CHENNAI: The Holi cheer was on full display at Holiday Inn as Cafe G’s daily decor gave way for beautiful drapes and a wide array of delectable dishes from across the country. The Flavours of India food festival, which was held from March 15 to March 24 at the hotel had a specially curated menu with four vegetarian and four non-vegetarian dishes as part of the main course and two vegetarian and two non-vegetarian dishes as starters. In addition to this, there were live counters that had mouth watering eats like different types of paniyaram, a chaat counter, a kulcha counter and so on. The menu was different on each day.
“We kept in mind to have a menu that had food from across the country,” said Kuldeep Singh, Chef de cuisine at the restaurant. “Our USP is that this is all very authentic food. We have a team of chefs who have made food that they are familiar with and are experts. We consciously stayed away from making any fushion food because we wanted to remain true to the dish.”
He said the menu took him about 10-15 days to curate in collaboration with his team. The Paneer Shahjahani, which is a delicacy of Lucknow, melts in your mouth while the Gilafi ki Seekh, a Muglai kebab from the kitchen of nawabs, is a taste of royalty.
The Pasalai keerai kozhi, an authentic Chettinad local starter, is perfect with just the right blend of flavours that linger. The Kovippu varuval from Madurai was another must-try.
What is a food festival that doesn’t feature the simple yet supremely satisfying sarson ka saag coupled with makke ki roti that transports you right to the fields of Punjab.
The besan laddu, a specialty of Uttar Pradesh and the Kesar Rasmalai of Mathura make for the best way to end the meal. The sweets were the answer to every craving after a fabulous meal.
It is always hard to come up with a menu that requires very careful curation and thought but for Kuldeep Singh, it was just a matter of figuring out dishes from his many travels across the country.