By Sourish Bhattacharyya
AFTER CELEBRATING 20 eventful years, Delhi’s first trattoria-style Italian restaurant with an open kitchen, La Piazza at the 507-room Hyatt Regency, now has a new Chef de Cuisine.
Born and raised in the food-rich region of Perugia, Luca Digirolamo comes to the Hyatt Regency after running his own restaurant, Refectorium at La Rocca di Mantignana in Perugia, for five years. As Chef Luca was sharing with us at a La Piazza brunch with journalists on Sunday, March 1, where he got to showcase his signature Tuscan-Umbrian style, Refectorium was a typically Italian mom-and-pop restaurant (his wife managed the front of the house and he ran the kitchen) operating out of a reconditioned ancient Roman villa that later served as a monastery. Refectorium, incidentally, was the name given to the dining room of a monastery.
Chef Luca, who brings with him 21 years of work experience and an international stint at the Grand Hyatt Muscat, was last seen with the statuesque Sarah Todd, ex-MasterChef Australia contestant, at his other domain, the banqueting space called the Mansion’s Oval Room, where he had presented an interactive cooking workshop for Delhi-NCR’s food aficionados in the dramatic setting of the glittering theatre kitchens of the Hyatt Regency’s new prized possession.
His selection of dishes had then included Middle Age fritters with pan-fried Parma ham glazed with balsamic vinegar, vegetarian sausage, prawn and lemon ravioli with Italian bisque and La Piazza’s signature melting chocolate dessert.
This past Sunday, Chef Luca’s unsurpassable onion jam (an unmissable accompaniment to a slice of pecorino on La Piazza’s well-stocked antipasti larder), lamb ossobuco, lobster ravioli and a luscious zabaione with fresh fruit were the conversation starters. They gave us a hint of what to expect from this good-natured chef, who loves to invent dishes and experiment with ingredients, as he goes about re-formatting La Piazza’s menu.
Sourish Bhattacharyya is Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier.
AFTER CELEBRATING 20 eventful years, Delhi’s first trattoria-style Italian restaurant with an open kitchen, La Piazza at the 507-room Hyatt Regency, now has a new Chef de Cuisine.
Born and raised in the food-rich region of Perugia, Luca Digirolamo comes to the Hyatt Regency after running his own restaurant, Refectorium at La Rocca di Mantignana in Perugia, for five years. As Chef Luca was sharing with us at a La Piazza brunch with journalists on Sunday, March 1, where he got to showcase his signature Tuscan-Umbrian style, Refectorium was a typically Italian mom-and-pop restaurant (his wife managed the front of the house and he ran the kitchen) operating out of a reconditioned ancient Roman villa that later served as a monastery. Refectorium, incidentally, was the name given to the dining room of a monastery.
Chef Luca, who brings with him 21 years of work experience and an international stint at the Grand Hyatt Muscat, was last seen with the statuesque Sarah Todd, ex-MasterChef Australia contestant, at his other domain, the banqueting space called the Mansion’s Oval Room, where he had presented an interactive cooking workshop for Delhi-NCR’s food aficionados in the dramatic setting of the glittering theatre kitchens of the Hyatt Regency’s new prized possession.
His selection of dishes had then included Middle Age fritters with pan-fried Parma ham glazed with balsamic vinegar, vegetarian sausage, prawn and lemon ravioli with Italian bisque and La Piazza’s signature melting chocolate dessert.
This past Sunday, Chef Luca’s unsurpassable onion jam (an unmissable accompaniment to a slice of pecorino on La Piazza’s well-stocked antipasti larder), lamb ossobuco, lobster ravioli and a luscious zabaione with fresh fruit were the conversation starters. They gave us a hint of what to expect from this good-natured chef, who loves to invent dishes and experiment with ingredients, as he goes about re-formatting La Piazza’s menu.
Sourish Bhattacharyya is Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier.
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