Rarely does a restaurant offer its customers unusual, innovative, avant-garde food. A little bit of experiment wouldn’t hurt any food business and not go after run-of-the-mill options entirely; without a signature you’re as good as everyone else around.

Last week, I finally headed over to a much-hyped restaurant that had been on my mind ever since I saw beautiful pictures of their food on social media. Rivoli is located in Z block, Defence surrounded by a host of other known and lesser-known restaurants. At lunch time, the small, two-storey bistro brightens up with sunlight seeping in through the glass window; a black and white mural covers one of the walls, while the other sides and some portion of the ceiling are lined with brass pipes and light bulbs. The overall ambiance is cool, neat and refined.

The menu is compact, but almost everything on it makes one curious and attracts instant attention; it’s creative, it’s unique and looks beautiful in pictures. I ordered small portions of a handful of dishes to get an idea of what Rivoli is all about.

For starters, I first had the Nourish Bowl, which is a salad comprising fresh vegetables, bits of feta cheese, lettuce, minced beef, dollops of yoghurt and a subtle mustard sauce all placed side by side; the pomegranate and peanuts mentioned on the menu were missing. The DIY Lettuce Wraps are presented on a tile with crunchy lettuce leaves served with tender chicken chunks and peanut, cucumbers in a sour green chilli sauce, corn and bean sprouts in a tangy tamarind sauce and a punchy peanut sauce on the side; wrap it all up in a lettuce leaf and take a bite: it’s a riot of texture and delicious spicy, sour flavours, but all balanced.

From the main course, I first had some of the Spinach Surprise: deliciously seasoned spinach-and-cottage cheese-stuffed ravioli in a yummy creamy, cheesy white sauce with dollops of a spicy marinara sauce topped with basil leaves, walnuts and shredded Parmesan cheese. A perfect, balanced, good-looking plate of savoury and spicy pasta!

Next, I had Pink Pockets: a colourful bowl splattered all over with pink beetroot humus with spicy chicken-stuffed ravioli placed in the centre and topped with delicious mushroom, pine nuts, feta cheese and black olives. If the spinach ravioli was subtle, this bowl was a spice bomb; not for the faint-hearted, yet so scrumptious.

K’s Signature Stack has a tender, cheese-crusted, crispy delectable chicken fillet with a few potato gnocchi and drizzled generously with a spicy, cheesy marinara sauce, topped with rocket leaves, dried beetroot and sprinkled with shredded cheese. But what instantly catches the eyes is a little bottle on the plate filled with some spicy in-house sauce to go with the chicken. Another noteworthy dish.

The Matzo Mush has perfectly grilled Red Snapper fillets served with a punchy, delicious lemon caper sauce, and topped with a few diced capers. Served on the side are subtle, crispy little cheese balls and jalapeno slices each on top of a sweet potato mash – something I felt the dish didn’t really need. This was also served with a little bottle with a small amount of balsamic vinegar and a dropper to pour it over.

The Asian Gong, while it looked and appeared exotic on the menu, was a disappointment, as there was a lot going on the plate, I felt, and whatever was on it didn’t really go together. Bland flavours from the plain, sticky rice served with batter fried prawns and cauliflower clashed with the spicy chilli garlic sauce smothered on the rice and prawns all served on the side with a fiery, zesty sauce, pickled cucumber and a cucumber, yoghurt and pomegranate salad.

I topped the scrumptious meal with a sweet treat in the form of Peach Crumble. This is a fresh take on a traditional trifle with a layer of crumble at the bottom, another of sweetened peach mash, bits of toffee to add some crunch and a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting on the top with a thick, smooth, creamy honey sauce on the side. A comforting, delectable culmination to a meal.

It is utterly refreshing to see a restaurant come up with innovative food, yet offer traditional options such as burgers and sandwiches for customers that aren’t too experimental with their meals and like to play safe. But then experiments could fail as well and we’re not too forgiving when it comes to an unpleasant experience of dining out, so an entrepreneur needs to be careful.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2018