Bottega Hearty Lunch Deals Warm You From Within

Bottega's New Hearty Lunch Items Will Warm You From Within

Margaux Schreurs | Jan 27, 2016 10:00 am | 3 comments | 3045 reads

If you just can't shake that deep and never-ending feeling of being cold, it might be time to get yourself down to Bottega, tucked away across from Taikoo Li North in Sanlitun for their new lunch menu, available Monday to Friday, noon-3pm. Their new offerings tilt towards the hearty and warming, with six starters and six mains on the menu, and for RMB 88 you can bag one of each.

We tried three starters: the rustic Italian bruschetta trio, which were three pieces of Italian bread with three different toppings. It was tasty, but the other two starters blew our minds. The poached egg with sauteed spinach and taleggio sauce is worth coming for alone, with the egg yolk mixing with the taleggio sauce for an incredibly rich flavor. The layered eggplant, mozzarella, tomato ragu, and fresh ground pesto (pictured at top) was not only beautifully presented but also struck the right balance between melted cheese and the fried-then-baked eggplant.

As for the mains, the risotto with beetroot and Parmigiano-reggiano should be your choice if you're looking for a hearty, peppery lunch to warm you from the inside. The beetroot makes for fresh take on your standard mushroom risotto and gives the dish a striking pink color.

If you prefer pasta, the homemade fettuccine with chicken and porcini and cream sauce comes with generous chunks of chicken and mushrooms, the sauce ensuring that the pasta doesn't tangle and the small helping proving more than filling enough to get you through a cold winter's day.

And finally, if you're looking for protein, try the breaded ham and cheese stuffed chicken fillet with rucola salad for which our only suggestion would be more cheese. But then that's our suggestion for nearly all foods ever.

Adding a dessert (choose between their signature panna cotta, the tiramisu, or a mini apple tartlet) will set you back an extra RMB 20-25. There's also the option of adding a glass of white wine, red wine, or prosecco (RMB 30).

With no pizza to be found anywhere on this lunch menu, it's apparent that Bottega is pushing themselves to be known as something other than just an excellent pizza restaurant and we approve of the results. That didn't stop us from ordering some anyway ...