Having eaten Chef Amiel Guerin's food at various events (he does pop-ups and catering services), when we got word that he's set up not one, but two cafes, we knew we had to check it out. We visited the Sahakaranagar outlet of Amiel Gourmet (the other is at Padukone-Dravid Centre For Sports Excellence) one weekend and Chef Amiel was around to take us through the menu and show us around his space.
The cafe menu is spread—there's an all-day breakfast, substantials, salads, and of course, a viennoiserie section. Since we had popped in around breakfast time, the chef started off by serving us Eggs Benedict. Served with a slice of warm brioche bread, the Hollandaise sauce is served as a foam, so it's light but super flavourful. Easily our favourite of the day until we got served Gnocchi but instead of potatoes it was made with egg yolk. Think fluffy cloud-like texture bites served with bacon and fried onion crumbles. It was our first time having it and safe to say, we have a winner. Chef tells us that it's not on the menu but something that he usually serves during private events. We definitely want this on the menu.
Before the next dish arrived, the chef mentioned how the Jambon & Fromage (Ham & Cheese) sandwich is quite popular along with the Beef Cheese Burger. Plus, he also showed us his pasta machine that's used to make fresh penne, spaghetti, and conchiglie. And for mains, he recommends the seven-hour New Zealand Lamb.
We expected the last dish for the day to be a dessert but were surprised when the chef served up what definitely looked like eggs sunny side up. Except, it wasn't and also a bigger surprise, it was a dessert all along. The white chocolate ganache foam and the yolky fresh mango spheres had us there. Oh, and that olive oil added that layer of fattiness with the salt and Naga pepper adding a bit of umami.
Playful in certain bits and interesting overall, we're definitely heading back for more.
