Trattoria Lounge, Hauz Khas Village- A New Player with Potential

 What can I say about Hauz Khas Village. A part of the capital city which has seen a mushroom growth of restaurants, cafes, lounges, bars and what not. Trendiest crowd of the city flocks in the bylanes of this area just to have some good time with friends or their significant other.
The small area of HKV has seen many new establishments being set up. Every entrepreneur has not been lucky and many places had to shut down only after few months of their coming into existence. Though there are many factors that led to their failure but one major factor i.e. competition can’t be ignored. The competition in an area like this is fierce and to survive it, what is required is not just excellence but par excellence.Trattoria Lounge has opened in rear lane of HKV at second floor. It is a franchise of Italian Chain Trattoria, which has outlets in few South East Asian countries. The place is not visible easily and I had to ask for directions from a few touts of the other eateries, who were standing on the outer lane. I finally found the place. Its above the popular lounge called ‘Raasta’. I made my way inside to find the place completely dark. After a few minutes when I regained my vision, I was offered a seat, which was basically a large common sofa. Apart from the common sofa, there was only standing arrangement for the guests. The manager clarified that the regular seating tables were replaced by standing tables for the launch party.  Overall Trattoria Lounge is very small in size and has scope for only 2-3 more tables apart from the common sofa. They have an additional seating area in their small terrace which is good. The terrace has a good view and was decorated with candles which added to the beauty. Only one page of the menu is same as the menu of its foreign counterparts while rest of the pages are added keeping in mind Indian palette. First we were served cocktails. We tried Kiwi Martini Cocktail and Bacardi based Mojito. I expected the Martini Cocktail to have a sweet aftertaste but instead it was too bitter. It is hard to go wrong with a Mojito and it was fine, the only issue being that too much mint leaves left a bitter effect. As it was a launch party, the antipasti i.e. the snacks were served on circulation. The first starter that we tried was Zuccini Rolls. It had a filling of ricotta cheese. It also contained olive oil and I could sense the flavours of balsamic vinegar and lemon juice which made it a bit sour. It had a very distinct taste which an average Indian would have to acquire to like it. The servers need a bit of more training as they couldn’t tell anything more about the dish except that it was veg or non veg. Then we were served different varieties of bruschettas. Tomato Bruschetta was extremely good. A good bruschetta must have the flavor or fresh tomatoes in-tact and their bruchetta scored top notch in terms of being moist as well as the way the flavor of the tomatoes was retained. Their Chicken Bruschetta was good too. The chicken topping was given a spicy twist to suit Indian tastebuds. Mushroom Bruschetta was also moist and flavourful. A bruschetta is not served hot, it is served at room temperature and it is all the more necessary that finer details are taken care of. The garlic bread with cheese, which is supposed to be served hot, was cold and dry when it reached our table. The cheese was not cushiony anymore and the bread also lacked the flavor of garlic.After finishing our cocktails we were served another round, this time a Cosmopolitan and a Caprioska. Again the cosmopolitan was too strong and the taste of Vodka dominated the taste of cranberry juice and the lime juice. Caprioska is a vodka based cocktail and the taste was almost similar to Mojito. We were then served Crispy Fried Chicken. It was really good and was served really hot. The spicy mayo dip served with it complimented it well. The veg and the non veg thin crust pizzas were really good too. The veg pizza had zucchini also, apart from the usual toppings of capsicum, tomato and mushrooms. The non veg Hawaiian Pizza had chicken and pineapple. Pineapple was fresh and gave a nice sweet flavor to the pizza. The best pizza was the Mince Lamb Pizza, having a good spicy flavor. It is really tough to survive in a market where new players come each day and vanish without a trace. This place has a good potential as it is in prime location and the food is also good. They just need to work a bit more on the décor and aesthetics of the place. Also, their serving staff requires a little bit of training.
Trattoria Lounge

PHONE NUMBER
011 26522019
011 41041081
LOCATION
Hauz Khas Village
 2nd Floor, 30, Rare Portion, 
Hauz Khas Village, 
New Delhi


Meal for two 1200(Approx)


Disclaimer - This review was done on an invitation from the establishment. Views expressed in the review is entirely ours and without any bias. Pictures of the dishes are not the standard portions, they are sample portions.