Indian Theatre, German Riesling and a rainy evening

The rainy in spell came unannounced. A week into October, the weather had been nippy already hinting at an early arrival of winters. It was pouring heavily by the time we reached the LTG Auditorium at heart of New Delhi. The watch showed half past three in afternoon.

Still half an hour to go for start of Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar we decided to stay in the car itself so as not to get drenched. The bard’s renowned play started soon after and despite rains and bad city traffic it was a full house. The ensemble of the actors did full justice in delivering a power packed performance which peaked with scene where a dying Caesar addressing his life long friend and confidante, said – Et Tu Brute.

Khan Market is an upscale marketplace in New Delhi and one where we headed after thoroughly enjoying the theatre. It was still raining as we searched our way to and reached the newly opened Italian restaurant named Tere Vita. It had a distinct pink interiors interspersed with chic posters and mirrors.

A quick browse through the giant menu (again pink) lead to our selecting a German Riesling for the evening. Though the bottle had a somewhat un-wine like name – Black Tower, which to me sounded more like a strong beer, but it did tick all the right oenological boxes on sampling and so we ordered it.

Riesling is, without question, Germany’s favorite grape. Widely planted it is the superstar of the white wine world. The grape originated in the Rhine region of Germany, and the best of them are said to grow along the banks of the Mosel River on the beautiful steep, south facing hills.

Black Tower, the wine of the evening however comes from the Pfalz wine region of Germany. It is produced by house of Reh Kendermann which is making German wines popular all over the wine drinking world.

Being very chilled when served, the Riesling appeared a tad tight and very citrus at the start but it opened up soon in the glass thereby revealing an aromatic nose and prominent flavour of tropical fruits which supported by a refreshing acidity soon screamed (or rather we did) for some warm cheesy food to pair with. Our first dish was the Porcini pasta which is made from the eponymous porcini mushrooms which are a famous and delicious addition in Italian cuisine.

The name porcini actually means “piglets” in Italian. For the French they are cèpe, for the Germans steinpilz meaning stone mushroom and the English also call them cep or ‘penny buns’

Next we ordered Fettuccine pasta which again complimented the wine perfectly. In Italian, fettuccine means “little ribbons” and the pasta does indeed look like a pile of ribbons on the plate. Traditional fettuccine pasta comes in thick ribbons which are robust enough to hold light to medium sauces, especially tomato and cream sauces.

The perfect day – night, theatre – wine outing was rounded off the a scoop each of gelato in cone the sweetness of which will keep alive the memories of a beautiful day.