Serafina Sunday brunch starts with eggs and ends in Tiramisu. Currently, The Big Apple Brunch, as it is called, is one of my favourite Sunday brunch places to go to in Kolkata. This is because of two reasons. One: They let you cook eggs the way you want. Two: They have Tiramisu which is, in one word, beautiful.
Cocktails at Serafina
And while you’re at it, grab a glass of cocktail, or choose from the complimentary glass of beer, sangria, wine, mocktails, or aerated beverage to accompany your meal. Mine was mixed by a wizard called Maxime, and I was pretty mellow afterwards, basking in the glory of Ciroc and lime.
The good news is: a good part of the menu is customizable – start by tossing a batch of salad, picking out your favourite vegetables, protein, dressing. You can do the same to your pasta or your eggs, but more on that later. There’s also a choice of soup, but my attention was focused on the non-vegetarian starters.
The Calamari has soft pieces of squid encased in a crunchy batter which is flash fried to ensure the squid doesn’t turn rubbery. Served with a lime wedge on one side and a bowl of marinara sauce to dip into, this is a great accompaniment for my glass of white wine, and I ignore the vegetarian starter options: bruschetta and crostini, and move to the other crowd pleaser – the Arabiatta Spiced Chicken.
The Arrabiata Spiced Chicken was quite addictive – the juicy chicken pieces were coated lightly with crumbs and fried before sprinkling with a generous dose of heat and tang.
Of course, an assortment of pastas and pizzas were available. We ordered a simple cheese and mushroom one – it came with an overdose of cheese over a thin, but not paperthin crust, which was able to hold up to the cheese and mushrooms.
The DIY pasta counter was also quite fun. At one point I was intent on having some Pasta tossed with Pesto. The chef quickly whipped up a batch for me, with extra Parmesan sprinkles on top, and stuck a single basil leaf on top as garnish, grinning at my greedy stare all the time. The pasta was cooked to perfection, the sauce didn’t overwhelm, and the cheese was, forgive me for using a cliche, ‘just the right amount’.
But the real delight was the long strands of fettuccine in a cream and cheese sauce – I hadn’t ordered the dish, but one spoonful made me come back to it over and over again, using my fork to form lazy spirals of pasta around the tines before consuming with gusto. I posted about it on Instagram, and received a number of messages promising death and decapitation. I live for these comments.
We had a choice for main course – there are some interesting choices – a risotto, grilled chicken, spaghetti squash, mini sliders – Options were available, and we ended up getting both the chicken and the sliders. The sliders were rather nice – the bread was toasted to ensure firmness, the patty inside was juicy and soft, but to me the tomato was superficial. This disappeared in three bites.
The chicken was a substantial portion, grilled till moist but not raw, with a rather tangy sauce and creamy, silky mash underneath. This was polished off with some bread picked off from the bread bar, and now we wanted dessert.
The lemongrass creme brulee was quite creamy, silky and not too sweet. The element of lemongrass was very mild, more prominent in the aftertaste, while the milk and sugar dominated the forefront. The best part was probably cracking the top, the sugar disintegrating under the back of my spoon with a satisfying ‘crack’,
I plead guilty. I am hopelessly biased for the Tiramisu at Serafina. It has bitter coffee, sweet sabayon, dustings of cocoa and sponge fingers. To say I like it will be an understatement – it is basically the reason why I would like to return to rthe Serafina Sunday Brunch which is also known as the Big Apple Brunch. The brunch is available every Sunday from 11.00 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it costs INR 999/- plus tax for this menu, and a drink from their selected menu.
Disclaimer: Poorna Banerjee was invited to dine at Serafina’s Big Apple Brunch.
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