Italian food is best when served simple and abundant. This robust cuisine has become quite a crowd-puller with the Indian foodies and almost every other café keeps Italian food on its menu, such is its popularity. Although Italian food has gone much beyond the pastas and the pizzas, we can’t help but come back to the basics. We are drawn to the places which serves good old-fashioned Italian fare, loaded with sauce and love. A well-known UK brand has set its sights towards New Delhi, opening a charming outlet at Holiday Inn, Aero City, attracting its globe-trotting fans to Indian shores. ‘Bella Italia’ is known for its wholesome Italian fare, served the way we like it best – simple. It’s a good place for families but if you have something a more formal in mind, then give it a skip.

Like the name suggests, Bella Italia is all about delicious homely Italian food. Many of its ingredients are imported from UK itself to maintain the authenticity of the food, a fact we like. Their Sunday brunches are something you can look forward to. They are generous and pocket-friendly. Dining at Bella Italia is not cheap but it is satisfying. First course entails, arancini funghi, gamberi, zuppa minestrone, calamari, polpette, insalata verde, funghi arroto, mixed Italian olives and pollo Milanese bites. Don’t fill up on their lip-smacking appetizers, save some space for the mains. Eat, pizza legume piccante, diavola calzone, pasta capra, panzerotti funghi, ricotta spinaci lasagne, grilled Australian lamb chops, Quattro stagioni, tagliatelle pomodoro, tenderloin & red wine ravioli and pesto gnocchi.

Italians are famous for their desserts and at Bella Italia, it will be a sacrilege to skip the sweet course. Be ready to have a sugar rush with, cookie dough lava cake, limoncello meringue pie, tiramisu, gelato, strawberry ricotta mousse, pannacotta, cioccolato fondant and godfather sundaes. Slurp on a thick milkshake as the finale. Kids are taken care of as well. The dining area of Bella Italia is split across two levels in spacious quarters so one has plenty of room to walk around. A cute yellow vespa is parked on the landing of the upper level as a welcome surprise. The look is casual, relaxed and down-to-earth here with all that light wooden tones used all over the room.