The lounge café at Crowne Plaza Ahmedabad City Centre is now in a new avatar, doubling as the Bella Aroma – A Mediterranean Restaurant and Lounge. This restaurant offers Mediterranean and Arab cuisine with plenty of choices for vegetarians, vegans, Jains and non-vegetarians, including seafood lovers.
The restaurant tells the story of a chef named Marco, whose love for food, travel, and adventure brought him to Crowne Plaza Ahmedabad City Centre. His conversations with the hotel’s kitchen team led to him sending recipes to the chef that are now part of the menu.
The decor
The restaurant is located at the lobby level of the hotel with easy access from the hotel entrance and reception, with screens separating it from Essence, the popular all-day dining restaurant.
As both a restaurant and lounge, the interiors of Bella Aroma offer a mix of casual, relaxing spaces for those looking to unwind or chat over coffee, alongside more formal seating for family dining. The space features high tables and shelves adorned with thematic artefacts. The furniture, in shades of blue and grey with wavy patterns, complements the Mediterranean cuisine while adding a modern, chic touch to the brightly lit interiors.
The food
The cuisines of Bella Aroma draw inspiration from the culinary repertoires of diverse lands from Italy, Greece, Spain and the South of France to Turkey, Morocco and Lebanon.
The choice of soups includes Tomato and Peppers Gazpacho, a vegan-friendly Spanish-style cold soup; the Avgolemono which is a fragrant Greek-style chicken soup with lemon-egg sauce, Moroccan-style Lamb Harira, Velvety Chicken and Asparagus with poached egg with herbed sour cream, and the classic Italian Minestrone with vegetable, chicken, or seafood options.
The restaurant’s version of the Syrian and Lebanese Tabbouleh comes with Quinoa. The Turkish Mezze is a vegan-friendly shared platter. Cous Cous, the Moroccan and Tunisian national dish, comes with chickpea, onion, tomato, egg, and mint. The restaurant also offers the classic Caesar Salad. The vegan-friendly Lebanese Fattoush and Greek Feta Salad with avocado are among their signatures.
The starter’s selection includes the Lebanese Fatayer (spinach and ricotta pies), Peri Peri Prawns, Shawarma, Sumac Garlic Chicken, Kebab Halabi and Prawns Pil Pil.
The pizza collection is excellent, offering diverse toppings on 48-hour Aged Sour Dough Shells, and there is a good collection of pasta house-made from scratch. Apart from the composite pasta dishes, you can also order pasta customised for you.
For those looking for something more substantial, the menu has classics like the Greek Moussaka, Spanish Seafood Paella, Roasted Chicken, Moroccan Lamb Tagine, Chermoula Salmon, and Piri Piri Prawns.
The dessert selection covers the Egyptian bread pudding called Umm Ali, Warm Date Cake, Spanish-style Tres Leches pudding, Kunafa, and Tiramisu.
