Amici Café ... ♥ Good food, friends and menu sampling ♥ - Passionate About Baking

“Using lots of fresh foods, fruits and vegetables, helps to keep the menu buoyant – I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it keeps a balance of freshness and health.”
Sally Schneider

Got an invite from the beautiful Amici Cafe in Khan Market, New Delhi … “In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we’re reaching out to a select set of Delhi-based food bloggers to come in and sample our specially prepared ‘Aphrodisiac’ menu”. I looked forward to sample the special menu, and was also thrilled to get an opportunity to meet a few Delhi bloggers. Have virtually bumped into Anita from Mad Tea Party and Sid of Chef at Large in the past, but this was different. A face to face meeting over food sampling was a delicious call, and no way was I going to miss it! To meet over what we love to do was just the thing, and when it is hosted by a charming urban chic eatery, it’s even better! Also present were two other fun and amicable foodies - Anoothi, a free lance journalist from India Food and Travel Guide, and Deepinder from Foodiebay, India’s largest restaurant and menu listing guide.

You have been invited by Amici Cafe to “7 days of Love” at Amici Cafe.

Amici Cafe is a delightful cafe located in one of Delhi’s prime shopping locations, Khan Market. Originally allocated as seed land to immigrants from the North-West Frontier Province after the partition of India, Khan Market is one of Delhi’s upmarket shopping areas and is frequented by the expat and diplomatic community. It lies surrounded by the lush Lodhi gardens and has a variety of shops offering everything from grocery to boutiques, bric-a-brac, trinkets, street food, multi cuisine restaurants etc. Amici fits in well with the unique ambience here, offering quality food at a great value.

Amici meaning ‘Friends’ in Italian and the choice of name is reflective of the theme of the cafe. It has an urban Indian and casual feel; an inviting place where friends can meet and hang out. The cafe is mid-priced and targets the upper middle class urban youth, offering the authentic Italian cafe pizzaria experience at a value driven price. To enhance the taste of the extensive variety of pizzas on offer, the owners have imported the wood fire oven from Italy.

Amici is the brainchild of Andrea Aftab Pauro, also the creator of highly succesful Baci, one of the hippest restaurants in the Delhi. Andrea, half Indian, half Italian, has an ancestral heritage of hospitality, the iconic Imperial Hotel in New Delhi being founded by the Indian side of his family in 1934. His passion and love for this industry guarantee a brilliant culinary experience. Both Baci and Amici have a huge fan following of loyalists who swear by the ‘experience‘.

Dishes served at Amici Café at the sampling…

Over valentines this year, Amici offered a chef’s special Aphrodasiac menu to get luscious this Valentine. It offered a daily dose of lover concoctions to set the emotions rolling. ♥♥♥ … Love was surely in the air there!

From The Aphrodisiac Menu

Beet Root Ravioli (Excellent,pictured above)
~

Chicken stuffed with dry fruits (Very good, pictured above))

Pizza Valentino

Other food we sampled …

Pizza Bianca (Very good, pictured above)

Lebenese Veg Pizza (Excellent, pictured above)

Carbonara penne pasta

(didn’t get a picture)

Salads – The Dylan salad, Caprese salad

(Both fresh and full of flavour.Didn’t get pictures again as they went by too quick)

Desserts …

Warm Gooey Mushy Chocolate

Peanut Blonde and Ice Cream
Tiramisu (No picture, as it wasn’t picture worthy)
~

(All food pictures courtesy Sid Khullar @ Chef At Large
Thank you for being so large-hearted and sharing them Sid)

My verdict on Amici … I was won over by the authenticity in flavours and the freshness of ingredients in the salads and main course. The flavoured oils, the lilting chili flavours teasing the palate, the marriage of balsamic vinegar and rocket in perfect balance, the broccoli and french beans on the side done just right. The pizzas were outstanding, by far the best we’ve had so far. The Lebanese vegetarian pizza was fabulous in everyway, especially the baba ghanoush and fresh feta on top. Another dish worthy of mention was the beetroot ravioli. It had sensuos flavours of anise coming through beautifully, and the light cream sauce balanced the dish perfectly. It is rare to find such satisfaction in a vegetarian pasta, and I would possibly choose it over the non vegetarian options for the interesting blend of fresh flavours. Very creative!

I thought the desserts were a little low on ‘oomph’, and maybe creativity. IMHO, adding fruit or non run-of-the-mill options to the dessert menu in creative ways would make the Amici experience flawless. The gooey chocolate cake is one you find on almost every dessert menu. The peanut blondie was sweet and ‘peanutty’, nice, but left no long lasting impression. The tiramisu was served in a plastic glass and the savoiardi were soggy at the bottom. I think it was just savoiardi and mascarpone. As the conversation at the table reflected, it is very difficult to find an authentic tiramisu in restaurants these days. Most places don’t go the whole ‘tiramisu way’ with zabaglione, savoiardi and pastry cream.

Thank you for having us over!

In a nutshell, it was a fun tasting session. Would have been nice to have met Andre but he got caught up in his factory with work. However, the evening was carried forward beautifully by Caroline Rowe and Anindita Rai Deka from Perfect Relations who co-hosted the session, and regaled us with their foodie banter. It was a wonderful evening with the conversation merrily touching a variety of topics … Madhur Jaffrey, Anthony Bourdain, black pepper crabs, fermented drinks in North East India, World Food Symposium in London, street food to snob food in Delhi, what comes to mind when you say ‘peppers’ … and much more! We also had a brief meeting with the chef who was under pressure to look after the restaurant patrons.

Amici Cafe

47, Middle Lane,

Khan Market,

New Delhi – 011

Tel 4358 7191

Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00

A meal for two is Rs 900/- plus taxes

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Comments

Aparna says:

2010/02/16 at 7:39 am

This is what you were talking about, then. Sounds like a lot of fun.

And you now know why I said, I'll never ever order tiramisu not matter how "hip" or "starred" the restaurant! LOL

Tinky says:

2010/02/16 at 7:40 am

Excellent post !
The food shots looks enticing. Kudos to Sid (@chefatlarge).

Sid Khullar says:

2010/02/16 at 8:21 am

Nice Post Deeba… and you're welcome!

Stay well.
Sid

Sarah, Maison Cupcake says:

2010/02/16 at 8:43 am

Looks like a fun visit, great to meet other food bloggers on your doorstep! I like that gooey chocolate thing but agree it would look so much nicer with a strawberry or raspberry balanced on top.

Madame Sucre says:

2010/02/16 at 9:17 am

this sounds like lotsa fun!! you look so cute!

Rosa's Yummy Yums says:

2010/02/16 at 9:24 am

What a great evening! The food looks delicious. That gooey chocolate cake looks so good!

Cheers,

Rosa

Amanda says:

2010/02/16 at 12:45 pm

Oh Deeba! How fun! I'm so envious, I've only met one food blogger in my neck of the woods. Sounds like you had a great time, and how nice of the cafe to invite you all!

noble pig says:

2010/02/16 at 6:59 pm

Sounds like great food but better yet…FUN!

Beth says:

2010/02/16 at 7:33 pm

The pizza's look fabulous! Sounds like such a fun night. I need to get a crew of NYC food bloggers to get together for dinner!

Natashya KitchenPuppies says:

2010/02/17 at 12:12 am

What a grand experience! Thanks for sharing with us.

Sophie says:

2010/02/17 at 10:19 am

Waw,…what tasty looking food in this restaurant!

I so love the desserts!! they look awesome!!

shayma says:

2010/02/17 at 2:30 pm

ok i was just concentrating on the photos- not the text, bec you look SOOOO PREETTYY Hugs, shayma

Heavenly Housewife says:

2010/02/17 at 6:21 pm

Wow, look at all that yummy food, I'm drooling LOL.
*kisses* HH

Anita says:

2010/02/18 at 2:39 pm

A great time was had…you did a good job capturing all the food and the foodies!

Nicisme says:

2010/02/18 at 4:14 pm

What a blast you all had! Love the mushy cake, want 2 portions please!

Rambling Tart says:

2010/02/19 at 10:14 pm

Absolutely wonderful! I love how you added the slices on top. It looks beautifully rustic and homey.