Classe' by The Cooking Culture – Pure Veg Fine Dine

A pure vegetarian fine dine restaurant!?? I exclaimed with joy! Being a vegetarian, it was so difficult to find a veg restaurant offering fine dine. Pune food culture is changing, people want something unusual and here is Classe' by the Cooking Culture which not only provides its patrons a fine dine experience but also save their time in deciding what to eat with their one-of-its-kind set course signature meal plan.

After the two successful restaurants in Ahmedabad, the brand is brought in to Pune by Aromen group along with SRK Ventures. While talking to one of the partners of the place, Mr. Parag Shah, explained the idea behind the concept. Inspired by European habits, especially France, where people don't like to share the food from their plate, an idea popped up why can't there be a restaurant offering pre-plated portions of a meal. Hence Classe' by the Cooking Culture came into existence.

Location and Decor: Located on the ground floor of the Gold Adlabs Mall, Kalyani Nagar, the place is easily accessible. First thing that comes to the notice is high ceilings, low lighting and wood panelled walls and partitions. Small small things are taken care of. Interiors are done tastefully, quite rich and gives a very earthy feeling. The creative mesh curtains are there to give you privacy as well. Private dining rooms are also there if you have a large family or friends. Mellow music adds on to the whole experience.

Food: Open kitchen gives you the transparency with the preparations. You can see the chefs at work while preparing the beautiful looking plate. As they say, eat with your eyes first. Aesthetically done plating is a concoction of colors, flavours, textures. Menu revolves around the fusions of Indian, European, Continental dishes.

7 meal plan is for business lunches while 10, 15 or 21 courses are available in the regular dinner. The 10 course meal plan has a prescribed set menu format comprising of the most loved dishes and also has an option of selecting the menu from Ala carte offering whereas the 15 course meal is a chef’s tasting menu and the 21 course meal is a grand tour menu. Prior reservation is recommended. Guests do get a choice of mocktails, soups and desserts while the starters and main course remains the same for all.

Every table is served with a Dip Platter which comprises of crisp pita chips, lavash with yummy hummus, salsa and babaganoush. Trust me that was quite addictive and keeps you engaged. While we opted for 10 course menu, which takes almost one and a half hour to finish, our first course started with a mocktail – Tropical Blast. Quite fizzy, unusual combination of icecream and guava juice. Tasted good though.

Second course was Cappuccino of Red Pepper and Brie. A delectable combo of Potato, Bell Pepper, Olives, Gherkins along with the brie cheese! Soup was warm and comforting, full of flavours! Loved it!

Vietnamese Paper Roll was our third course. Expected it to be rolled in traditional rice paper sheets, but it was thick layer of rolled rice pastry filled with veggie juliennes of oriental vegetables. It was presented in a sweet chilli dip cup. Tasted great though!

Fourth Course had Zameen Dost Galaouti Kebab, as the name signifies, a nice kebab of yam and vegetables accompanied with boorani chutney. Soft, melt-in-mouth kebabs had crumbly texture and went well with the chutney.

Beautiful plating of our Fifth course, the Cottage Cheese Sabayon. Paneer crumbled and cooked in cheesy tomato concasse and layered over the herbed and bell pepper rice. Loved the combo!

Sixth Course was the oriental Dan Dan Noodles. The Street styled noodles tossed in veggies. Peanut Sauce with peppers and vegetables was beautifully served in the edible bowl made up of flour. Tasted good.

I was stuffed by this time, but still main course was pending! You might feel that the portions are small, but they are fast filling. Wait till the last course arrives...:)

Bhatti Da Paneer, Subz Miloni were Course 7 and 8 respectively. Stuffed Paneer (Cottage Cheese) in velvet onion curry was just too scrumptious. Had it with naan. As the name implies, Subz Miloni was mix veg cooked in spinach curry. Loved the assortment of flavours.

Course 9 had Vegetable Pulao with Dal Muradabadi. Trust me, one of the finest dal I had in recent times. Gelled well with the fragrant pulao with the assorted veggies.

Last but not the least Course 10, which I was easily looking forward to was Sutarfeni Nest. It was so beautifully plated that you have to think twice before gobbling. Sutarfeni is the string styled gujrati dessert which is topped with the icecream and chikki. Very very sinful. Totally highly wanting for more!