From a hydroponic wall and health bar to a high-octane coffee lab, tea lounge, wine cellar and a multidisciplinary cookery studio – there are really no dearth of draws to visiting Foodhall’s avant-garde new store on Linking Road.
Well here’s yet another truly excellent reason to visit: the ever-so-inviting Italian restaurant tucked away at the top of this epicurean emporium.
Inspired by traditional dishes of the sun-drenched town of Sorrento in south-west Italy, Sorrentino is an ode to the untrammelled joys of Italian cooking. It’s a fittingly cheery space, speckled with subtle pops of colour between marble-topped tables.
The neutral interiors are well-suited to the eclectic mix of diners who surround us on a midweek evening – from solo diners perched by the bar counter, to couples out on a date night. There’s a large party in full swing towards the back of the room, while a Girls Night Out is underway on the next table. There are families – like our’s – with kids in tow, although our six and seven year old nieces tear away from us halfway through the evening, choosing instead to take front-row seats by the wood-fired oven. The reassuring pop of a wine bottle being uncorked is intermittently heard over the gentle hum of lively chatter, mellowing the mood of the evening further!
There’s something for everyone on the menu too, from antipasti to hand-stretched Neapolitan pizzas and a parade of pastas. A consulting collaboration with Chef Cristian Borchi (chef-owner of two restaurants in Tuscany) with ex-Oberoi chef Aabhas Mehrotra at the helm, has ensured both skill and authenticity.
So what’s good to eat here? Well having been visited twice in less than two weeks, I’d ask – what isn’t?
Tajarin alla Tartufo is a stand-out dish in a pile of them, with black truffle shavings adding potent waves to a spaghetti served in an unabashedly-rich pool of butter and parmesan. Textural contrasts enrich a herbed burrata ravioli too, the creaminess of the burrata foiled by a fiery bed of tomato gravy, belying just that right kick of chilli.
There are are artfully-assembled salads for the virtuous, while la melanza alla parmigiana ought not to be missed, manifesting in a melt-in-your-mouth medley of deep-fried aubergine, parmesan, tomato and basil. R.R.M. declares that the chicken parmigiana squares up just heartily well – in fact, Sorrentina’s rendition (served up in a skillet), brings back nostalgic memories of him tucking into this ultimate American-Italian comfort staple during his days in a boarding school in Massachusetts.
He finds much to delight in the startlingly-light and well-balanced preparation of the Catch of the Day too, enlivened by a dash of capers. And as I discover, there are definitely perks to having a non-vegetarian husband and dining companion, from the perspective of balancing these reviews and recommendations!
As for dessert, there are intensely-creamy scoops of gelato in the offing; but if one ultimately judge’s an Italian restaurant by the quality of its tiramisu – I’d say that Sorrentina’s rendition is one of the best in town. Layered with velvety clouds of mascarpone between caffeine-coated ladyfingers, it’s the epitome of La Dolce Vita!
Sorrentina by Foodhall, Second Floor, Foodhall@Linking Road, Plot No.106, Linking Rd, Santacruz West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400054