Love, in true Italian style, is best expressed through food. So, Arshita Singhvi has been perfecting dual-tone ravioli and a walnut, green chilli and garlic sauce dressing in her kitchen at Donna Cucina, the new Italian restaurant in Kalyani Nagar, for Valentine’s Day guests.
The menu, at any time, boasts Cappelletti Al Fungi (small, hat-shaped pasta filled with garlic mushroom and served with mushroom thyme butter), an array of Gnocchi, risotto, lasagna and Napolitana pizza, among others. “The dual-tone ravioli is very pretty to look at, with pink and yellow colours,” says Singhvi.
Italian food lovers would be familiar with Singhvi as the home cook who became popular on Instagram by rustling up delectable artisanal pasta during the Covid-19 pandemic. Orders came in such large numbers that she grew her business into a cloud kitchen in Koregaon Park. In late October, she shifted to an 80-plus seater, Donna Cucina, in a vintage villa where guests are served freshly handcrafted pasta and other dishes just the way it is done in Italy. The restaurant makes its own fresh ricotta – or Italian whey cheese – every day.
The Italian food market has been steadily growing in India, with surveys indicating that it is second only to Chinese in the foreign cuisine segment. In Pune, it is indicative of the trend that Singhvi was receiving orders from across the city but mostly from Koregaon Park. Donna Cucina is building a niche among the upper crust by building a clientele among people who are well-travelled and enjoy authentic Italian food.
“We have kept it simple when it comes to the business model. We are going to keep doing what we are good at and that means even when we serve coffee, it is Illy, which is a premium, family-owned Italian brand founded in 1933. We are keeping to our niche so as not to confuse our brand. Donna Cucina is not for the mass public, because they might not get the flavours and might feel that there’s not enough chilli and so on,” Singhvi adds.
A Chartered Accountant who has been cooking since she was a child, Singhvi draws her culinary philosophy from the simplest form of pasta that is made with just sage, butter or parmesan. “Just a few ingredients and it was one of my best and most comforting meals. It is so simple and quick but you have to get the ingredients right. Whatever you are using must be fresh,” she says. Significantly, her pasta does not use egg as “the magic of flour and water is amazing”.
Donna Cucina’s major investment has been in the kitchen, which boasts two imported machines from Italy for pasta making, among others. While Singhvi broke even at the Koregaon Park outlet in six months, it took three months to achieve an operational break even at the new space. A number of diners invariably still pick up fresh pasta to take home. “Once you eat fresh pasta, it is very difficult to go back to the packet variety. We also have a live kitchen and a live pasta room, where you can see your pasta being made from scratch,” says Singhvi.
Story continues below this ad
She had tasted fresh pasta for the first time while travelling in Manali years ago, and “I was hooked”. “I came back and, immediately, bought a pasta machine for myself. I was just making pasta just for me to eat. It is rare to find fresh pasta,” she says. It also changed the course of her life – she is the first in her family to enter the hospitality business.
With Donna Cucina, Singhvi will in all likelihood make others too fall in love with fresh pasta.
