a fine dining experience-'the dome' and the 'corleone'

my cousin from the us was on a business trip to india. i missed him the previous week when he arrived as i was travelling to chennai for my niece's wedding.while returning to the us,he stopped by at mumbai for a day which gave us an opportunity to meet. we planned for drinks at my place and a quiet meal in some good restaurant. we had a few things to discuss in privacy and i thought "the intercontinental" which is near home would be an apt choice. we first went to the "dome" which is at the rooftop to quench our thirst. the "dome" offers a fantastic view of the arabian sea. the ambience is superb and from the bar one gets a breathtaking view of the queen's necklace. post drinks, we decided to have dinner at the 'kabab korner' situated on the first floor."kabab corner" is one of my regular haunts. their service and food are excellent. my favourite steward is jaspal singh who does his best to keep a vegetarian like me happy and well-fed in a restaurant where most of the guests are eating nonvegetarian stuff.he makes it a point to get me hot and mouth-watering vegetarian kababs. as the decision to go to intercontinental was impromptu,i didn't book in advance and when we reached there from the "dome" we found the place was full. though there were a few empty tables they were all reserved. regretably,we left the place and went over to 'corleone' situated next to "kabab corner".

'corleone' is intercontinental's signature italian restaurant. i had never visited this place earlier. i thought i was taking a big risk. but my maiden experience proved otherwise. the ambience in 'corleone' is awesome,the sicilian food truly delectable and the service excellent. there were very few guests in the restaurant which meant that we could have our conversation peacefully. we ordered a plate of risotto and penne arrabbiata which we both liked. in italian, arrabbiata means angry.the arrabbiatta we ate was a roman sauce of tomatoes,garlic,red chili and basil cooked in olive oil.it was served with wheat tubular pasta and some fresh parsley sprinkled on top. the taste was hot and fiery and i liked it. the arrabbiata made me very calm. my cousin enjoyed the food as well though he might have liked it less spicy and less hot.

the restaurant is named after a small sicilian town which has the ignominy of being the birthplace of most of the 'mafiosi'. why this name was chosen is anybody's guess.