LAHORE: It’s been a year since Zucchini opened its doors to Lahore. The fine-dining restaurant, nestled on the ‘modern food street’ MM Alam road, experienced the most traffic during Ramadan, when its sehri and iftar deals attracted foodies from far and wide. However, according to Umar Naeem of Zucchini, “We saw a humongous turnout of people during sehri time and even now there comes a point when the entire premises are packed and we’re forced to take reservations,” he said, while talking exclusively to Daily Times. Umar feels very passionate about his venture, aiming to constantly bring about changes in terms of menu, interior and functions. The restaurant has also hosted shoots of some renowned programmes and events. “I know there are plenty of other restaurants in the market now as well that offer Mediterranean cuisines, however, dining at Zucchini is the closest you can get to taste actual Mediterranean food in Lahore. Our spices, flavours, recipes and cooking techniques are such,” he says. According to Umar, people mostly come in for steaks, paninis, prawns and desserts that Zucchini offers. Mojito is to be the newest addition in the drinks section of the menu. As the season calls for it, we tried their New England Seafood Chowder under the Zuppa category. It was a creamy soup with diced potatoes, celery, onion, shrimp, fish and fresh cream. The one-serving soup bowl is priced at Rs 395 and we’ll be honest, that was actually the first time we tasted potatoes in seafood chowder soup. The flavour and the mere aroma of it was refreshing and cured our viral cough and flu in seconds. Under the Antipasto section, we went for Caprese and Mediterranean Prawn, priced at Rs 750 and Rs 795 respectively. Caprese is an Italian delicacy that we tried for the first time in our lives – as it turned out it was fresh and rich in taste. For those of you who have never had Caprese before like us, it had freshly-sliced buffalo mozzarella cheese, tossed with pine-nuts and diced tomatoes. For weight watchers and light eaters, Caprese should be a staple. The Mediterranean Prawn appetiser consisted of Arabian prawns tossed in chilli and garlic marinade, cooked to perfection. The prawns were well done; one could slice them in half with their folk! I liked the fact that the appetisers were light and rich in taste; just how they’re supposed to be. Mostly restaurants offer heavy and filling starters, leaving little room for us to order main course. Speaking of main course, we tried their Beef Lasagne, Zucchini’s Chicken and Chicken Parmesan Sandwich. The restaurant serves proper lavishly-presented main course meals that do justice to the fact that we had light appetisers and of course the appropriate pricing. The Chicken Parmesan Sandwich, priced at Rs 675 was a lightly-breaded chicken breast drizzled with marinara sauce and melted mozzarella cheese. It was served in focaccia bread, with French fries and fresh salad. The Beef Lasagne is for proper lasagne lovers; it was filling and more than enough for one person. Priced at Rs 895, the lasagne had a layer of Bolognese pasta and light tomato sauce, baked in cheddar cheese. Zucchini’s Chicken under their Pollo section, was the highest-priced main course we had. Available in Rs 995, the dish had a grilled chicken breast, stuffed with prawns and served with sautéed vegetable with a choice of potato. Talk about a cross between chicken and seafood! However, without a shadow of a doubt, Zucchini deserves a round of applause for its Desserts. They are not only nominally-priced but are a breath of fresh air, something we eagerly look forward to while dining there. We tried their Crème Brulee and their Bread Pudding Premium Ala Mode. Both are priced at Rs 450 and Rs 590 respectively. We informed the management how their bread pudding was one such delicacy that we could throng their premises for over and over in one single day. The newest addition of Mojito and their Pina Colada are must-have while dining in. Bon appétit!