This weekend, the husband, daughter and I were to head to Mysore for a long awaited weekend trip. But due to various reasons, we did not. The husband, in his brief guilty conscience, promised me a delicious lunch of my choice. Poor guy! He spoke to soon.

After spending extensive time on the internet, particularly the various restaurant review sites, we were undecided. Suddenly, the husband had a flash. He remembered that his colleague has suggested an Italian place which had a good buffet and the name of the restaurant began with a ‘L’ or an ‘M’. He did not remember anything else, not even the location. Me, the genius, ‘Googled’ and ‘Googled’ till Google almost gave up. Finally I discovered Via Milano and the husband’s memory agreed it to be the one. We made reservations for the Sunday brunch.

Via Milano is in Koramangala, near Sony Centre on the third floor. One of my must haves in a restaurant is good parking space. You would laugh if you are not a resident of Bangalore. Else, you would completely understand. Well, this one has valet parking. Good beginnings! Thanks to the traffic, we reached more than 20 minutes late but they were nice to keep our reservation.

Once, they saw my little girl and her pram, they showed us to a corner where we could keep her comfortable and also not be in the way of the other patrons. That was a relief. I feel mighty uncomfortable if I need to keep adjusting the pram for others to move about. The large glass walls gave us a good view of the street and we settled down comfortably.

God! I have written more than a page and still not a word about the food. Damn me!

Anyways, we had the option of choosing between the brunch with or without alcohol. Driving plus daughter does not bode well for a meal with alcohol. So the husband and I settled for the mocktail meal. Between the two of us, we tried 4-5 mocktails, all of which were good. But, it was kind of surprising that every one of them had pineapple in them which set me wondering about people who don’t like pineapple. I did, so no worries there. The appetizers were plenty and visually very appealing.  They had bruschetta, baked and stuffed mushrooms, eggs, hummus and pita bread and a large variety for toppings including dry fruits, fried garlic, etc. I was wondering why was hummus and pita bread a part of an Italian spread. But then, I love both of them and hence decided to eat without getting into too much detail. The non-veg section had prawns, chicken, fish, etc. I don’t eat them but they did look delicious.

The next on the menu was the pasta. They only had three varieties which were the more common ones – spaghetti, penne and fussili. I was looking for more variety. The vegetarian toppings were totally yummy. I had broccoli, corn, olives, mushrooms with the white sauce. I am kinda proud about my white sauce but this one was simply out of this world. The husband, though was loyal to say mine was better.

The pizza was a thin crust one with cheese and tomatoes. It was also very delicious  and I had over three slices. Guilty pleasures! The main course consisted of khus-khus rice with mixed vegetables, lasagna and eggplant broccoli roll. I did not like the rice dish too much. Not that it was bad but the others were much better. The lasagna was succulent and well cooked. The eggplant broccoli roll was outstanding. It was a simple dish with fantastic results. I plan to try making something similar at home. Fingers crossed.

We could hardly eat anything after this heavy a meal but it also seemed like a sin to miss out on the desserts. So we called for those as well. The dessert platter had vanilla panacotta, chocolate mousse and tiramisu. The vanilla panacotta was nice but not exceptional and seemed a little bland or it could just be my anti-vanilla bias talking. The mousse was light, airy and melted in my mouth. It was not too sweet and one did not feel like one had actually had the dessert. The tiramisu was fresh and soft and a dream finish to an awesome meal.

A quick word about the service – The people at Via Milano were extremely friendly and informative. Despite it being a buffet, they took pains to actually walk me through the dishes enquiring about my preferences and making smart recommendations. The service was quick for the made-to-order items as it was for the bill. They were even nice enough to enquire if I needed a juice or something else to give my daughter. Haven’t seen this kind of attention in a long time now. Definitely a kid friendly place!!!

Another fun aside was that coincidentally most of the other tables also had at least one kid. So, it was fun mingling around with other patrons.

All in all, it is definitely recommended to visit Via Milano for a happy Sunday Brunch!