In a nutshell:

Loved the food at this tiny restaurant by celebrity chef & Food writer, Ritu Dalmia & Njoyed the nice ambience.

Address & other details: Diva Piccola

Meal for 2: Rs. 1200 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

Entering the restaurant was an interesting experience. It was thru a narrow staircase erupting out of a crowded bazaar. The walls were painted in earth brown color & from the walls hung a series of framed mirrors.

The 1st floor Dining Hall was quite a different world. It had a longish colorful bar on the right side & numerous tables & chairs all around. There was a high stool seating facing outside (towards the open window) & we chose that seat. It was surely nice in a non summer Delhi afternoon. Potted plants near the window made the feel of the place even better.

The menu card was pretty detailed & had explanations to all the dishes that were listed. There were many interesting ingredients as well. Thankfully Chicken was not the only option in nonveg.

The Restaurant is run by Celebrity Chef & food author Ritu Dalmia who has some really good restaurants all over Delhi.

Music was nice, enjoyable but non intrusive.

Most of the tables were filled with Expats when I visited them on a weekend. Made me feel I was in a different country.
The staff were very well informed & were nice & warm as well. Though we did not need much assistance, a little chat with our guy made me feel he cud guide people well on choice of menu.

Food was enjoyable & made me feel like revisiting. They make some excellent thin crust pizzas & a variety of good pasta as well.

Detailed Description – In case u have the Time to NJOY reading:

We reached a bit early on a weekend noon. So decided to have a cup of Darjeeling tea to begin with. The tea came with a box of Biscotti almond. It was too good – had an Almondy & buttery feel in every bite. It had pieces of sliced almonds, the biscotti was 90% crisp and that gave a super texture. Great flavor in the biscotti. The Darjeeling tea was Twinings dip in hot water – Standard stuff. Rate the Tea package 4/5.

We ordered ‘Herb crusted halibut fillet roasted in wood fired oven drizzled with fresh citrus dressing served with spinach and roasted pumpkin’.

The Grilled pumpkin was a revelation. Loved it. Long slice of pumpkin grilled with sauces. Charred ends. Not too soft but good texture. Sweetish taste with a tinge of salt and sour and smokiness. I rate it 4.25/5.

Spinach was mind blowing good. So simple yet so nice. Talkative YUMMRAJ in loss of words to describe how good this vegetarian spinach preparation was & hence rate it 4.5/5

Crusted halibut was good as well. It was mildly juicy and relatively dry as compared to most other fishes. The seasoning was perfect. The crust was good and crispy but did not negatively interfere with the taste of the fish. The fish overall was however short of being great. We enjoyed it more with few drops of lemon sprinkled on it and also with the citrus reduction. I rate the fish 3/5.

Overall the rating of this dish averages out to 3.9/5

Post this dish we had ‘Tagliata sliced grilled tenderloin served with rocket and Parmesan’.Very few people serve such simple yet outstanding dishes in Delhi . A fillet of super juicy and just too tasty tenderloin grilled and cut into slices, topped by rocket leaves and super thin slices of Parmesan.

I love my tenderloin and usually like to have it just as it is. A bite into it with the rocket leaves and parmesan made me change my mind. I made sure all my balance bites were a combo of the three. Super loved the dish and rate it 4.75/5

Post this we had ‘Scottaditto grilled beaten lamb chops tossed in Demi glacé, served with roasted baby onions and potatoes.’

It was thinly sliced lamb ribs. The meat was beaten and hence the fibrous ness had reduced. The meat was juicy, soft and very tasty. The taste of the sauce was a known one – no surprises. Tiny jacket potatoes tasted good and loved the grilled onions. I rate this dish 4/5

We washed all this with Virgin mojito which was excellent . It was the classic formula with no twists and turns. Had the perfect balance of sweet and sour and good flavor of mint. Loved it. We rate it 4.5/5

For dessert we had New York cheesecake. Usually they have ricotta cheesecake but this day they had New York Cheesecake. Intense taste, tight texture, a bit over-refrigerated but outstanding in terms of both taste & flavors. The base was crispy & made its presence felt.

This was served with a berrilicious side that was absolutely stunning. Sweet & quite sour, it had real chunks of fruit. Excellent.

They also decorated the plate with liquid chocolate & liquid fruit jelly. Great to see & very good to taste as well.

Loved it & rate it 4.5/5

Rating of food at Diva Piccola averages out to 4.3/5

As mentioned, I wud love to revisit. Really liked the experience.