Chef Riccardo Sculli Brings A Slice Of Calabria To Delhi’s Shangri-La Eros
Michelin-starred Chef Riccardo Sculli returns to Sorrento at Shangri-La Eros New Delhi for a five-day Calabrian pop-up. Through the four-course culinary journey, he brings alive the spirit, simplicity, and coastal soul of southern Italy.
There are restaurants where you go to eat, and then there are restaurants where you go to be transported. Sorrento has always leaned firmly toward the latter. Tucked inside the quiet luxury of Shangri-La Eros New Delhi, its soft gold lighting, textured stone walls, and hushed, confident service feel like stepping into a pocket of Italy smuggled into Lutyens’ Delhi. The olive oil glows, the room hums gently, and the promise of a good meal seems baked right into the air.
So when I heard that Michelin-starred chef, Riccardo Sculli, was returning for a five-day pop-up, I knew this visit would be less dinner and more pilgrimage. Calabria may be a continent and a sea away, but for one evening, Delhi got as close to the south of Italy as it reasonably could without a boarding pass.
Sculli’s reputation precedes him. At his restaurant Gambero Rosso, perched almost theatrically along the Calabrian coast, he has built a philosophy around place: what the fishermen bring, what the land gives, and what the season insists upon. Ingredients aren’t chosen; they are trusted. Flavours aren’t pushed; they are allowed to breathe.
Here in Delhi, that ethos arrives gently but unmistakably. The menu doesn’t shout. It reads like a coastline: clean, restrained, quietly confident.
The Star Dish
The meal begins with a choice: cold tuna tataki or marinated vegetable salad. Both hint at Sculli’s style— minimalist, pure, and one that well balances skill with optics and embellishment. The tuna is barely touched, just enough to coax out its oceanic sweetness. The vegetables are marinated with such precision that each bite feels like a study in freshness.
For the primi piatti (the first course of an Italian multi-course meal), Sculli offers risotto with Hokkaido scallops, that arrive soft, creamy, and fragrant; the scallops are seared just enough to add a whisper of caramelisation.
“Seafood is my speciality,” Chef Sculli tells me. There’s no dramatic plating, no architectural garnish— just a bowl of risotto that reminds you why simplicity in the right hands can be a luxury in itself. Suffice it to say, the scallops emerged as the evening’s real scene-stealer.
Then comes the choice of secondi, and I go with the pan-seared lamb rack with cauliflower and hazelnut. The lamb lands perfectly pink, tender but not indulgent, held together by the nuttiness of hazelnut, and the silent sweetness of cauliflower. This is the kind of main course that feels both global and unmistakably southern Italian in spirit: certain flavours, after all, can only come from a coast that has lived its entire life between mountain and sea.
Among the options was also the farm-raised chicken breast with organic carrot and ginger that offers a delicately-modern interpretation of earth and freshness. I didn’t go for it, but it sits on the menu like a thoughtful alternative.
If you are a vegetarian, then a perfect option for you is the eggplant parmigiana with glazed eggplant, hazelnuts, and red onion, which is a refined ode to comfort.
The finale is a two-part indulgence: a silky hazelnut, cocoa, and vanilla dessert and the wonderfully nostalgic coffee panna cotta “cappuccino.” Italian desserts can often be dramatic; Sculli’s are perfectly emotional. As soon as you taste the cocoa crisps, there is an instant sense of being surrounded by cacao plantation, the air thick with deep chocolatey notes. Pair that with the coffee-infused cream, and you are momentarily carried to a cosy café.
Ambience: An Extension Of Sculli’s Multi-Course Meal
Sorrento’s ambience plays a faint but important supporting role. The lighting is warm, and the tables are spaced generously.
It’s fine dining, yes, but without the puffed-up theatrics. No smoke-filled domes. No overly dramatic plating. No towers of food architecturally balancing for social media. The calm is deliberate, and Sculli’s food thrives inside it.
That philosophy shows up in every course. There are no loud flavours, no overselling, no heavy-handed luxury. This is Italian cuisine that believes in quiet beauty. It lets the ingredients speak in their own accents.
Final Verdict
By the time dessert fades, you realise that Sculli’s cooking isn’t trying to overwhelm you, it’s trying to bring you closer. To a coastline. To a philosophy. To a way of eating where the loudest flavour is honesty.
Sorrento, known for its elegance and calm, becomes the perfect canvas for this style of cooking. The collaboration feels natural, fluid, almost inevitable. And for one evening, Delhi feels touched by Calabria’s sunlit restraint.
If you enjoy food that whispers its brilliance, lingering long after the meal has ended, this is an experience worth seeking before it sails away.
A La Carte Temptations Available For Guests
Sorrento also offers a full à la carte selection during the pop-up, showcasing some of Sculli’s signatures in their purest form. While I didn’t order these, the menu reads like a study in marine precision: tiger prawns with sea urchin emulsion, saffron lobster with raspberries and soya, spaghetti with prawns and black winter truffle, Chilean sea bass with white asparagus and more.
Information
Address: 19, Ashoka Rd, Janpath, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001
Date:November 26 to November 30 , 2025.
Set menu: INR 5,000 (plus taxes)
Wine-paired set menu: INR 7,500 (plus taxes)
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