Quick, name a famous Italian chef. Sure, maybe a French chef or three will roll off your well-trained tongue with ease. Italian is harder. Italian cuisine, for long has played second fiddle to its neighbour, but real foodies will tell you that Italy is a veritable foodie’s paradise. Take the Italian dish ravioli for instance. It is one of the most brilliant food inventions ever, to make an ‘envelope’ of pasta dough and fill it with whatever comes into your mind is close to genius. Innovations such as these mark the Milan Food Festival at West View Bar & Grill at ITC Sonar. Tortellis stuffed with sweet pumpkin, pork sausage and red wine risotto and a dessert made with egg and white wine, the festival is all about sinful delights.

The cuisine, which hail from the Lombardy region of Italy, reflects the troubled history of the area. “The land has been subject to constant disputes for centuries. It is a melting pot of culture. So, there are different varities of cheese which are quite spicy. Taleggio, stracchino and gorgonzola are some of them,” says Chef Sunayan, who is in charge of the festival.

Milk and cream are an integral part of the diet of a Milanese. So much so that the Milanese prefer rice to pasta, as it absorbs more cheese. “Milan is a very rich and fashionable city and its inhabitants are fond of all good things in life. Their food is all about the best cheese, best wine and the best meat,” claims Sunayan.

Treated and dried meat is also an important part of the Milanese cuisine. “Dried meat is a favourite. Roast beef, pork and veal are integral to the cuisine,” Sunayan says.

At West View Bar& Grill, patrons can savour the herby insalata di fruiti di mere (seafood salad) with la cassola (a squid soup with the rich flavour of saffron). One can also experiment with the Milanese risotto which is a rich, buttery preparation with a hint of saffron, or the pork sausage risotto with red wine.

Keeping with the ‘buttery’ feel of the cuisine, the dessert, zabaglione, is a frothy egg and wine preparation, which is made saucier with a generous dash of strawberry pulp.