Casamigo in Thiruvananthapuram serves a blend of international flavours in a cosy bistro setting

Casamigo in Thiruvananthapuram offers fusion cuisine in a cosy setting, featuring dishes like wings to fly and blush milk cake.

The wicker basket of toasted bread and butter placed on a table covered with a green plaid tablecloth at Casamigo transports you to an Italian supper setting. Resembling a European bakery, the bistro, located at Ambalathumukku in Pettah, Thiruvananthapuram, reveals a cosy interior with warm hues illuminated by lanterns. An abundance of imitation plants and flowers adorn the ceiling, while desserts gaze intently at the entrance through a misty glass case at the counter.

“It took us around a year to set this up,” says owner Anusha Ann Antony, who worked in the aviation sector in Africa with her husband earlier.

“I was in Africa for 10 years, but I didn’t feel like I fit into my job there. I was idle for a bit and then started baking for my friends and neighbours — a mixed crowd of Lebanese, French, American, and Europeans. They motivated me to start baking as a business, and I did that there for seven years,” says Anusha, who recently moved back to Thiruvananthapuram after her stint in Africa.

“When I got here, I wanted to do something more than baking cakes. I wanted to bring in the taste of my travels to the table,” says Anusha, attempting to showcase fusion food, combining elements of Asian, French, Italian and African cooking, with the help of her friend Roby Daniel. At Casamigo, cuisines blend seamlessly, from the sweet and spicy wings to fly to stewper boeuf (a version of French beef stew).

Wings to fly is a rendition of the classic wings tossed into a wok with a sticky, sweet and spicy sauce, generously coated with chopped shallots, scallions, chilli flakes and so on. The baked wings are tossed into the sauce which is rich in aroma. It is a great start to a meal at ₹180.

While the name stewper boeuf might sound foreign, the flavours share similarities with the Kerala-style beef stew. The marbled meat is braised for six hours in the oven with mushrooms and Italian herbs. It is generously seasoned with powdered pepper and peppercorns. The beef fat from the braising, creates a rich gravy. It is pure bliss to scrape off the gravy with a piece of buttered bread, and a small piece of tender meat with a soft, fat lining. It is priced at ₹340 and is available with buttered bread and rice.

Amigos spaghetti is a bowl of Italian pasta served with an array of luncheon meats and a fried egg. The long and thin pasta is tossed in a butter-based sauce and garnished with chilli oil, which breaks the richness of the butter. While tomatoes are used in the sauce, it steers clear of being the typical red-sauce pasta dish. The flavours of oregano and other Italian herbs sing through this pasta dish at ₹290.