The Olive newly opened at Mahalaxmi comes as a refreshing breath of air in the South Bombay restaurant scene. There are few quality stand-alone restaurants which have opened recently, and the Olive carries with it the imprimatur of success; as a brand it is the most financially successful of the stand-alone restaurants in India. This owes much to the enterprise and energy of A.D.Singh; he has successfully launched Olive in Delhi and in Bangalore. In Delhi there has been a setback as they have had to move from the verdant opulence of a Meherauli Villa to the more staid Sardar Patel Marg.

When Olive opened in Bombay all those years ago it was truly a ground breaking experience. It was not a matter of just food, the menu sought to introduce the Mediterranean style of eating to Bombay. It was the Olive experience. The place had “the look”, cool, aspirational and funky. Up to now we had only experienced quality food in the five star context, with the same boring and sterile marble, granite and leather ambience. This was something different and entrancing. The white alabaster rough plaster gave intimations of Santorini, of a Mediterranean location of ineffable beauty, rustic with distressed furniture. One can hardly think of anything better than dining al fresco in the garden on a warm Sunday afternoon, the secret of their success at brunch. There is also a Moroccan room resplendent with canopies, cushions and carpets. All this was so distracting that it was difficult to focus on the food. Perhaps this was deliberate. I have not in the past been a huge fan of Olive food although I revel in the Olive experience.

The Olive at Mahalaxmi is situated in the premises of the Amateur Riders’ Club at the far end of the race course. The design is not surprisingly, a replica of the Olive in Bandra, although on a smaller scale. However there are two differences. There is a large outside area protected from the rain by plastic sheeting. Unfortunately it doesn’t have the same charm as the Olive in Bandra. The area inside is much smaller but the window arches (with a Moorish character) have been beautifully constructed to give a direct view on to the stables and you can see the horses when you are either lunching or dining. This is unusual, but that is what A.D. is all about, the extraordinary. Unfortunately, as I have said before the food was almost incidental to the Olive experience.

However all that is changed with the advent of Max Ortelli, a truly serious chef, cosmopolitan and gregarious with a sense of adventure and passion that marks him out from the time servers who were his predecessors.

Max comes from a family of restaurateurs from Ravena outside Venice. His grandmother started the restaurant and his brother continues to run it. They also had a farm, reared corn, fed chicken and grew whatever they could for the restaurant. This experience has impressed upon him the importance of freshness and quality of ingredients combined with simplicity in preparation. This is what he feels is the great gift of Italian cuisine to world food, and it is something he seeks to encourage and showcase at the Olive. How far has he succeeded in this project?

To be fair to Max the menu is classically Mediterranean, it is not just an Italian restaurant although Italian food predominates. There are special parts of the menu which deal with pizzas and pastas. However, Max has a Tunisian wife and this gives a strong North African element to the cooking, so you have the vegetarian couscous in the main course the Morrocan lamb shanks and in the appetizers you have hummus. This is perhaps an area where Max can introduce more, particularly in the appetizers as there is a rich tradition of mezze and salads which would add to the variety.

The other remarkable feature of the restaurant is the quality of the bread, it is freshly baked and delightful in variety and taste. This is probably necessary as the restaurant intends to serve designer sandwiches and paninis during lunch time to the local business crowd.

The appetizers are various, I had the beef carpaccio, made with Argentian beef beautifully presented with the cream of parmesan cheese, basil pesto and the mushroom salad with a lemon vinaigrette. I had a little bit of the three ways foie gras, this was truly an extraordinary dish as he pan sears it in balsamico and serves it with a French Cognac Terrine and truffle ice cream. We were discussing the frenchification of much of Italian food, but Max was very clear that he adored foie gras and whether it is French or not it is wholly irrelevant. In any event I surmised that France, at least Provence, is very much part of the Mediterranean.

Max coming from the North is familiar with the making of fresh pasta and that distinguishes his pasta from others I have had. There are some supremely exquisite pasta dishes on the menu including the Papadelle Duck. The Gnocchi with smoked salmon is really quite outstanding, he uses Scottish salmon (unfortunately frozen) but with fresh cream and dill. He might have added a little vodka to give it a kick. I did not have any of the pizzas and cannot comment although they appear to be inventive with the toppings and look authentic with a thin crisp base rather than the Italian American version of the deep crust pizza.

The main course for non-vegetarians is abundant in choice; it has marvelous beef dishes including a gastrofied version of the classic steak Diana except it is served with potato lyonnese and topped with goose foie gras. He also does a succulent Moroccan lamb shank braised with chick peas and vegetables and served with tabule (Arabic parsley salad). The sea food selection is truly exceptional with local river trout, pan seared John Dory, amongst others including the exotic mai mai fish. My only complaint would be that other than his mixed roasted meat platter he does not introduce much by way of game such as guinea fowl, quail and rabbit. There are two chicken dishes the traditional Milanese chicken scaloppini, a version of the veal escalope with a lemon sauce and the chicken diavola, a dish having the virtue of being spicy. But chicken is so very boring and may be he could substitute guinea fowl or quail. One of my favourite Italian restaurants in India, Diva run by Ritu Dalmia makes a point of serving as much game as possible and it works.

In comparison the vegetarian menu is rather sad. There are attempts to substitute prawn and chicken with vegetarian versions which I am not sure how it would work, being a fully paid up carnivore. The only other two dishes include the vegetable couscous and rice mussarka, which is a vegetarian version of a moussaka, with soya meat Bolognese. I must confess I am not a great fan of these substitute meats and there are marvelous dishes which can be made from vegetables and grains rather than this fettish for substituting animal flesh.

The dishes which we did try were the Espadata consisting of Mediterranean skewered meat with special marination. What I particularly enjoyed were the imported lamb ribs as well as the New Zealand lamb and the most succulent pomfret I have ever eaten.

The desserts include the usual suspects, including the Tiramisu, a marvelous chocolate semifreddo. The Tiramisu was truly exceptional and Max makes his own mascarpone cheese. I also noted that there was a cheese platter served with Italian chestnuts and honey.

In all this was a more than satisfactory experience A.D. Singh probably realizes that the South Bombay crowd would be more discerning than those who flock to the Bandra Olive and has sought to position the Olive at Mahalaxmi in not just the fine dining category but a restaurant brimming with innovation and ideas. This is necessary to distinguish it at least from two other serious Italian restaurants in South Bombay including Vetro at the Oberoi. There were also some exquisite wine served and predominantly Italian. I started with a Pinot Grigio and ended with a rather sumptuous Barolo. The Olive also boasts a fair selection of pudding wines.

The restaurant is not without its teething problems. On a previous visit the service I experienced was fairly shambolic, but this is frankly a criticism common to many new restaurants.

The staff have to get their act together, and with the booming hospitality sector, it is difficult to get intelligent and presentable staff. This will improve over time.

The restaurant is going to face competition at least later this year when Rahul Akerkar’s restaurant opens in the premises of the Turf Club, a few hundred yards away from the Olive. The more competition the better providing that the chefs do not seek to cater to the lowest common denominator.

We wish the Olive well and more power to A.D. and Max.