Bengaluru, Aug 11: There’s a particular kind of hunger the monsoon brings: for something warm, unhurried, and deeply comforting. As raindrops trace their way down leafy fronds and the courtyard at Olive Beach settles into its lush, misty best, Bengaluru’s iconic Mediterranean villa turns into one of the city’s cosiest hideouts. Soft light spills across the alfresco lounge, the air smells faintly of rain and rosemary, and the menu, built on slow-cooked richness, wood-fired warmth, and hearty, soul-soothing flavours, feels like it was made precisely for afternoons like these.
Steering the kitchen through this cosy season are Chef Jyotika Malik, VP Culinary, and Head Chef Abhilash. Together, their instinct for comfort, flavours built to be shared, lingered over, and savoured slowly, comes through clearly in the dishes on the table this monsoon.
Start with the Moroccan Harira with Cheese Msemen, a slow-cooked tomato, lentil, and chickpea soup paired with warm, flaky, cheese-filled Moroccan flatbread, the kind of first course that feels like a hug on a rainy afternoon. From the appetizers, the Pumpkin & Feta Börek, crisp filo pastry filled with roasted pumpkin and cream cheese, served with Aleppo chilli tarator and toasted pumpkin seeds, sits alongside the Spanish Albóndigas, hand-rolled lamb meatballs simmered in a roasted red pepper, almond, and tomato sauce, served with grilled rosemary focaccia for mopping up every last bit.
For mains, the Char-Grilled Broccoli & Potato Gnocchi brings together pillowy house-made gnocchi, char-grilled broccoli, sweet Peppadew pepper purée, Italian salsa verde, and toasted pine nuts, while the Spaghetti allo Scoglio, a traditional Italian seafood spaghetti loaded with prawns, mussels, clams, and calamari in garlic, cherry tomatoes, white wine, and extra virgin olive oil, makes for the kind of indulgent, unhurried plate that begs to be shared over conversation as the rain comes down outside. To finish, the Om Ali with Orange Blossom Ice Cream, a classic Egyptian bread pudding of buttery puff pastry, creamy milk, roasted nuts, and raisins baked until golden, arrives warm alongside fragrant orange blossom ice cream;comfort food quite literally reimagined as dessert.
The cosy mood carries through to the bar, where Mixologist of the Year 2022 Harish Chhimwal’s handcrafted cocktails and house infusions add their own warmth to the evening; inventive, spirited pours perfect for easy company on a rainy day, rooted in the bar programme’s ongoing commitment to creativity and sustainability.
Whether it’s a long, lazy lunch watching the rain roll over the courtyard or a candlelit dinner tucked beneath a canopy of soft light, Olive Beach’s menu is a reminder that the best monsoon evenings are the ones spent staying in, just somewhere as beautiful as this. Few places in Bengaluru capture that feeling quite like this old villa turned Mediterranean haven.