It is that time of the year when The Daily launches its winter menu, and for this year, chef and founder of the cafe, Urvika Kanoi, has brought in seasonal produce, along with a mix of what her cafe’s loyalists want to eat and what she wants to serve.
“Before we make any new menu, I sit down and study what my guests ask for and what I want to put on the menu. Stuffed pasta, warm desserts along with seasonal produce like asparagus, broccoli, pumpkin, leafy veggies, edamame, and a few new things are on the menu this year,” said Urvika. Apart from the usual demand for strawberries and the winter greens, she also goes out of her comfort zone to serve a salad with fungus and asparagus or a hot chocolate with avocado.
Here is what we tasted....
1. BURRATA & BERRIES: Mixed winter berries with basil oil, balsamic and a great burrata for a hearty salad.
2. SICILY & SEA: Conceived to showcase the bekti as the hero, it has a beurre blanc sauce, infused with tomatoes and capers that add a tartness to cut through the butter and wine, and the mash.
3. BERRY-CADO TOAST: An ode to strawberries and avocado that create a harmony of flavours with homemade cream cheese below it on a sourdough, with aged balsamic.
4. WARM ASPARAGUS & SHROOMS: Keeping to their trend of using seasonal produce, the asparagus is the hero of the dish, tossed in a classic white wine butter, with fungus mushrooms and sesame seed to make up this French-Asian confluence of flavours.
5. PUMPKIN PATCH: A risotto cooked in pumpkin stock, with the vegetable also used in the form of roast, puree and its seed form.
6. LAMB TAJINE: Made using spices ground in-house, pomegranate molasses and Kalamata olives, with delicious meat, served on saffron-coloured couscous, cooked in steps with layers of flavours.
CRÈME BRULEE: The flavour of creme brulee in hot chocolate balanced with Keralean vanilla, a richer chocolate for a velvety feel and bruleed sugar on top.
THE ROSELLA: The Latin American rosella is sourced by the cafe locally, cooked to create a syrup and used in a fresh iced tea.
(L-R) Strawberries & Cream and Frasiers Eclairs are two of the seasonal desserts that are available on the menu.
More about it
What: Winter menu
Where: The Daily, 5, Satyen Dutta Road, near Deshapriya Park crossing
When: All days, noon to 10.30pm and 10.30am to 10.30pm on Sundays (as per govt. rules)
Meal for two: Rs 1,200-plus
Pictures: Pabitra Das