New Menu at Focaccia, Hyatt Regency

It's time, Mauro says. The loveable Mauro Ferrari, the Italian chef at Focaccia, the man who sings and dances, and speaks a little French, has come back from his Italian vacation and the energy has gone into a new menu. With a mix of simplicity and complexity, the menu is exciting. Invited for a sneak peak, it was a night of conversations, food and more food.

We started off with two simple dishes, the first being a tuna tartare. Just tuna, drizzled with oil and some micro greens, this was a nice fresh start to dinner. Knowing Mauro's love and weakness for burrata, I know better than to not expect some burrata, new menu or not! He did. Figs, cherry tomatoes and burrata. Yum. 

Then the complexities came out. Some capsicum flan with mozzarella, a nice prawn risotto wrapped with sea bass, grilled swordfish with zucchini making way to our table. But they were no match for two dishes that graced our evening. A braised lamb ravioli, with butter, sage and yes, black truffle. This was the dish of the day. Silky smooth lamb stuffed in the pasta, the butter making it smoother and the truffle filling in all those places to make this the killer dish in the new menu. Absolute killer. A nice breaded chicken breast with a beautiful mushroom polenta, while no match for the ravioli, was a star in its own right. 

It also looks like Mauro spent a good amount of his back-from-vacation-energy on desserts. The famed chocolate salami is back. With a bang. One of the best dessert dishes of the city, it disappeared from the menu for a while and it is back now. The orange and pista creme brûlée and the hazelnut millefeuille were fitting finishes to the dessert marathon. 

Wonder how many new dishes are on the Saturday Pranzo!