Get A Life with Olive’s Picnic Brunch!
Since it launched three years ago, Olive Bistro has exemplified an ace fine dining destination both for its food (Mediterranean) and killer ambience, (stunning outdoors view of the Durgam Cheruvu or Secret Lake, no longer secret, of course!) amidst greenery and rocks, with the al fresco seating area, modelled on a Greek\Med fishing village. And when the weather turns rainy and the temperature gets to that perfect, balmy-breezy feel…Olive gets even better as a picnic spot.
So, we re-discovered on a Sunday two weeks ago when Olive launched its Sunday Picnic Table brunch, to which yours truly was invited for a special bloggers table preview. Taking us through the fun-filled picnic experience as warmly as usual was Shaaz, who is part of the partner duo, Shaaz-Shiraz of Olive Bistro. “Most of the picnic brunch will be served at the table, including eggs to order etc except a couple of live counters, so we are also hoping that people order responsibly and not waste.
The Sunday picnic brunch turned out to be a great way to unwind, offering a generous-sized menu including your typical breakfast choices like eggs to order, salads, soups, entrees (burgers, sandwiches, quiches), pizza, live pasta counters, besides a pretty large listing of desserts. To seal the relaxed ambience is also a listing of Olive’s amazing cocktails and mocktails.
Soft and Freshly baked Banana Bread & Corn bread (with cheddar) served with whipped maple better and a delish garlic cheese-and-cream dip…
To begin with, there was a wicker basket on our picnic table, with bread, fresh watermelon juice, fruits, flowers, napkins and a newspaper, which set the tone on picnic mode. Also on the table was a bread basket with seriously fresh and warm banana bread and cheddar corn bread, both of which were superlative! I have a bordering-on-pathological dislike for polenta (boiled cornmeal which can be baked or fried) , so I viewed the corn bread with some suspicion, but was completely in for a surprise on biting into one…was super soft and giving it a distinct edge were the red peppers in the bake.
We next chose a Farmer’s Salad, which had mixed baby greens, shaved radish, grilled peppers, smoked tomato, cucumber, pickled red onion in a home-made Dijon vinaigrette dressing. Was zesty in that lovely, crunch fresh way, loved it!
The Chicken Caesar salad was like it should be, crisp and cool with iceberg and romaine lettuce, garlic and butter croutons, freshly grated parmesan and in a house Caesar dressing.
Served on the table was also Chicken & Waffles, freshly squeezed orange juice and chilli marinated chicken legs, served on cornmeal waffles (which tasted like regular ones, no distinct corn texture) served with honey chilli syrup, howzzat? Again, a splendidly done dish, the honey of the waffles
Freshly squeezed orange juice and chilli marinated chicken legs on crisp honeyed waffles, howzzat?
For eggs to order, we chose a few: Eggs Florentine as well as the Benedict version, and a Choris sausage one with chickpeas and rosemary potatoes (no pic, unfortunately!).
Eggs Benedict: Poached egg with shaved breakfast ham
Eggs Florentine: two eggs served with creamed spinach on a fresh muffin
They have few other options like Ham & Cheese, Steak & Eggs, Chef’s Plate, though I have to say I sorely missed seeing my favourite Eggs Kejriwal on the menu.
At this juncture, let me introduce the spirited part of the picnic brunch. A good choice of cocktails, wines and mocktails spoil you and I chose a breakfast martini, which was true to its make, bubbly and happy.
Since I was quite stuffed wth the salads and eggs, we chose not to have any entrees, (burgers, sandwiches and quiches, as well as roast chicken) and went straight onto the pizza\pasta section. Caprese Pizza with basil pesto, fresh bocconcini, mozzarella and parmesan, finished with a balsamic glaze was unanimously liked and so was Fig Pig (hahaa, we were all pigs that day!) which had a topping of fig jam, caramelised onions, blue cheese crumbles, ham, mozzarella and cheddar, finished with a balsamic glaze….I mean, is there any way you could go wrong with that?
The Caprese Pizza with its basil pesto and fresh bocconcini, mozzarella and cheddar was a hit!
There was so much more on the menu to explore, and I kept that to a later date, when I would try the untried, especially the pizzas and pastas, also the desserts. Since there was not much space, I tried a bit of the French toast with brioche, infused honey, chocolate honey and powdered vanilla sugar. There were other fancy desserts like Mirror Cake with Drunken Fruits, Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, peanut butter and caramel blondies, pineapple and cherry caramel etc but those would have to wait.
The Sunday picnic brunch is priced at an extremely friendly Rs 2000 (AI) for the liquor package (unlimited spirits) and Rs 1500 for the non-alcoholic one. I am going to be coming back, for sure!
