Able was I ere I saw Elba. Let’s get that out of the way first. For those of us who associate the Italian island with Napoleon, the name is more likely to bring up history lessons from the distant past than images of truffles, another famed export of Elba’s.
A meal at newly-launched Elba Trading Company, which goes by ETC, in Alwarpet, will however quickly replace images of Napoleonic exile with the warm, fuzzy comfort that comes from a bowl of well-made pasta. As a bonus, over here, you can get it covered in a shower of truffle, grated right at the table.
Owner Anand Madhan, who lives in the neighbourhood, says he opened ETC as the area does not have an authentic Italian restaurant. To be honest, in a city that abounds with Italian menus, it is true that it is inexplicably challenging to find a satisfying bowl of pasta. And I am deliberately discounting the Americanised versions, heavy with the ubiquitous béchamel sauce and cheese. (Also, it has to be said, desi pasta, complete with a spice tadka, is more closely related to upma than Elba.)
ETC aims to remedy that by offering freshly made spaghetti, tortellini, ravioli and more, tossed together with classic Italian ingredients, all flown in to maintain authenticity. This includes even the San Marzano tomatoes.
The menu is eclectic, hinging on classics, but also introducing an array of bright flavours, from a beetroot carpaccio studded with piquant green peppercorns to their stellar stracciatella caprese, a creamy addictive subversion of the conventional salad starring mozzarella curds vibrant with arugula, cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of treacly balsamic vinegar.
Milk buns with truffle butter | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Focaccia is baked in house and comes in four flavours: classic, spinach-garlic, onion-cheese and a gimmicky blue pea version. It is served with their signature plate of dips, where the waiters theatrically load up with dollops of roasted pumpkin, tomato passata and a garlic-parmesan foam, followed by a generous glug of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
“We want to introduce a lighter version of Italian food,” says Madan. The carbonara, for example, is a simple but sophisticated plate, where ham-speckled spaghetti is topped with an unconventional crumble of salted egg yolk. The fettuccine is creamy with a wild mushroom sauce, and can be studded with morels, if you’re feeling fancy. The kitchen uses pasta water, in true Italian style, to fortify the sauces, so flavours are clean, and the quality of the ingredients shine through.
ETC’s parmesan soup, for instance, is unexpectedly beguiling — a steamy, thin broth served with pillowy gnocco fritto crisps. We team it with milk buns and truffle butter.
Lasagna | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The kitchen also has some fun with the menu — there is a prawn caramelle featuring prawns in neat candy wrappers, made of pasta sheets, in a sweet-savoury mascarpone sauce. And when you cut open the ravioli al’uovo, dark with charcoal, a just-cooked egg yolk spills into the sage butter dressing.
While the food is Italian, it is also fairly irreverent, deviating from traditional recipes while staying true to the flavours and legacy of the dishes. Fresh black truffles, which can be hard to locate on city menus, are a focus here, so keep an eye out for the dishes of the day, or ask for some to be grated over your pasta.
Most of the pasta portions are hearty — our orzo in a tomato sauce even got a bit monotonous on its own after a while — so this is an ideal restaurant to go in a group and share.
There are just three desserts on the menu, and honestly, for now, one is all I really need. The tiramisu is made old school, with spongy ladyfingers soaked in espresso and topped with swirls of mascarpone. But it is eclipsed by the Fruiti Misu, an in house spin featuring mascarpone and cream, puddled with fresh berries oozing their tart sweetness, triangles of kiwi and crunchy ginger crumble.
A word of warning, after eating all that pasta and dessert, you are unlikely to make any Napoleonic conquests post dinner. All you will want, especially in this weather, is a warm bed.
Able were we all, ere we saw Elba.
ETC is at Ground Floor, Door No 99, VidhyaTheertha Nagar, St Mary’s Road, Alwarpet, Chennai -18. Call +91 90439 92096 for more details. A meal for two is about 2500.
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