When AD Singh came to Delhi with the intention of replicating the success of Olive in Mumbai, he had asked me what the ideal mix should be: pure ambience (you can't beat Olive in that department - located in the shadow of the twelfth-century Qutab Minar, Delhi's most visible symbol, it commands a spectacular view of that part of the city where its past and present meet) or pure gastronomy (it's well-known that the city's serious patrons of restaurants, who, unlike Page 3 socialites, aren't birds of passage, flitting from one favoured spot to another, develop feelings of fealty with particular places purely on the basis of food). Over the last three years and more, Olive Bar & Kitchen, blessed with an ambience handed over to AD by real estate developer and heritage hotelier Sanjeev Batra, has become a laboratory of fine cuisine. Normally, Delhi 's restaurants are big in one department and falter in the other, but Olive has successfully struck a delicate balance between the two.

Olive's evolution as a fine food destination was evident at the Marchesi di Frescobaldi dinner organised in honour of Ferdinando Frescobaldi, who was visiting Delhi after a vacation in Barbados (see Sourish Bhattacharyya's interview with him in Tuesday's delWine ). At an evening where the Chilean Ambassador, Jorge Heine, back from his extended vacation, his Uruguyan counterpart, William Ehlers, and a couple of senior Italian diplomats were around to savour the offerings of one of Italy's leading wine houses, which has been in the business for 29 generations, Chef Saby and Olive's resident wine enthusiast Mohit Balachandran, with his colleague Anirban Sarkar providing seamless backup, chose wisely to showcase the restaurant's brilliantly conceived degustation menu.

Lending them support from the sidelines was Simer Dhall, Frescobaldi importer Aman Dhall's quietly efficient sister, who has taken charge of planning Brindco's wine events. It was a memorable display of coordination between wine importer and wine dinner organiser, which normally one associates with Brindco and Diva, Ritu Dalmia's chic restaurant, and the Trident Hilton, Gurgaon, whose stunning ambience once again complements its fine food offerings.

Unlike Indian Wine Academy President Subhash Arora, I had never regarded Olive as a serious wine destination, though I am a breathless admirer of its food. I am changing my mind, and how! I am not a great admirer of its wine list primarily because I find mostly commonplace labels jostling with a sprinkling of decent offerings on it, but I can sense winds of change. I can see that Mohit, whose South African experience enables him to understand wine, is making realistic moves to promote wine consumption in what is primarily a spirits-driven market.

He explains that his wine list is realistic - his customers aren't prepared yet to venture out of the comfort zone of wines with which they've developed a degree of familiarity, so it's pointless to make elaborate lists with fine wines that only connoisseurs have heard about. Olive has those wines, but in manageable quantities, though what is more important in an emerging market is a restaurant's ability to create an excitement about wine. That is what Mohit, Anirban and Saby are attempting to do by saving fine wine dining from snobbery and turning it into an intensely desirable experience.

And they succeeded in creating this excitement at the Frescobaldi dinner, which started at Olive's lily-white lounge bar, brilliantly lit by aromatic candles, with Pomino Bianco, a drink for all occasions. Among the floating appetisers, the wine went best with prawns wrapped in herbed batter - the size and succulence of the prawns left me impressed.

When we sat down for dinner, after the unassuming upholder of the Frescobaldi tradition charmed up us with his gentle sense of humour, I was quite taken aback by the pairing of the Nipozzano Reserva 2003, a young, medium-bodied 90% sangiovese, with a trio of black pepper-crusted calamari and cognac flamed foie gras and scallops. In this case, I felt the food outperformed the wine, but what followed were perfect matches.

The Parma ham-wrapped chicken breast stuffed with tender asparagus, toasted almonds, risotto and hand-pounded mustard sauce tangoed with the Mormoreto Super Tuscan, 2003, Bordeaux-style blend with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, and the dance assumed climactic proportions with the full-bodied Mormoreto 2000, the second wine served with the dish.

Without doubt, the star of the evening, by an overwhelming consensus, was the Lamaione 2000, a 100% merlot, whose spicy notes make it the ideal suitor for the Indian palate. The wine and the nut-crusted New Zealand lamb chops hit it off like a house on fire, leaving a pleasant memory for us to take home. The dessert platter - Turkish filo pouches served on caramelised pineapple with star anise custard, tiramisu layered with mascarpone and coffee liqueur, and chocolate fondant - provided a finale befitting a delightful evening. I was pained to see the accompanying grappa being ignored on the table. Most people get scared by the alcohol content of grappa, but you can't say an Italian evening is complete unless you've had a shot.

Restaurants like Olive give us hope in Delhi 's dreary fine dining market. Initially, people would go to Olive, to use an old AD-ism, "to eat the ambience." Today, people go there for a complete gastronomic experience.