For Mumbaikars, the onset of the summer season can only have one upside - the arrival of the king of fruits! So, everyone tries to include the goodness of ripe pulpy mangoes in their meals. Renaissance took this a step ahead and was the host to a wonderful Mango festival entitled Mangia Italiano.
Mangia Italiano saw the light of day from the 19th of May and pleased diners till the 28th of the month. Chef Cristian Cabrera incorporated and played around with the fruit with some of his Italian specialties. We were invited for an experiential for the same.
We started off with salad and soup, namely minestrone ortalana, and arborio arancini with Cristian caesar salad.
The Caeser salad was just perfect; a well-balanced salad with some beautiful dressing topped off with some parmesan accompanied by the biggest arancini we've ever laid eyes on. The arancino was well-cooked and served as a perfect appetizer and raised our expectations for the meal.
The soup, however, was a bit not too suited for our taste. The vegetables inside were really soggy by the time we were able to eat it and hence, ruined the entire texture.
Next, we tried the Tuscany Primavera pizza.
Trust an Italian chef to make your pizza flawless! Paper thin crust, well-marinated sauce, loads of cheese, finished off with some cheese. Also, we'd like to give a special mention to the special accompaniment - chili oil. The chili oil (above the pizza in the picture) added a burst of flavour to everything we paired with it and made us relish the food even more.
Finally, we moved on to the most awaited part of our evening. (People with sweet teeth, us!)
This beauty was entitled the Lombardy mango fantasia. It consisted of a mango cheesecake and a mango flavoured macaron and a few chocolate coated nuts. The presentation was fabulous and the tiny plated wiped clean in a matter of seconds. The cheesecake's texture could've been a bit better, though.
A huge thank you to Renaissance and Fratelli Fresh for hosting us and for the wonderful experience.
