“GASTROSCOPY” , NEW DELHI CHAPTER 7: AMICI, DEFENCE COLONY The English translation of Amici is friends, yet the experience of Amici Defence Colony is altogether an ‘unfriendly’ one! I wonder why a restaurant which enjoyed a resounding success in the singular, chose to pluralize itself in a manner not simply mediocre, but both misguided and monstrous: dining at amici in Defence Colony on a Friday evening was a witnessing of a betrayal, so blatant, of its founding partner, Amici Khan Market, it may constitute a punishable crime: the photographs attached say it all, but let me continue even if not as thoroughly as I have previously…..alas the equipment used for my surgical insights has been considerably blunted by the assault. I wanted a little taste of a lot, so I chose two dining companions willing to be directed with silent, rather than voluble objection. Much to my delight, on the specials of the day menu, obtrusively placed on the dining tables so it cant be missed, was a “Burrata, crostini, marinated olives, roquette and extra virgin olive oil”, but we were unapologetically informed that it was unavailable, and then a sudden change of tune, that it had run out at lunch………the case was the same with the special of home-made fettuccine with any choice of sauce, and then again at the end of our meal when we attempted to order a tiramisu, ever present at any restaurant that is, or pretending to have Italian nationality, but we were told that this too had either taken a leave of absence, or had been ordered by the dozens at lunch time : the service staff seemed to be playing head or tails with which story to tell ! After much deliberation we settled on half of one special which was available and that was a Parma ham & truffle oil pizza with roquette & parmesan, combined with half a quattro formaggi pizza……….. the first pizza I have ever eaten with a poverty of flavor and seasoning so abject, I felt almost compassionate rather than combative in my somewhat delayed reaction to the shock, as harsh as an electric one, on my palate……..the truffle oil served its purpose in description alone, and the so called 4 cheeses, ‘quattro formaggi’, one of which, the cheddar, glistened like a grease stained fluorescent light bulb, could not have been of worse quality or less quantity than that which defines a quattro formaggi pizza. The ‘SIGNATURE’ Amici chorizo amatriciana, had an effect worse than the dehydrating one of msg: as if to compensate for the under seasoning of the pizza, this spaghetti dish floated in a tomato sauce in which a box of table salt had clearly been emptied ; rough, rather than rustic, torn bits of chorizo, & the sauce itself which oozed oil at its perimeter may well have employed an industrial tomato paste…the few repeat mouthfuls consumed were only to try and find some redeeming feature of this inedible dish , but there was none : not even the pope would be able to exercise a generosity of spirit in the eating of this particular pasta ! A beetroot pumpkin ravioli in a walnut, gorgonzola, anise cream sauce was ‘off color’ in a way that can only be described as bilious, and the flavor: IT WAS SWEET………. it was sloppy & it was a sin to consume by anyone affecting the posture of possessing even a pedestrian palate! The Stracceti alla romana was a belligerent bludgeoning of tenderloin, and the brownie & vanilla ice cream sundae which punctuated this travesty of gastronomic justice was a cold brownie soaked in an equally cold chocolate sauce which, resembled in taste, Cadbury’s chocolate milk drink, squashed between two obese scoops of store bought vanilla ice-cream with……as if to have the last laugh at our expense……….. a cheerful little cherry on top! I fervently hope this review reaches the eyes of the proprietor and serves to protect the position of brand Amici where it stood, at its inception, both able & proud……………………………………………………………………………THE END
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 13:32:17 +0000
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