesto was cut by the sweet-sour caponata. The Charred Fish with Raw Mango and Citrus Salsa and Fennel Pilaf was next.
The crispy skin of the fish, paired with the fennel-flavoured rice, made this dish our favourite from the menu, but we found the salsa to be a little too sweet after the already-sweet glaze on the fish. Meat lovers, do give the Kafta Spiced Tenderloin teak with Cauliflower Puree and Crispy Baby Potatoes a try. The meat was cooked perfectly, and the combination of the steak with the creamy cauliflower puree made us slip into a food coma of the best kind.
With a little space left for dessert, we tried the Dark Chocolate Mousse with Season Fruit and Gauva Ice Cream. While the mousse had overpowering flavours of cardamom and cinnamon, diluting the taste of the chocolate, the gauva ice cream was superb. Made in-house, the ice cream paired well with the seasonal fruits. Overall, we walked out happy, with a food baby to carry home with us. Shakes and iced teas also feature on menu, which is on till June 15. Cost for two: `1,600