All talks in the town until a couple of weeks back was about the famish Parmesan wheel! The idea of the parmesan wheel is to take the pasta out of the pan when it's half or almost cooked and to cook it in the spinning parmesan wheel for the rest. By doing so, it is believed by experts (I mean the restaurant's F&B) that the parmesan's flavor homogeneously mixes out throughout the plate. My only complaint was that the pasta turned out more al-dente than ever.
Fromage a newbie in town did not fail to attract long standing queues and extensive waiting times since their launch almost a month ago. Gimmickry is a crowd puller, and they did do it right to excellently pull off a crowd. With that being said, the major shoutout goes to the wine and cheese concept. With all focus on the wine and bringing out the flavors of cheese on different forms, Fromage did a good job in throwing a new idea to the old city. Though I find the wine and dine to be too cozy and out of the box idea for a conservative crowd like Chennai's they did manage to prove the criticisms wrong. Having grown up in the city and in a tambrahm family, my parents would out rightly abhistoo me if I try to introduce them to the "Wine" and dine.
So my review is particularly about the food and food alone (not just because my parents are going to be reading this,) because it was an on the house invite for a food tasting (yeap, this blog is pretty much going to pay for a few more meals like that.)
The place is all set cozy and ambiance right with lively happy music, no one wants to drink in a sad place would they? They have a clear seating space for atleast 70 people (my estimation skill kind of wrapped down owing to the crowd and the people around.) The walls are well done and brightly lit up. Fully glazed spider glazing on one side balances the daylight fusion which deserves a pat, to the architect!
FOOD
I'm nowhere close to commenting on the authenticity of food when it comes to European cuisine, as much as I am not expert in Chinese, North Indian, Chettinad, Malgudi and the infinite others I don't know about.
For soup, was a brilliant soup made of corn kernels crushed, cream of corn, some corn and cornflour for stock. They were almost void of any other flavoring yet tasted amazing. It is one of those times when the true flavor of the food and raw material comes out without too much of seasonings and taste additives doing the talking.
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| Corn kernel soup |
Followed by soup was the bread. Since we're eating European they're served open(?) Okay I know a bruschetta, This one is an odd man out, the only one who got sadly sent out of the kitchen without any gimmicks. As simple and right, the cheese on top though too little for my liking did make a difference.
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| Bruschetta |
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| Spinach and corn Tart |
I said and I repeat, I judge a restaurant with their ability to serve a daily comfort food in a whole new level and this is the reason why I started writing this up. This Mac 'n' cheese like any other was well done(not like the al-dente that came out of the wheel). The layers of mac were very generously loaded with cheddar on top in addition to the parmesan in the cooking itself. I loved how the chef did not even bother to season or salt the dish sufficiently for us to process the flavor of cheese. Though we did dump all the required seasonings from table I am thankful to the chef for having put this on the menu and on our table!
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| Mac 'n' Cheese |
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| A lamb dish that was exceptionally well plated for me to resist clicking a picture of. |
The menu did comprise of a few more of the extensive variants like the eggplant parm which was a lasagne of the kind by looks but stuffed with eggplant and obviously cheese and lasagne sheets.
My comment on the parmesan wheel would be gone too ahead to desperately bring something out new because I felt the pasta came in undercooked (or aldente to sound more like I know european food) and would really take that extra minutes in the pan or the boil.
Though they claim the parmesan to be vegetarian sans the calf rennet, I sense an air of confusion with waiters who serve. My advice would be to double check once the dishes are served on the table.
Though an on the house invite, I would assume this place would cost somewhere close to 2k for two people without the wine. Rest is upto you to try out and let know!
