One cuisine that I’m extremely fond of — apart from the Indian delicacies that I indulge in once in a while — is Italian fare. Give me the pastas and the pizzas any day. But being a fitness freak, I always make sure that whatever I binge on even to indulge my taste buds, doesn’t make me compromise on the health front.
That’s why I automatically gravitate towards food that’s light in oil and observes healthy cooking. That’s exactly why I like this Italian joint, Don Giovanni.
I have been coming here for the past several years and I’ve found the food consistently to be up to the mark. It’s a quaint little joint tucked away in Juhu, nothing over the top at all, but the food pulls in regulars like me. The owner of the place is Italian himself and it also reflects heavily in the decor, which is very European. Not too lavish; replete with cinema posters, the place has an old world charm, straight off Italy. In fact, the ambience is perfect and it’s reasonably priced too if you want to take someone out on a special date.
As for the food, it’s not the commercial pizzas and pastas, but the authentic Italian fare you get here, like pizzas with thin crusts and absolutely freshly done base that tempt you. One of the dishes we ordered for was the Pollo Ai Ferri (a personal favourite), which is boneless chicken marinated in extra virgin olive oil, wine, garlic, oregano, parsley. Then we also had Pollo Pizzaola, which is more or less done in the same way as the previous dish, but is cooked with tomatoes and has mozzarella cheese. Then we also had a sea-food spaghetti — Spaghetti Frutti Di Mare, which is a delicious first course pasta cooked with mixed seafood, including shrimp, mussels and clams in a rich herb and tomato-based sauce. It was cooked to perfection with the sauce being just the right amount of tangy and flavoursome… without allowing itself to overpower the perfectly sauteed shrimp and clams. You can even ask them to prepare it in any one of the sea-food of your choice.
For accompaniments, we had mashed potatoes and wedges, which went really well with the pastas.
As for desserts, you must try the chocolate brownies — in fact all the chocolate-based desserts taste yum here. They are not very innovative as far as drinks are concerned, but overall I think anyone who goes there once, will automatically realise why the joint enjoys a loyal patronage.
Tusshar Kapoor is and actor and a foodie.
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