If Agni fires your belly with spirits, Fire lights up your taste buds, Mist at the Park tantalizes you with food delights and a host of wines. Though it may take a while to shed off its earlier matronly memories for those who have not been there in the recent times, it surely impressed the members who walked in for a lazy Sunday afternoon with its Italian cuisine and matching wines from Piedmont.

The 24*7 restaurant as the young and effervescent F&B Director, Mohit Sharma likes to call this old coffee shop serves coffee and mouth watering desserts, of course. But what is really surprising is that the Italian cuisine, especially the Risotto and the pizzas were amazing. Why they keep pizza- baking oven as a secret treasure, away from the eyes of the drooling customer is something we could not find out but the result was there for all to see and taste. If there is an online competition of best pizzas in town, it would be very difficult to ignore this latest arrival.

If our members broke the Mach barrier of 1.0 bottle per person (from our regular average consumption of .8 per bottle) and ‘tasted' through 1.2 bottles without shutting their eyelids or rolling their eyeballs, it is because of the excellent food pared with equally energetic service and the time span of over 4 hours of eating – in a typical Italian ‘Slow-food' style.

None of this might have registered and lingered on, from mouth to memory if the wines we served were not as delicious as they were. If the MRP (in brackets) is any indication these wines were of very good quality (Barbaresco was excellent).Casetta is a known name on the Indian wine scene in Delhi now for the premium Italian wines. Imported by Global Tax Free Traders, their whites were just perfect for the warm afternoon and the snacks including finger licking delicious pizzas. Gavi (made from the regional Cortese grapes) was dry, slightly acidic and aromatic but not much aftertaste. Mumplin made from the Arneis Grapes grown in the hilly area of Roero in Piemonte was slightly sweeter and tangier on the tongue as also fuller bodied but with a lot of perfume and good mouthful.

Dolcetto from the Magallo vineyards was a classic example of how food and wine can marry each other well. By itself the wine did not impress. It was not as fruity as one would expect, a bit too acidic. But with Risotto, it really added synergy. Barbaresco was, of course, the last and the best of them all. The tannins were ripe and the flavour of cherries and red berries was distinct. So was the after taste.

The desserts almost vied to compete with the food and wines and made one long for Vin Santo that would be a perfect match. People leaving reluctantly at 5:00 pm were of the unanimous opinion that Sunday lunches were the best, leaving me once again with a dilemma as many people who had not shown up are diagonally opposed to the Sunday lunch and wine concept. Well like in fine wines, it is the balance that is always sought. And we at the Delhi Wine Club always strive to achieve the same.

A very special thanks is in place for Mohit Sharma's team who were kept on their toes first because of various dishes in circulation and then repeat requests for more but kept smiling till we left the coffee-shop, oops, the 24*7 new restaurant with the very modern look but casual feel. The other cuisine, Indian would not attract us but we should be back soon for their Thai cuisine to pare our wines. Check out some of the dishes out of our Menu, while visiting the Mist soon, next time