We Experienced An All New Italian Twist At Bene With Chef Roberto Apa

Italian food has grown immensely popular in the Ooru (we blame the first episode of Chef’s Table), and the number of fine Italian restaurants has slowly crept upward. When we heard that Bene has brought in an expat Italian Chef – Roberto Apa, we couldn’t wait to try out the new fare at this old classic!

We started things off with a bit of a surprise for the amuse bouche – we had the Ambush with Caprese Shot (yes, an proper Caprese salad in liquid form) a deep-fried pizza dough ball with tarragon pesto and we’re thinking we’d definitely like a full glass of that Caprese Shot next time.

Next, we moved onto one of our favorite dishes of the visit – the Gamberi in agrodolche which was some beautifully cooked sweet and sour prawns wrapped in pasta kataifi (a type of rice noodles), venere rice & citrus tartare which cut through the richness of the dish.

We then moved on to the Risotto Zafferano e pollonero – a saffron risotto, domesticated by the use of Kadaknath chicken (yep, it’s actually black) which we thought was delightful. On the vegetarian side of things we had to try the Ratatouille (not because of the cartoon, okay, maybe) which was a lovely light surprise. We also enjoyed the Pasta Caprese (you know, because of our affinity for Caprese flavor-profiled things).

The piece de resistance was definitely the Maialino a delicious sous vide pork neck with a lovely honey glaze – the way the pork had been cooked the outside was crisp and caramelised while the inside was still tender – a definite highlight of our meal.

Of course, we had to have some delectable desserts to end our meal so we finished with a lovely trio of desserts: Torta Caprese – a delicious torte cake served with some absolutely exquisite salted cashew ice cream, Zabaglione an amazing pannacotta flavored with marsala, and Zupetta di argumi (definitely the healthiest of the lot) butter-cooked apple served with citrus semi-candied fruits and topped with a sorbet-like red berry ice-cream!

Suffice to say, that we ended our meal on a sweet note! At Bene, we enjoyed some authentic Italian fare with a bit of an local twist, as well some of tried and true classics – don’t miss out on Chef Roberto Apa’s twist on Italian fare because you’ll tortellini have regrets!