Poached feta, roasted red peppers, and pickled olives served with focaccio, pita pockets make up the cold mezze platter that will be served as part of the seven-course festival menu at Cafe Diem, a vegetarian cafe in Coonoor. The platter also has a variety of dips including spinach artichoke dip, and sun-dried tomato pesto made with locally available natti tomatoes, and cous cous salad with mint tabbouleh and more. “We tweaked our existing menu with creative ideas to offer something exotic,” says Radhika Sastry, who owns Cafe Diem. While ingredients like asparagus and water chestnuts have been sourced from Bengaluru, others like artichokes, spinach, and beans like mocha kottai that are grown locally have also been used generously.
Going native
“For the warm platter, we made falafels with three native varieties of beans. Our tarts are popular, so we added caramelised onion and artichoke tarts to the menu. There is spinach fatayer and cheddar stuffed mushrooms too. We also paid attention to bring in the greens and reds associated with Christmas.”
Among soups, along with all-time favourite pumpkin coconut soup, there is velvety mushroom soup, and asparagus and mint veloute to choose from. “We have also added two salads in greens and reds. Roasted cheese balls made from goat cheese go into the Mediterranean salad with Sumac and olive oil dressing. The orange, water chestnut salad is served with orange juice and mustard dressing.”
Pizzas or pastas?
Fresh fig, goat cheese with arugula, a drizzle of honey and chilli oil on a thin crust sour dough pizza base
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For the main course, diners can pick pizzas (that come with toppings like sun-dried tomato pesto, Parmesan, yellow cheddar and mascarpone) or pastas like goat-cheese stuffed ravioli in saffron sauce. “We roll our pastas in-house and avoid using ingredients out of a bottle. While we are constantly innovating, some of the classic ones like pomegranate cheese cake stay.”
The cafe is open from 11am to 6pm. On weekends, for dinner from 7pm. The festival menu is available from December 24 to January 2. Entry only on reservation. For details, call 9663849639/ 9845001111.
