Ai Restaurant, part of the Olive restaurant chain has started the Saturday Wine Club which offers 4 wines with Japanese snacks at a price of Rs. 950 +taxes, making it a fabulous opportunity for the younger clients to taste and enjoy wine . Subhash Arora highly recommends it for wine-lovers of any age.
AD and his team are known for their out-of- the box concepts for his restaurants and are continuously (as opposed to continually for most others) re-inventing themselves. The dynamic ai restaurant at the Metropolitan Mall in Delhi has already caught the fancy of the youngsters with its Room by the Hour and the Love Hotel-or whichever names they call the concepts (rest assured everything is legal and moral there!).
The restaurant modernized its Menu with the arrival of the Japanese Chef Uno a few months ago. A table brunch with the Chef preparing Sushi at the table on Sundays, ‘ai Love Sushi’ with interactive Sushi classes by the Chef have been well received, though a great idea has been to design a vegetarian tasters’ menu at Rs.999 on Tuesday dinners- as with wine it is important to educate vegetarians that plenty of options are available for them in the Japanese cuisine.
If wine was a bit of a laggard, it is being propelled by Mohit Balachandran, a senior manager with the Olive for a number of years and now heading the restaurant and the ‘Love Hotel’. He has teemed up with the young and dynamic Isheeta Gupta from Amfora Wines, importers of Italian and other wines, to start a wine club for the youth.
Modeled loosely on the Wine Club at Shangri-la, it entails no membership. Held every 3 weeks (initially it was to be every fortnight), the members can enjoy 4 imported wines with guided tasting, provided with snacks at a charge of Rs.950 + taxes.
The wines are apparently provided complimentary to the restaurant while the taxes are paid out of the amount charged, says Mohit. ‘We had a great response with over 40 persons signing up for the event,’ says Isheeta Gupta who concurs with Mohit that though the first few events may have wines only from Amfora but later they will be sourced from other importers as well.
Saturday Wine Club will be the property of ai. At the current prices it is a great bargain for the young consumers who get to have two/third of a bottle (500 mL) at a notional price of Rs. 500 for wine and offers an opportunity to taste four different wines. Strongly recommended for a visit on 6th Feb when the following Italian wines from their winery in East Veneto are being served.
Santa Margherita - Torresella Pinot Grigio Veneto IGT 2007
Santa Margherita - Torresella Sauvignon Veneto IGT 2007
Santa Margherita - Torresella Merlot Veneto IGT 2006
Santa Margherita - Torresella Cabernet IGT 2006
Wines are paired with Kobachi from the ai menu and retro numbers played by DJ Tony.
Subhash Arora
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