What’s in the lunch box?

A simple menu with rice dishes flavoured with a salsa or a pesto make the meal satiating to the taste buds

How about a working day lunch eaten quickly out of a lunch box just like the old times? Olive Bistro’s recent edition of ‘Lunch Box’ in addition to recreating the excitement of eating out of a typical three-tier dabba has also catered to the craving for rice that needs no explanation for the South Indians especially.

Olive Bistro has become pretty popular for its European specialties and does have the likes of a Risotto for a rice dish. The new addition – that of a ‘Lunch Box’ menu is a welcome addition and boasts of four varieties of rice dishes drawn from four cuisines in interesting combos.

The North African chickpeas and saffron rice (that in all probability is an Indian export to Africa) served with spiced orange and tomato sauce; olive oil pilaf with braised puy lentils and dill added to it, served with feta and oregano gravy on the side from Greece; smoky roasted garlic rice served with the uniquely flavourful Spanish sofrito mix of tomatoes, oregano and bell peppers; the Portuguese green pea rice flavoured with piri piri, fresh herbs and black-eyed peas are the options on the rice menu.

The lunch can be made wholesome by adding your choice of protein – like marinated cottage cheese, sautéed wild mushroom, spiced buffalo Mozzarella, crisp chicken tenders, etc. For the topping are the simple fried egg and tomato salsa or the sorrel pesto, Tzatziki and orange and mustard slaw.

The three-step menu is simple yet exciting and just enough to satiate taste buds while energising you – just what an ideal lunch on a working day should do.