The Pasta Bar Veneto, Anna Nagar

This restaurant was introduced to me by Instagram after one of its consultants pinged me and asked if I can do a review, as they have just started in Chennai. I was astonished as I generally don’t get invites much and that I would choose a place that’s affordable by all with my friend Bala Vignesh. I told him regarding the invite and he said we could do a video too and then we chose a day that’s convenient for both of us. We went there on 12^th March and then the corona pandemic happened (great escape) and now we are all locked indoors (I hope you guys are also strictly following the quarantine / lockdown).

The restaurant is a chain of Italian cafés belonging to the Fifth Avenue group with outlets in Chennai & Puducherry. In Chennai, it is at VR Mall (1^st floor) and is just minutes away from the Koyambedu Kamaraj Flyover. The mall has become the hangout spot for the people living near Koyambedu, Anna Nagar and the like. The restaurant had just 1 table filled when we went inside and it had amazing ambience. Just look for yourself. The head man who served told us that each and every part of the menu and outlook was designed carefully to give us the “Italiano” feel and he was right. The website and their location is linked here and is open from 11 AM to 11 PM.

We were greeted with Fresh lime Mint Soda and that was totally cool. I had it till I got to my pizza and completed it only after I had the pasta. I forgot water existed near the soda for some time. Let me take you to a virtual experience of this place.

Website: https://www.thepastabarveneto.com

Location: https://g.page/PastaBarVR?share

Mozzarella Ricotta Fingers – INR 245/-

This was suggested by the waiter. I haven’t heard something like this before and so I had no expectations. It’s made of both Mozzarella & Ricotta cheese cut nicely in the form of fingers with some mint / basil leaves in it. It looked like cylindrical nuggets (8 nos.) and was deep fried. When you open it you can find the cheese oozing out. It’s like 200% cheese inside the nugget. The fry was perfect and had the exact crispiness to it. Served with some raw veggies (for decoration) and 2 types of mayonnaise (one with honey), this was beyond words.

I cannot describe the fall I went through. It was delectable, finger-licking and fabulous. Even Bala had one and felt the same. This is a must try here.

Pizza Diavolo – INR 350/-

Since I had completed the fingers all by myself, I thought if the dinner could be made heavy and we still had 1 more item and a dessert to go. The waiter suggested having half pizza (3 slices instead of 6) and we thought it was a great idea. The name actually means Devil’s pizza because its spicy with all the sauces and hot vegetables. I had this pizza and it was fabulous. It had a thin crusted base and the pizza was filled with mozzarella cheese, black olives, tomatoes, red paprika, some vegetables, onions, roasted bell peppers (green/red/yellow capsicum), and zucchini. The vegetables were nicely cut and the cheese got mixed well with the Italian sauces. The pizza did not make my tummy heavy and it made some space for the next items to follow. This is a must try here.

Primavera Meditarenee – INR 335/-

The final item of the main course was this oddly named item – primavera meditarenee. This is the primavera pasta where primavera means springtime and has spring vegetables. It had black olives, roasted vegetables, red paprika, cream sauce, and 2 kinds of tomatoes. Sun dried tomatoes are the ones carefully taken by the chef and let to dry in the hot sun so that it turns brown and strong more like the tamarind. I initially thought the red colored ones as cherries but I was wrong. The waiter told me, it was cherry tomatoes and they are so small that you identify it as cherries. The 2 tomatoes kind of elevated the taste with the sauce and the pasta was scrumptious. The 2 small garlic breads (actually spoons) were fried in butter (I think) and it was crispy. I had to take time to complete this so I ate slowly. Let’s now see the list of items Bala had.

Sesame Chicken – INR 265/-

Soft Fried chicken with sesame seeds sprinkled on it, is something you shouldn’t miss when you visit this place. They gave 2 different types of sauces as sides for this – one was the chilly sauce which is a mixture of mayonnaise and light chilly flakes and the other was different – a mixture of mayonnaise and honey. Wow! I have never tried this honey mayonnaise before. It was a complete delight to have a bite of the chicken dipped in honey mayonnaise. Just go ahead for this and you’ll never regret.

Pizza Barbeque – INR 385/-

Well this is definitely not like the pizza that we usually have. This is something different. May be the Italian italian type? Yeah. It’s was of a thin crust (Real thin) topped with cheese, properly chopped comparatively big pieces of chicken and other vegetables. It was delicious and not definitely a regular conventional pizza that we have elsewhere. You don’t feel heavy after this too. There’s more to come.

Lasagna Di Pollo – INR 395/-

Mozzarella cheese mixed with chilli sauce & chicken and all these were covered by wonderful sheets of Italian pasta. This totally blew my mind. I would like to name it as Italian “Pesarattu”. Just like the Andhra pesarattu, we can roll this sheet of pasta with cheesy chicken gravy stuffed inside it. But unlike pesarattu, this dish doesn’t need a separate side dish. It was totally filled and overflowing with cheese supported by 2 streaks of garlic bread and with a herb cream sauce, this was fabulous.

Mud Pie – INR 195/-

One thing which I liked about mud pie is it’s multi layers. It came in a jar and every spoon had a different taste. Chocolate cream followed by ice-cream followed by the actual pie. Combination of first and second layer is different than that of the 2^nd and 3^rd and so on. Likewise trying out different combinations gives you a unique feeling that you have had 3 dishes in the price of 1 item. Easily the melted chocolate got into my heart than to my tummy!