I have always felt that good seafood doesn’t need too much dressing up. When the ingredients are fresh, you can taste the difference. That was one of my biggest takeaways from a special dinner at Sorrento, the Italian restaurant at Shangri-La Eros New Delhi, where prawns, lobster, seabass and other seafood featured across a specially curated menu.
The prawns were my favourite part of the meal. They tasted so fresh, with a natural sweetness and a firm bite that made each preparation enjoyable. The kitchen had worked them into different dishes, and it was interesting to see how the same ingredient could take on a different character depending on how it was cooked.
We started with pistachio-crusted tiger prawns served with white tomato broth. The crust added a little crunch and nuttiness, while the broth kept the dish light. The prawns were delicious on their own, and I liked that their flavour wasn’t lost under a heavy sauce.
Next came spaghetti with grilled prawns. This was the sort of pasta I could happily order again. The prawns held their own against the pasta, and the grilling brought out their flavour without making them feel overcooked.
The mixed seafood risotto was a more substantial affair, with shrimps, calamari, clams and lobster coming together in one dish. There was plenty to enjoy in every spoonful, particularly if you like having different kinds of seafood in the same meal. The seafood platter, with tiger prawns, seabass and lobster, rounded off the line-up. For anyone who enjoys seafood, it was hard not to keep going back for another bite.
The food was the main reason I enjoyed the dinner, but there was more to the evening than what arrived at the table. The meal was part of Rooted in Nature, a culinary initiative by Shangri-La Eros New Delhi that focuses on responsible sourcing, seasonal ingredients and partnerships with suppliers.
For this dinner, the hotel worked with Fresh Marine Foods Pvt Ltd. The team shared details about how the seafood makes its way to the restaurant, from prawn cultivation and cleaning to grading, quality checks, temperature-controlled storage and transportation. These steps help preserve the quality of the seafood before it reaches the kitchen.
It is not something most diners think about when ordering prawns or lobster at a restaurant. We tend to focus on the dish in front of us, and understandably so. But the handling of seafood matters, particularly when freshness can make such a difference to its taste and texture.
The idea behind Rooted in Nature is to pay closer attention to where ingredients come from, work with responsible suppliers and support local communities while being mindful of the environmental impact of sourcing.
At Sorrento, I came away remembering the food first. The prawns were fresh, the pasta was satisfying, and the seafood platter gave us plenty to talk about over dinner. Knowing a little more about the journey behind the ingredients added another dimension to the meal, but it was the quality of the seafood that made me want to return.
