Mezzogiorno – The Taste of Southern Italy

I’m bursting with excitement! Have some great news to tell you guys; things are still in process, so can’t reveal anything, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. While you mull over what I’m planning, I’m distracting you with a review of a delicious meal that I recently had at JW Marriot Mumbai’s Mezzogiorno Festival with Chef Davide Cananzi’s delicious, home-style, Southern Italian feast.

Late last month, I was invited for an exclusive Chef’s Table with Chef Davide Cananzi, for the Mezzogiorno festival at JW Marriot’s Italian sit-down restaurant, Mezzo Mezzo. Eager to be there on time, I found myself to be the first person there! But, soon, a steady stream of bloggers came in, and I got to meet some amazing people. Samina from The Cupcake Confession, Pooja from Photokatha, Joel D’souza from Crumbs to Gourmet catering (I’m yet to get some Mexican recipes from him) and many others! Of course, there was also Devika (a delightful girl so full of amazing food knowledge and skills) from The Food & Fashion Blog (who we shared a table with and had a great conversation with on learning the culinary arts) and the duo from Story Soviets.

Getting back to the evening, the menu comprised a wide range of Antipasti (a feast was spread out across the island counter) and a another lot of main courses! It was interesting and humbling to meet Chef Davide Cananzi – a delightful man, who, with such humility, interacted with all the thirty-odd bloggers, while serving up some great food. Earlier that evening, I had also observed him personally double-checking all the condiments on the antipasti table!

We then sat down to a formal dinner, where Chef Davide personally addressed us and told us a bit about the homestyle food we were going to be served. Contrary to practice, he had decided to serve us the food right out of the pot that it was cooked in! Could it be more family-like?

The menu on the main course started with Pasticcio di pasta al forno (Baked rigatoni pasta with assorted vegetables, mozzarella and tomato). I absolutely loved the colour of the gratinated cheese and the flavour; the salt was a little lacking for me, but the dish was otherwise perfect. We had two risottos – Risotto alla Pescatora (a spicy Sicilian style seafood risotto) and a porcini mushroom risotto. I preferred the mushroom one – the porcini mushrooms blended in beautifully with the starchy risotto rice. The chicken dish called Scaloppina Gi Pollo (scallops with chicken) was chicken breasts doused in a lovely, mellow, lemony sauce). By the time we had reached our carb limit, we were regaled with two lovely desserts (no tiramisu, sadly) that we couldn’t resist.

The desserts were a lovely Cassata with the softest sponge ever. The other one, which I preferred was a delicious Jam tart that had the perfect combination of sweetness and texture leaving a wonderful medley of flavours in the mouth.

P.S.: You can still relish Chef Davide’s amazing food at his week long birthday celebrations at Mezzo Mezzo. Rush now!