Focaccia, Hyatt Regency Chennai’s Italian restaurant has revamped their menu based on the expertise of well-known Chef from Milan Chef Mauro Ferrari and we could not be more excited to taste the vegetarian dishes out.

For us who are familiar with spicy pastas and pizzas as Italian Food, it was surprising to see that authentic Italian food more on moderate spices with lot of vegetarian options.

A  little about Chef Mauro Ferrari so we know the culinary expertise and experience that has gone behind this tasting session

Joining the bandwagon of Hyatt’s expat chefs is, Chef Mauro Ferrari from Milan, an acclaimed Entrepreneur, Brand Ambassador, Sommelier and Chef. Born in Saronno, Italy, he started to work with hotels in Switzerland, France, Italy and gathered around 15 years of experience in the same. He then started to work with restaurant chains where he worked at Pomiroeu Ristorante Soranno – 1 star Michelin restaurant. After working in restaurants for 10 years, he went on to open two of his own restaurants, one near Milano and the other in Tuscany region. After working in Morocco for a year he moved on to Grand Hyatt Muscat which was his last assignment previous to Hyatt Regency Chennai, where his restaurant, Tuscany, was awarded the best Italian restaurant in the city.

The specialty of the chef is producing Italian food with three to four ingredients and in many cases he limits it to 2 to 3, making it simple and tasty. He has gone out of his way to use locally sourced ingredients, which is far more challenging than we think because of the difference in the taste and texture. For example, take tomatoes, one of the main ingredients in Italian food! The tomatoes available in Chennai are way different from the ones in Italy. So we know the inherent challenges he has in reproducing the food of his expertise.

Our Experience with the Menu

The food we had took us to the MasterChef studios with the presentation and experience. We were too happy to be a part of the tasting team for the Degustation menu of Chef Mauro Ferrari’s vegetarian food.

Quinoa salad with tomato puree – The raw puree with quinoa salad and a dash of herbs was a good start to the menu.

Baked Onion, Burrata cheese and yellow pumpkin coulis– The glazed onion containing the Burrata cheese, with the coulis made it complete and texturally wholesome and tasty.

Potato Gnocchi, Vegetable Ragout, Basil Zucchini cream– The potato gnocchi and the vegetable ragout were beautifully balanced by the basil zucchini cream.

Asparagus ravioli, pumpkin puree and crispy Parmesan-The filling was awesome and the Ravioli was soft. Not sure about how it is usually served, but we felt that the filling could have been more and the Ravioli could have been thinner.

Crepes, Ricotta, Baby spinach, Beetroot leaves and Pok Choi, Parmesan Fondue–  The dish was fresh and the greens were refreshingly different.

The dessert was the highlight and all three were served in one plate. The first being the complex and delicious cup of  Muskmelon, drizzled with surprisingly Aromatic and reduced Organic Rose Water distilled in Rajasthan topped with in-house vanilla ice cream. The rose water was so different from what we get here and was a treat to our olfactory senses.

It had a hot chocolate cup and we came to know that it was made of 70% Ghana and Peru Cocoa. Happy to have had the company of  Nitin L Chordia, the Choclatier, who had joined together with the Chef to bring us this awesome dessert and also an insight into what went into making this dessert.  Hot chocolate was slightly bitter living up to its character and as we delved in, it suddenly became sweet. Thanks to the Bhuira Apricot Jam for that added sweetness and it worked well without changing the nature of the chocolate.

The plate also had an Apple and Cinnamon jelly. Needless to say, Apple and Cinnamon is always a lip smacking combination!

We had a lovely time tasting authentic Italian food from the Master Chef!

Check out Focaccia’s  revamped menu at

Focaccia

Lobby Level, Hyatt Regency Chennai

365, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai.

Phone number- 044 6100 1234

Open 12.30pm- 3 pm; 6.30pm- 11.30 pm 7 days a week