Closed
Restaurant
in Kolkata
Italian, Salads, Vegetarian options
$$$$
Price range per person INR 1,500
Get directions
Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista, 700157
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
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The menu of Cafe Swiss - Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista is recommended to Italian cuisine lovers.
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Italian, Salads, Vegetarian options
$$$$
Price range per person INR 1,500
Get directions
Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista, 700157
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Address
Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, 700157
Features
Outdoor seating
Сredit cards accepted
Wi-Fi
Booking
Wheelchair accessible
I had called to make a reservation, when they informed me that the name of the property has changed, along with the name of the hotel, restaurant and cafes.
Nov 2017:
Specialized Sunday Brunch + Free Access To Swimming Pool @ Cafe Swiss - Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista ☺
Event: Asian Hawkers Market Brunch
Date & Time: 5 Nov 2017, 12:30 pm - 04:00 pm
From 5 Nov 2017, Swissotel has specialized it's Sunday Brunches at Cafe Swiss, their 6th floor based restaurant, which will henceforth comprise of a specific well curated cuisine, prepared on live counters, under the watchful and trained eyes of a specialized Chef.
Along side, the specialized Sunday Brunches will also comprise of their usual arrays of beverages, liquors, salads, breads, desserts and assorted multicuisine items, to satiate the diners' need of comfort food.
Each Sunday Brunch will be different. On 5th Nov, it was Asian Hawkers Market Brunch. On 12th Nov, it was Mediterranean Brunch. Next Sunday, it will be Autumn Grill Brunch.
Along side, the diners will be granted complimentary usage of Swissotel's pristine blue swimming pool, which is located a few steps above the 6th floor, on the edge of an open terrace, giving a wide circular view of the beautiful cityscape!
I was invited for the tasting session of Asian Hawkers Market Brunch.
Chef Tenzin Phuntsok personally curated the tasting session of dishes from the Oriental live counters, which were arranged in a single row, in the gallery are of Cafe Swiss i.e. the semi open area adjoining the main restaurant. The aforesaid counters were designed on the lines of Bangkok street food and contained a variety of both veg and non veg items.
The vegetarian items presented for tasting, from the live counters were -
- Veg Bao and Chives Dim Sum: Enclosed in a circular and lidded cane basket, 1 Veg Bao and 2 chives stuffed, potli shaped and open mouthed Dim Sums were served. The Dim Sums were green colored and gluten free. Their outer potlis or pockets were not made of flour, but potato starch.
The three accompanying sauces, served in separate white ceramic bowls were - Roasted Tomato, Chilli Oil and Chives Oil.
Both the items were - fresh, soft, well cooked and tasty.
Fine usage of chives, in both Dim Sum and accompanying Oil was something wonderfully new to me.
- Chilli Oil With Mixed Vegetables: It was the typical one bowl Oriental Meal, filled with assorted veggies, exotic sauces and boiled noodles.
It was light, nutritious and kind of wish-come-true for chilli lovers.
- Spring Rolls and Khapsey: Three Spring Rolls and few Khapseys (Tibetan food item) were served on a thick circular metllic plate, which formed the bottom of a beautiful arch made of bamboo canes.
The Spring Rolls were thin sheathed, uniformly fried, crispy and filled with a concoction of cottage cheese.
Khapseys were dual colored in green and yellow and shaped as pinwheels and twisted sticks. At the onset, they tasted like 'meethi suhali', albeit with much less sugar content.
Both items were quite good.
My picks from the other usual counters were -
- Watermelon Juice from Vitality Counter: Infused with some mint leaves, it was packaged in a lidded glass bottle.
It tasted nice and refreshing.
- Broccoli & Pine Nut With Potato Gnocchi from Multi Cuisine Counter: Served in a wide rimmed and deep basin white ceramic plate, it was one of the tastiest Gnocchis, that I have ever had.
The Gnocchis were ultra soft, well cooked and beautifully topped with micro greens in purple and green. They came dipped in a thick sauce containing a good balance of finely chopped broccoli, pine nuts and colored bell peppers. The entire dish was mildly spiced and garnished with some grated cheese, as well as, cheese chunks.
They offered me some White Wine along side. I took a couple of sips. It paired quite well with the Gnocchis.
- Chocolate & Raspberry Parfait from Dessert Counter: Served in a small glass, this dessert had two components. First, the maroon and brown colored gooey sauce, that was present at the bottom of the glass. Second, the similarly hued mound of small cubes of chocolate sponge cake, that were placed atop the aforesaid sauce.
The sauce was a rich concoction of whipped cream, chocolate, raspberry puree etc.
The tanginess of raspberry paired well with the sweet-bitter taste of chocolate. The added sweetness, richness of cream etc. further added to the dessert's good taste.
It was a wonderful dessert that looked inviting and tasted yum.
All in all, it was a fantastic tasting session, wherein I got the opportunity to try some new Oriental food items, as well as, got a good taste of a couple of my favourite Continental items.
So as not to mix the taste palettes, I purposely refrained from tasting the North Indian items.
Pricing Per Plate -
Brunch Without Liquor: Rs. 1,550/- plus taxes
Brunch With IMFL: Rs. 1,850/- plus taxes
Brunch With Imported Liquor: Rs. 2,100/- plus taxes
#vegfoodandreviews #vfr177
Mar 2017:
Good France 2017 Dinner @ Cafe Swiss - Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista, Kolkata, India ☺
Event: Goût de France/Good France
Venue: Cafe Swiss - Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista
Date & Time: 21 March 2017, 8:00 pm
Goût de France/Good France is a day-long global food event that unites chefs from all around the world to showcase their creativity on the same night with one shared goal — celebrating the excellence of French gastronomy.
This initiative is spearheaded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development.
For the third consecutive year this spring, on March 21, 2017, Goût de France/Good France brought together over 2,000 chefs on 5 continents to celebrate French gastronomy.
65 restaurants participated from India. Out of these, 9 were from Kolkata.
Cafe Swiss - Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista was one of the nine participating restaurants. The concerned authorities at Swissotel invited me for their Good France food event. It was an exemplary dinner buffet comprising of many veg and non veg options. But thanks to them, I was treated to a sit down meal, wherein each dish was presented with great elan and hospitality.
My vegetarian 5 Course Dinner, headed by Chef Pranay Kumar Singh and presented by Chef Kishor Sarkar, comprised of -
- Salads -
- Paris Style Green Salad: It was the popular classic French salad comprising of green salad leaves. It also had steamed broccoli florets and french beans, sundried tomatoes, halved cherry tomatoes and a couple of long and thick cheese slivers.
The salad was fresh and crunchy with subtle and balanced seasoning. It tasted nice.
- Nicoise Salad: Named after the French city of Nice, the salad comprised of green and purple lettuces, rocket leaves, green and black olives, halved cherry tomatoes, french beans, mushrooms, assorted cheese chunks and a flat long rectangular thin crust breadstick.
Barring for the presence of olives, it was not much different from the previous salad. Still it was fresh and crunchy and tasted nice.
- Soup -
- French Onion Soup: Served in a petite white ceramic cup atop a relatively big saucer, accompanied with a slender spoon, it was a dark colored onion based soup, topped with a circular piece of bread covered with enough cheese.
The soup had a nice bitter-sweet taste. Out of the 3-4 times that I had tasted it earlier, this one tasted the best. I could actually enjoy and complete it (first time) without any hassle.
- Main Course -
- Onion And Leek Tart: 5 tart servings came placed atop a spiral drawn from some thick brown sauce, on a big white ceramic plate. Some grass like greens and small colored bell pepper chunks were also placed strategically, to enhance the plate decor.
The tarts had well baked outer crusts. Thankfully they were not too buttery. Their onion and leek based fillings were well cooked. The dish was quite tasty, including the generous cheese topping.
- Warm Camembert With Wild Mushroom Fricassee: Normally this dish refers to the serving of a circular slab of warm Camembert cheese topped with a mushroom preparation. But herein, only the walnuts induced mushroom preparation in creamy sauce was served.
The whole dish was served as a small mound of mushroom topped with a big sprig of rocket leaves. A thin crust and long piece of toasted bread was also placed over it.
For a mushroom and cheese lover like me, this dish was pure joy. The brownie point was the fact that, good quality mushrooms were also served in good quantity.
- Paillasson Lyonnais + Ratatouille: This dish was presented as an amalgamation of two of the main course dishes specified in the menu.
A big white ceramic plate came smeared in the pattern of a big cross, drawn out of some thick brown sauce. A scanty helping of chopped coriander leaves was strewn upon it. The centre of the plate consisted of a stacked up version of Paillasson Lyonnais, surrounded with Ratatouille.
Paillasson Lyonnais comprised of deep fried and seasoned potato roundels stacked alternatively with caramelized onion roundels, one atop another. A cherry, some dried greens and a decoratively twisted slice of cheese were stuck atop the aforesaid stack, so as to enhance the whole presentation.
Ratoutille, the country dish from the Provence region of France, was a comfortable mix of colored vegetable chunks, cooked in a thick garlic infused tomato paste.
Both the dishes were well cooked and tasted very nice.
- Fromage -
- Selection Of French Cheese With Accompaniments: A thick metallic black tray cum plate came filled with an assortment of cheese (Brie and Emmental), fruits (big red grapes) and dry fruits (almonds and dried apricots). Alongside, the tray contained a small glass filled with assorted breadsticks, few cream crackers and pieces of some colorful salad vegetables.
Needless to say, that all the aforesaid items were of very good quality. I thoroughly enjoyed this course.
Being a teetotaller, till now I had normally paired such dry or cheese specific fine dining courses with an aerated drink or a mocktail, which never agreed well, both in terms of taste and digestion.
Recently, I read an article about the food science behind pairing of wines with cheese. From what I understood, it's like having Chaas in summer or Raita with Biryani. But, I was not sure if I would be able to consume wine. Thankfully, my co-diners i.e. Swissotel's F&B Manager and Digital Marketing Manager understood my peril and called for the servings of Sula Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, which is a Dessert Wine, made of late harvest of tropical fruits and honey. Thus it is relatively sweet and less acidic, an apt choice for a first time wine drinker.
The aforesaid Dessert Wine paired well with the elements of the ongoing course. It also helped me in washing off the cheese lining, that forms inside the mouth post consuming chunks of cheese. And the best part was that, unlike fizzy drinks, it did not give any digestion issues.
- Dessert -
- Meta Faim, Tarte Tatin, Clafoutis + Opera, Mille Feuille: Herein again, two of the desserts present on the menu were served together.
A big ceramic plate came smeared with two thick purple and parallel lines of blueberry compote. Placed in the middle of the plate, between the purple lines were the aforesaid desserts, placed one after the other, separated by a sprig of mint.
Meta Faim, Tarte Tatin, Clafoutis consisted of a fruit and cheese based quiche shaped dessert topped with caramelized pear chunks. It tasted nice and tangy.
Opera, Mille Feuille was a layered chocolate based dessert with a nice flavor of coffee in a couple of layers! The bottom most layer comprised of a big, circular, flaky but little hardened Brownie, followed by a relatively smaller disc of chocolate, followed by some chocolate flavored buttercream which was piped as a circle, followed by an Oreo biscuit and finally topped with a big piece of marshmallow, smeared with some chocolate sauce. A circular white chocolate disc with two holes, looking like eyes, was also placed alongside. Needless to say, that this dessert was chocolate lovers' paradise.
Call it the growing age or my the then too filled an appetite, I just tasted a small spoonful of the same. Of course, it was expectantly chocolatey and quite nice.
Situated on the 6th floor of Swissotel, with the seating combination of chairs and couches, Cafe Swiss was quite spacious. A single buffet table was laden with food placed on both the sides. Salad items were placed on a corner table. The restaurant had well trained and courteous staff. It also had clean loo facility.
While dining, I could see a lot of foreigners and even some Indians enjoying their French food with relish. Meaning to say that, the people seemed quite content with the food on offer.
I personally loved the two hour plus authentic dining experience, filled with food lessons and anecdotes.
Armed with two important findings/lessons, I returned back home - a) Veg French Onion Soup can be tasty, and b) Consuming a serving of good quality Wine with Cheese is more to do with food science and good taste, rather than 'bewda' (drunkard) style drinking of highly intoxicating liquors!
#GoodFrance #vfr122