Elba Trading Company launches Presto Panini for weekday lunches

For the last two years, the walls of Elba Trading Company (ETC) have told a certain story - one that involves dramatic photographs of a seaside village on the island of Elba, pasta being rolled and cut by hand, fresh black truffles being picked and shaved, and a neatly illustrated guide to pasta shapes. That language is now shifting at lunchtime. Some of these frames are now being quietly turned around at noon, to reveal cross-sections of focaccia panini with layers of bread, fillings, cheese and sauces. The pasta guide, too, has been replaced to make the division explicit. One reads ‘Elba Trading Company’, illustrating the anatomy of a well-made pasta: tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil, chillies. The other reads ‘Presto Panini’, breaking down the elements of its focaccia sandwiches: chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, mozzarella. It is a deliberate act of clarity. Entrance of ETC and Presto | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement After operating as a dinner-only restaurant for a year, ETC tentatively opened itself up to the daytime earlier this year, introducing weekend brunch. The offering leaned familiar with eggs, charcuterie, pasta, and a free flow of coffee, tea, and juices. Presto Panini marks a more decisive shift. Launched for weekday lunches, it runs on a completely separate menu, even though it occupies the same space. “We really wanted to launch a lunch menu, so we thought we should do it as a new brand rather than just an additional menu,” says Anand Madhan, managing partner, Elba Trading Company. We begin with the salads. The melon prosciutto with chunks of musk melons, and thinly sliced prosciutto, strikes a neat balance between savoury and sweet, finished with a generous drizzle of balsamic. The tomato bocconcini is a refreshing opener, while the classic Caesar is well-dressed, though it would benefit from croutons with a little more crunch. The salads add a refreshing acidic kick to the meal, that is otherwise bead and cheese heavy. A focaccia panini | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Before moving on to the centrepiece of the menu, we try the sweet potato fries - double-fried, well-seasoned, and best eaten hot with the in-house sauce. They arrive as a prelude of sorts. As we keep picking at them, two loaded focaccia panini are set down on the table. The loaded mushroom sandwich layers creamy mushrooms with fried oyster mushrooms, truffle cream and arugula. It is deeply savoury, driven by umami from both the mushrooms and the truffle, with a peppery finish from the greens. The braised beef panini on the other hand is filled with a slow-cooked beef, slathered with onion pecorino cream and layered with fresh tomatoes and arugula. The paninis pair well with a flavoured ginger ale or ice tea from the beverage menu. What anchors both sandwiches, however, is the bread. The focaccia, baked in-house with onion and cheese, sprinkled with kalonji seeds, is cut thick and toasted before assembly. “What the toasting does is keep it crisp on the outside for longer. That way, the...

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