At the end of Lane No 5, Koregaon Park, you will find this cosy Italian restaurant. What was Tertulia for ages is now Toscano — and no, it has nothing to do with old Toscana in Kalyani Nagar, which is permanently closed.
This brand is a fine-dining Italian restaurant chain with branches across Bengaluru and Chennai, and now in Pune. With the al fresco (smoking) area enclosed with white walls and indoor seating (non-smoking) with open cabinets displaying different bottles of wines, the joint is truly date-worthy. The music, mostly acoustic versions of popular love songs spanning over decades, right from Taylor Swift to MLTR, played at a volume that doesn’t disturb dinner table conversations, certainly adds to the romantic theme. On a Saturday night, when we dropped by, the place was filled with nuclear families with children — all of them enjoying the soothing music and letting their parents relish their dinner.
Known as a wine-bar, they have an extensive menu of wines from various countries all over the world. And why not, since it is the beverage of choice to pair with Italian cuisine! But to make the meal more adventurous, we selected cocktails — the Moulin Rouge, a pretty pink drink with gin, lychee, hibiscus tea, cucumber, lime and soda, and the stiffer Ossimora with Cointreau, tequila, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno, and fresh lime juice. The friendly staff brought us a complimentary basket of freshly baked focaccia with a basil dip, homemade butter, and salsa.
We started our meal with refreshing salads. The Insalata di Formaggio di Capra e Pere was a tower made with pistachio crusted goat cheese, half wine poached pear, raw beet slices, balsamic grapes, confit cherry tomatoes and young greens tossed with in-house dressing, and the Insalata Caprese came with freshly rolled burrata, marinated tomatoes, melon, basil pesto with pumpkin seeds and cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. As someone who absolutely despises salads, I have to say I really enjoyed the combination of crisp leaves flavoured with the sweetish dressing and the creamy goat cheese with a crunchy coat of nuts.
Their selection of bruschettas come with a generous amount of toppings. And we just couldn’t get enough of the variety with rosemary scented chickpea hummus with paprika dust.
For those who love their starters fried, the Arancini E Frittelle Di Verdure is the right choice. These Italian rice balls are stuffed with vegetables and cheese, served with crunchy fried mozzarella and mixed vegetable fritters and onion rings with Arrabiata sauce. And for those who want to convince themselves that they’re eating healthy, but also want something that satisfies their taste buds, the Pollo Tonnato is a suggestion. Herbed and poached chicken slices are coated with creamy tuna caper mayo and served with mixed greens and caper berries — healthy bliss.
The tangy Minestrone Soup, with the goodness of potatoes, carrots, beans and other vegetables in tomato broth with a slight hint of pesto parmesan, made us feel warm and nourished. We selected a spicy pizza with mozzarella cheese, hot Harissa flavoured chicken, onions, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli on a light and crisp base made with artisan sourdough.
For the main course, we opted for Ravioli Di Spinach E Ricotta, artisan ravioli in basil flavoured tomato sauce with olives, and one of their off-menu specials — New Zealand Lamb Chops stuffed with prunes and goat cheese grilled with pistachio mint crusted and served with grilled polenta, eggplant Caponata and red wine shallots sauce. If you do order this, we suggest you mention how you want your lamb chops cooked. While it can be chewy if it is well done, we think the chops are best enjoyed medium rare.
The food was homely and contrary to the notion that tasty Italian food means cheese oozing out from every item. By the end of the meal, we felt full, but not too heavy. We still had room for dessert. After spending a good 15 minutes going back and forth on the fantastic list of treats, we finalised on the Kahlua Mousse that came in an almond tuile and crème anglaise, and the Grandma’s Freshly Whipped Mascarpone Tiramisu which came with a scoop of coffee ice cream. We are not exaggerating when we say that the desserts are to die for. In fact, we suggest you go easy on the main course so you can have enough space in your tummy to gorge on a dessert, or two!
