KATHMANDU, Sept 18: Rox Restaurant has been operating at the Hyatt Regency since the hotel’s opening. It started off as an Italian restaurant but with changing time and changing chefs, the place diluted its roots to serve a wider range of Southern European cuisine.

When Chef Nandakumar Gopi was appointed as the new executive chef of Hyatt in 2014, the first thing he had in mind was to get Rox its Italian identity back. 

“It’s not only about getting a dish done. You should get to eat the right food in the right environment,” says chef Gopi. He believes that Rox’s rustic décor is fitting to Italian cuisine and his idea is to retain that interplay of food and atmosphere.   

A man in his mission, he has already added many pizza and lasagna dishes in Rox’s menu in his two years time at the hotel. And beginning from September 16, the Rox will host a promotional menu to introduce new varieties of pizzas and lasagna. 

“The promotional menu isn’t dictated by a particular style of Italian cooking. We did this deliberately to refrain from predictability,” says chef Gopi. 

The menu consists of hand rolled pizzas and lots of variation of lasagnas directed to both non-vegetarian and vegetarian foodies. 

In the pizza section, the vegetarian delight includes ‘hummus pizza’. It is made of a hummus base which is a paste of chickpeas, and topped with sun dried tomatoes, asparagus, olives and jalapenos. Chef Gopi informs that all the major herbs that go in many of the Hyatt’s dishes are locally grown in the hotel’s herb garden.

The pizza menu extends to include non-vegetarian variations like ‘smoked salmon pizza’, ‘sausage re-loaded pizza’ and ‘mushroom and barbecued chicken whole wheat pizza’. 

As we move on to lasagnas, the menu offers the ‘creamy sea-food lasagna’. Thin sheets of lasagna are put on together with sea foods containing a combination of scallops, shrimps, salmon and calamari. After it’s perfectly baked, the dish is taken out directly from the oven and served on a small sizzler pan. Except the sea-food lasagna, there are ‘three cheese pumpkin lasagna’, ‘eggplant and zucchini lasagna’, ‘tenderloin lasagna’, ‘lamb bolognaise lasagna’, ‘pork and tenderloin lasagna’ and many other lasagna choices in the extensive list. 

To chef Gopi, the essence of Italian cooking lies in the subtlety of flavors. “If your flavors are overpowering, you are gone,” he puts it straight. 

The promotion is dinner only (6.30 pm to 10 pm) and will continue till September 25 at Rox Restaurant.   

 
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