Monday 23 February 2015

Visit to Awadh Food Festival at Seasonal Tastes,The Westin, Gurgaon.

I am always fascinated with cuisines like Mughal, Kashmiri, Kayastha and Awadh and never miss a chance to learn about these cuisines. So luckily i got an invitation by LINOPINION group to review the Awadhi food  at Seasonal Tastes,  Westin, Gurgaon into their two week long festival on this cuisine. As they say " You can always enjoy your meal with good company", I went with two of my best friends Shalini Pereira of All things nice  and Nimi Vashi  of  Matrix life magazine. .

I was amazed to see the hospitality of the Hotel staff and Chef Deepak Bhatia and Masterchef Qadir Khan . We got to know the details of each dish by Masterchef Khan . With discussing Masterchef Qadir Khan, I got to know that Awadh Cuisine has been originated from Lucknow and completely different than Mughal cuisine.  Unlike Mughal, Awadh cuisine use a handful of uncommon spices and cook the food in slow cooking process. Slow fire cooking lit the juices absorb into the solid parts of the meat. The major process of cooking is marinating meat which contribute the taste. Most of the Awadh food is cooked on Griddle or Tawa.  Cooks are known as Bawarchis.

Dhungar, Dum,
and Galavat are main process of Awadhi cooking. Dhungar means to give smoke to the meat or dishes. Dum is literally means to cook on slow fire with sealed Pot or Deg . Galavat is to tenderise the meat.

So we started our food with a glass of Thandai and Gulab Sharbat. I liked the Thandai better than Sharbat. In starters, we had Tandoori Bater ( Quail) , Subz Kababs, Gilautti Kabab, Paneer Tikka, Kakori Kabab. Kakori Kabab and Gilautti justed melted in my mouth . All spices were well balanced and so spice was overpowering with other spice. Bater was nicely grilled and the mint chutney was blending well with the bird.  Next, we had Tandoori Raan which was well marinated with Gilavat before cooking. It was served with two types of bread with Cardamom and Aniseed flavour.

Main Course
was served as buffet with Dum Dal,, Mirchi ka Salan, Murg and Gosht Biryanis, Nihari , with varities of papads Raita and Kachumber Salad and many more dishes for vegetarians.
I had Nihari at many places, but loved the Nihari at the festival. There was no trace of oil and the gravy was with all juices of the lamb bone . Lamb Biryani was tingling in my palate with mild spices and soft meat.  All the dishes were well balanced with spices and with smoky taste ( Dungar)

As I have a Sweet Tooth, and there were varities of sweet dishes apart from Awadh cuisine , I preferred to stick to authentic Awadhi sweet, so picked Lauki Ki kheer, Badam ka Halwa, Jao ki Sai, Seviya Muzzafar, Khubabi ka Meetha and Phirni.
My sweet tooth could not pick the best among all and I enjoyed all the dishes.

If you want to enjoy and explore the Awadhi food with some fantastic Sweets, Do visit -Seasonal Tastes,  Westin, Gurgaon . The festival is going on till 28th of Feb 2015.

Master chef Qadir Khan ( photo courtesy Shalini Pereira )

Gilauti Kabab. ( photo courtesy Shalini Pereira )

Kakori Kabab ( photo courtesy Shalini Pereira )

Subz Kabab . photo courtesy Shalini Pereira 


Raan. photo courtesy Shalini Pereira 

Thandai 

Gulab Serbat

Breads - 

Sweet dishes.. from left bottom- Seviyan Muzzafar, Khubani ka Meetha, Phirni, Jao ki Sai, Badam Halwa and Lauki ki Kheer. 

Thursday 12 February 2015

Review of Bamboo Shoot Kitchen.

Amar Colony, Lajpat Nagar also known as resettlement colony for refugees of Partition time , has become a favourite place for  North Easterns to live in. Due to its affordable rental, many youngsters prefer this place, as they find this place as central place to connect with rest of  Delhi-NCR with nearby Metro Station.  Most of the  residents  are working in Corporates, Call centers and studying in Delhi Universities. Among such NE residents, a group of friends decided to open up an outlet with authentic Naga, Manipuri and Assamese cuisine. When i went to visit their place for first time, i tried to speak to few student-guests , and they told me that , as students it is difficult to cook their meal and they cnt eat spicy meals on everyday basis. So they find their food as home cooked at Bamboo Shoot Kitchen

Their Menu consists of Beef, Chicken , Pork and Fish curries of all three state's cuisine . Although they have few vegetarian dishes but it is little difficult for vegetarians to find  options. Their range of chutneys - Eromba, Outi, Kangshoi, Sinju, King chilli chutney, are everybody's favorite.
Students find their Thalis very affordable. Their "add on" bonus is . they serve "Phik Chaa"( tea without sugar and milk) along with the meal.

Singthing, the senior most among the team , keeps trying and play with ingredients  to add interesting and innovative dishes in their menu. Recently they have come up with Burger with Northeastern flavour , with Pork meat, bambooshoot and Bhoot Jolokia.

As the Cafe is close by to my place, it has become my fav place for hangout.
* They do not serve Alcohol and Sweet dish *

To reach
4/8, Gupta Market, , Old Double Storey, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.

Meal for two
900/-


The clean and simple ambiance.

Phik Chaa.

My meal with Erombam Dal, Sinju, Buff curry, Pork with Bamboo shoot, Fish in Manipuri style curry

Pork with dry bamboo shoots
Bamboo Shoot Kitchen. 

Wednesday 4 February 2015

Espion's visit to World Pizza Journey, Hauz Khas Village

Hauz Khas Village is a bub of Cafes/ Restaurants and Designer Studios. Its a plush hangout place. In the midst of the bustling Hauz Khas . , Ankit Tayal and Abhishek Mathur have opened  their new brain child " World Pizza Journey " . As the name WPJ takes , their take on world's best pizzas.

Ambiance is bright and colourful and certainly cheers the mood. They have beautiful old Hollywood posters framed on the wall and table tops . Their design of the menu is influenced by the Passport. and stamps for the world tour . While tasting the Pizzas, we had an hour long discussion with Ankit Tayal , and got to know that they have done enough research to make sure to bring World's best Pizzas from different part of the World.

Their Menu covers Pizzas from Italy, Malaysia, Moscow, France, South Africa, Turkey, South America, Thailand , Greece, Egypt, Brazil, Chicago, Hawain, Britain , China and our own spicy Indian flavour as Pizza toppings. Interesting part is they serve their Pizzas with a pitcher of cocktail to blend with it. They have some very interesting and innovative concoctions done by Mixologist Viju Raj. Some of his interesting concoctions are chicago orange brandy, Russian Bride, Apretivo Venum, Khus Madira and many more.

Let me have my meal

We ordered for Greek to me Pizza , Jerk Chicken Pizza and St troppe Pizza and had with Cocktails - French kiss, and Jamaican Sunrise . Base of Greek Pizza was thick , and Jerk Chicken Pizza and St troppe came with thin crust pizzas. Personally I liked think crust . I found the quality of the base very good.
Besides , Pizzas they have huge options for side dish  and soups. We had Spinach soup in veg and clear soup with shrimps in nonveg option. In side dish options, we had Rocky Boloa Salad with fresh veggies with lots of cheese. and Loaded Potato skins with veggies. Salad was fresh and crisp but found Loaded Potato skin little bland. They can serve with little spicy sauce with it.

Sweet tooth


In sweet section we ordered for Banana Nutella crepe which was served with vanilla icecream.
I was amazed to see their creativity in serving pans and bill box. They got music records embedded in the fibre pans . and custom made cute little gramophone for the bill box.

Colourful and cheerful . ambiance


Spinach soup with Garlic Bread

Loved these jars. 

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pizza with Jamaican Sunshine drink 

St Troppe Pizza with  French Kiss Cocktail 

Old records embedded on Fire pans . 

Rocky Boloa Salad

Potato peel with veggies and cheese. 


Greek to me Pizza 

Banana and Nutella crepe with Vanilla icecream

Customised gramophones for bill box 



To reach

26 ,Ground Floor, Hauz Khas village. New Delhi.
Meal for two - 1200 for two.
** Although The Kitchen Espion pays for its own bill but this visit was with my fellow blogger +Nimi Vashi  on special invitation.