Kathmandu:

The aroma of melting cheese wafts through the air as you enter the restaurant. The open kitchen counter allows one to see what is being cooked. Sun dried tomatoes splattering in olive oil, smell of bacon and salmon make your mouth water and you just want to dig into the pizzas and the pastas at the Rox Restaurant, Hyatt Regency.

Rox Restaurant is ready with its cucina Italiana menu of pizzas and pastas, which will be served on Mondays and Tuesdays. Prepared by Chef Dawa Lama, who has been with the hotel for the last three years, this is the place to be this season for authentic Italian cuisine.

“I have tried to use less herbs and spices. So, most of the flavour comes from the ingredients used like fresh vegetables, meat products, pepper and different cheese. The only dish that has herbs and spices is the Spinach Tagliatelli. It has tomato sauce, which contains essential herbs like rosemary, oregano, basil and thymes,” said Chef Lama describing his table.

Italian pastas come in different shapes, sizes and colours, and Rox has made sure this gamut of the pasta family is covered. You can try the Fussili with tuna sauce — col-ourful spiral pasta with black olives. The Lumaconi pasta with bacon is rich and heavy; the blue cheese adds a salty, sour flavour complementing the richness of the cream. Vegetarians can try Spinach tagliatelli with broccoli and tomato sauce and topped with cheese.

Mozzarella, Parmesan and Cheddar imported from Singap-ore are usually used, but yak ch-eese from the local market is used for some dishes.

If you are a pasta fan, then you cannot afford to miss the Black squid linguine with salmon sauce. The taste of this brown pasta, coloured with squid ink, is simply out of this world as each morsel makes you want more.

And of course we cannot forget the pizzas. The best part of eating pizzas here is that you can ask for your own toppings as your pizza is being made. The chef has tried to give a unique twist to his creation by having potato base in the Giardinaire pizza, while the Four Seasons pizza comes with four different toppings. Vegetarians can relish the Cheese and artichoke pizza with toppings of lettuce and cherry tomato.

Fine dining is not complete without a glass of good wine, which the restaurant offers like Chianti, Valpolialla (red), and Ruffino, Muscadet (white) among others. The wine promotion is also offering a 15 per cent discount (per bottle) on listed wines from Italy, France, Australia and Chile. To add that local touch, professional musicians play live traditional music at the temple courtyard.

If you feel blue on Monday, head to the Rox Res-taurant and treat your self to some Italian delights.