Easy On The Olive Oil

Things to do before you head out to the just reopened Olive—(1) Call to check if they’ve started serving alcohol (their bar licence hadn’t been renewed when we were there). (2) Make a gargantuan ATM withdrawal (unexpected Delhi rain apparently made their machines too wet to swipe our cards on). (3) Make sure you aren’t shabbily dressed (to avoid disapproving frowns from Delhi’s hoity-toity brigade).

Once there, soak in the pruned Mediterranean atmospherics, and wait for the affable staff to bring you that wooden framed menu. With no clear categorisation of dishes, you will have to check the prices to distinguish the appetisers from the main course. When we managed to, we settled on a perfectly textured Confit Duck Leg, followed by a Tiger Prawn Risotto. Replete with crab, mussels and lobster, the dish is well worth some ocean-scrounging; for the non-carnivorous, the Cavatelli makes for a sumptuous vegetarian pasta option. On your way out, after the on-the-house chocolates (no, they didn’t know we were journalists), you’ll encounter a collage of photographs, starring proprietor A.D. Singh in the company of page 3 regulars. You might fail miserably to recognise them, but at least you’ve shared space with the ‘it’ crowd.