Pizza and therapy on the spa menu

Spa lunches are trendy this season. Anoothi Vishal checks out some new offerings and discovers that there's a gourmet way to vitality too!

Now that the cold, party season is finally over, one of the trendiest ways you can lunch out is to lunch healthily. That, of course, doesn't mean that you stick to boring salads and soups, unimaginative fare in general and no drinks worth the mention!

Instead, judging by what's on offer this season, you can have a veritable gourmet feast "" organic turkey with gruyere cheese, smoked salmon crepes, whole wheat penne with bisque sauce and even watermelon capriojka and (organic) wine.

Sitting al fresco, basking in the glorious sun at Divattra, a new spa restaurant at Delhi's Hotel Ashok (it compliments Amattra, the spa; has been done by the Capital's best-known chef-restaurateurs Diva's Ritu Dalmia, and entry is open to non-members as well), I am sipping a refreshing mix of beet, orange and carrot juices.

That this is a glass full of antioxidants is secondary "" I would've enjoyed this anyway. A look at the menu confirms the fact that the health factor at this restaurant doesn't override the basic premise of good food"" taste!

Apart from the many salads and small bites (eggplant caviar served with flat bread et al), a complete section on healthy wraps (whole wheat and spinach roomalis) there is also a section, surprising perhaps, on pizzas. In fact, the restaurant, where most of the seating is outdoors, has its piece de resistance in a beautiful wood-fired oven also set out in one corner of the lawn.

You can see, and smell, your pizza arrive from here fresh; an image that could be the very antithesis of conventions associated with "health food". The pizza I sample is the Diva favourite: very thin crust, topped with artichokes, spinach and mozzarella and the tomatoes visible. (But there's one with spicier salamis and jalepenos too "" spice and meat are not necessarily evil in this universe.)

This is a product far removed from American-style pizzas that you'd order at home which may have up to 500 g of refined flour dough, as opposed to 80 g for this thin crust, and be smothered in cheese.

In contrast, our offering has less cheese (none processed) and is topped off with a dash of health-affirming olive oil (only extra virgin is used in all Italian dishes; cold-pressed sesame oil used for Indian cooking). It is healthier certainly but would it constitute "spa cuisine"?

Ritu Dalmia, back to her restaurants after undergoing an extensive Ayurvedic treatment in Pune, says the premise is to serve wholesome food (organic and fresh) cooked hygienically and not too heavy on the stomach.

"In any case, according to Ayurveda, people ruled by vatta, pitta and kapha require different foods. A person with more air in his make-up, for instance, needs carbohydrates."

So there's no blanket ban on the common villains of Western diets "" carbs and fat. What she does ensure, on the other hand, is to steer clear of combinations that Ayurveda bans (chicken with honey, seafood with dairy, milk and fruits so there are no smoothies on the menu) and incorporates recommended ones (eggplant with oil or astringency; vegetables with coconut, which is why Goan-style curries are also there on the menu).

Divattra may be unique but the country's best-known spas and even lesser-known day ones all provide users with special menus tailored around principles of Ayurveda or other philosophies.

At some places like Ananda in the Himalayas that employs chefs from five-star hotels there has been even more emphasis than usual in providing interesting menus and healthy substitutes for all our excesses.

Now, Aura, the spa at The Park in Chennai, takes this concept forward. The menu here has the likes of grass-fed tenderloin and organic red rice; not just healthy bites but internationally trendy dining too. But spas apart, some smart standalone restaurants are also serving up similar concepts.

It probably started with Olive (with branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore) that used to do "spa lunches" targetted at women and designed to effectively utilise the otherwise non-revenue earning lunch slots. This season, the Smoke House Grill in Delhi, another smart young restaurant concept (its sister restaurant in Mumbai is the Salt Water Grill), is attempting the same.

Smoke Houses' spa lunches include not just a lip-smacking menu by way of the likes of butter milk crepes with port braised vegetables, herb-crusted chicken with salsa, char-grilled snapper with braised pok choy, grilled king fish steak and so forth, there's also organic wine, trendy mocktails and reinvented sugar-free desserts to match.

What's also on the menu are some spa therapies! Available only on Saturday afternoons, a tie-up with Spa Transformations (a mobile company, they can set up a spa experience in your home) means that guests could choose from 20 or 40 minute sessions including hand or foot massages, foot reflexology, neck, back and shoulder dry massages for charges ranging from Rs 500-700 per therapy.

This is done, no, not on the dining table, in a separate section, though you could well carry your glass of wine inside. Relaxed and rejuvenated, the lunch would beckon. Tempted?