Review: Piccoli Tortini, Mumbai

This week Writer and Blogger Sohini Datta went to check out Piccoli Tortini in Bandra, a luxurious Italian Pasticceria serving tortinis, cupcakes, pastries, desserts, paninis, Italian breads, salads, pastas and a high end, indulgent afternoon tea. They also do a typical Italian meal, well her opinion, read ahead to find out.

Interiors 3

Italian food is as common as burgers in India. Everyone has it and everyone thinks they are a connoisseur of it. Therefore, reviewing Piccoli Tortini in Bandra is ten times more difficult…or so I thought. The patisserie is really small in area size and the cynic in me had her nose upturned till it reached the heavens. In my head, Italian restaurant that boasts of gluten-free, organic food must be sprawling.I will speak about the food more than the décor. The décor is nice…but then I belong to the minimalist generation, ornate is just not my style.With a lot of glass and baroque details, the space was distinctly old school Italian. And while we all agree the ambience goes hand in hand with the quality of food, sometimes one tends to overpower the other. This time, the food took home the gold.


While I am clearly not a salad or health-food person and believe raw food must not be eaten, the chickpea couscous salad in olive oil being refreshingly light, won my heart. Next up was the orange ice tea, which by the way for some reason is still undiscovered. Think citrus tea….how wrong can it get? Not much. How right can it get? Home run style! I could have had four of those, but I try not to act like a glutton in public.  This was followed by Chicken Ciabatta –slices of chicken mortadella with green olive paste. This was fabulous so not so much my favorite because too much bread during dinner always spoils the appetite. It is the beautiful creamy mushroom sauce fettuccini with roasted shrimps that took us on a direct flight to Italy. Creamy pasta is always almost made wrong, either too heavy or too floury or cheesy. However, Piccoli, use their own home-made gluten free wheat pasta and their sauce was perfectly balanced, leaving no taste bud alone. The mouth was an explosion of flavors…and I might just start drooling again if I keep speaking about it. Most importantly, it was light enough to digest super soon which seldom happens with Italian. Finally, we ended the dinner with what can only be described as a cupcake platter. Vanilla, chocolate and spiced pumpkin cupcakes…I had two of the spiced pumpkin ones because …they deserved to be loved.

Piccoli Tortini,

More love was shown to a slice of dense cheesecake (you can choose the topping you like from blueberry, raspberry and some more) and I contemplated buying all of the desserts off the shelves, but decided against.The verdict is that go to the restaurant with a lot of built-up hunger and enough space in your camera for innumerable Instagram photos. Because the food is so good that it can bring out the glutton from the most elegant and cynical of connoisseurs.

Address:Shams Palace, 98 Hill Road,near St Andrews Church, Bandra, Mumbai
Contact Nos:02269996000/993075741