Evening at Dewberry's - CFG Showcase

Getting there..

I'd been part of a bunch of food bloggers who attended the CFG showcase event the last week. Dewberry's, a cozy restaurant tucked into a quiet street opposite Citi Centre, Mylapore was sponsoring this showcase to highlight its new Continental menu. So here goes. :)

Dewberrys

Being the first showcase I was a part of, I didn't know what to expect. So made sure I reached before time. Reaching the place is not a problem because it's walking distance from the arterial Radhakrishna Salai road. First thing you'll notice is that the place offers a lot in terms of privacy and quiet. The owners have converted part of the mansion into two separate joints. The setup is similar to Asvita cafe that was earlier right opposite to this place. Once there, I had a chat with the young waiter who seemed well-trained and told me that the resto mainly serves Italian food and that there was seating for about 50 people total. There were also a few tables outdoors under the shade of trees. Would be nice to visit with a bunch of friends on a quiet weekday.

Spice 29

In a while, the co-owner Mr. Ajay arrived with one of the chefs. After introductions, I enquired if there was some hidden meaning in the name, "Spice 29" which they've given for the restaurant.He said it was just the door number but they do have some interesting ideas to work with that in mind.

Note: Due to the number of dishes being showcased, we were given a smaller tasting portion of each dish that we could have without filling ourselves up soon! The dish photos shown here however are of the normally served portions.

                                                               The place was neat and cool

Well maintained outdoor seating

               There are two separate sections to Dewberry's both serving the same cuisine though

The Food!

Once the rest of the gang arrived and intros n greetings were exchanged, we got down to the real business eagerly. :D  Each dish was brought one-by-one to give us a chance to have a bite without hurrying. Our cheerful hosts Mrs. Kavitha and Mr. Ajay were sitting right beside us explaining anything we wanted to know about the food.

                                                          

                             Chilli Twist Ice Smoothie:  Looks small but packs a tasty punch.

This is a smoothie with a kick that made us nod in approval. I was expecting a normal cold refresher but this one had just the right amount of spice in it to set our taste buds tingling in anticipation for the next part. And the fact that it was icy cold was even better. If you're looking for a smoothie with a twist and an interesting start, this is it!

Soups
            

                              Cappuccino of Mushroom with cinnamon dust and garlic crostini

 Yes, Cappuccino! You heard it right! No coffee though. The soup is presented just the way you have your coffee. It was hot, tasted creamy and subtle without any over-powering aftertaste lingering. And the garlic crostini had a good crunch to it that made the combination a pretty good one. Good start!

                   

                                     Toasted garlic flavored bread topped with herbs, cream cheese and olive.

                                        

                                                 Tomato Basil Soup with Garlic Cheese Crostini

I don't usually have tomato based soups so just had a taste of this one. It was quite good as well. 

Starters

Warmed up, we were eager to lay our hands on the starters and something more substantial now. 

                    

                                                              Chicken Tomato Olive bruschetta 

I love the variations of bread and toppings that Italians have and was happy to see the bruschetta when it arrived. This one was well put-together with small bits of chicken, tomatoes and other Italian herbs with a bit of cheese to top it off. It tasted great as well although I'd like to have seen the cheese melted just to make things more delicious. ;) I noticed the bread was quite crunchy again as with the crostini so I guess this is an Italian thing. Next up was ..

                                     

                                                    Grilled cottage cheese with chilli butter pineapple

The name sounds exotic and the dish was novel and tasty too. Hadn't heard of this combo before so I enjoyed the combination of light buttery sweet pineapple with the smoky taste of grilled cottage cheese. Totally forgot to dip it in the side provided as I was busy emptying the plate.:) Vegetarians will surely love this dish.

                                                              Panko Crumbed fried cheese with relish

The best starter of the lot and it would surely appeal to most of us. Crunchy, well-fried cheese balls (cottage cheese) with fresh in-house tomato relish! What's not to love! Would  have  liked to see a more "Italian" dipping sauce also. 

                                

                                              BBQ Jalapeno chicken skewers with roasted corn salsa

Looks delicious doesn't it? It tasted quite good too. The chicken was cooked well and spiced moderately. It was fun to eat it directly from the skewers and the roasted corn salsa added tanginess to it. Since we were all taking a long time to chat and eat, the food wasn't very hot when I had a chance to dig in. Next time, I eat first, talk later. B-)

                                                 

                                                            Chermoula Spiced Prawns with Salad 

Unfortunately, this one disappointed. The prawns weren't all that tasty, I suspect because we took a long time to have them and items like prawns are best had immediately when hot. I wasn't able to taste much of the Chermoula marinade as well because of this. 

Main Course

                                                             Mushroom, parmesan, cream and herbs

By now a little bit full we wanted to see what would entice us to eat more. And the mushroom, parmesan, cream and herbs comes along doing just that. It was a lovely blend of the creamy parmesan infused white sauce with mushrooms. The diced well-done mushrooms were a great addition to this Italian favorite and there were olives lending their flavor as well. I had only a few bites knowing that there were more dishes to come. First world problems!

                       

                                         Cottage cheese primavera , spring vegetables, aioli pasta   

This substantial, well-presented and tasty dish would probably have been the best among the veggie dishes if the cottage cheese was a bit softer. It wasn't, so the dish was a bit of a downer. However, the mushroom based sauce that the slices of cottage cheeses were coated inbetween with were quite divine. Full of the flavor of mushrooms, it went great with the grilled cottage cheese. With the generous slabs of cottage cheese, the aoili pasta and the spring vegetables this would be a pretty filling main course option. 

                                       Grilled chicken, chilli flakes, olives , robust tomato sauce

For someone who prefers the white sauce variant, this hot robust tomato sauce based dish tempted me to have more than a few spoonfuls. Again, the portions were appreciable and the dish had a good number of diced olives all in a nice herbed sauce. It had only a mild tangy taste that wasn't very strong and was to my liking. 

                                              Stuffed cheesy chicken legs, roasted vegetables, BBQ gravy

Next from the kitchen was the Stuffed cheesy chicken legs with roasted vegetables and a BBQ gravy. My first impression on seeing the dish was that this was a huge chicken leg! Only when I started cutting it up did I realize it was stuffed and shaped like a boneless chicken leg grilled on the outside! Served with mashed potatoes and boiled veggies, this is a great comfort food dish. It was hot and went well with the BBQ gravy that was provided. Definitely seems to be a winner as it is quite filling, and tasty with the classic veggie sides provided. 

Dessert

Now we were at bursting point and had space only for desserts. We were served with a layered chocolate ice cream with nutella sauce and biscuit crumbles and fried dumplings that had a white chocolate filling. Mmm!

           

The star of the show was this delicious chocolate delight that rounded off the evening. The layering of crunchy biscuit crumbles and lots of nutella sauce and chocolate ice cream make it pretty much perfect. And the scoop of vanilla ice cream made it even better!  A must try when you visit. 

                                           

                                         Layered chocolate icecream, nutella sauce and biscuit crumbles 

The fried white chocolate dumplings was also great. The creaminess of the chocolate was different from the usual fried ice cream that we have. First time I'm having a chocolate variant and it was great. A filling four course meal would be around thousand rupees here I guesstimate.

Winding up..

Whew, that was a long one! Time flies when you're having fun, we started by 8pm and it was ten thirty before we knew it. We had to hurry back to reach our places in time! Be sure to check out this quaint lil place when you're in the area and you'll surely find the quiet ambience and good food worth it. They had taken a break to expand their kitchen to handle Indian dishes so check out the Tandoori food on offer as well. Have a great day!