HYDERABAD: Bengal and Odisha are neighbours not just on the map, but in the culinary realms as well. That’s why Jivati Restro, Jubilee Hills the food festival ‘Chhapan Bhog: A Spread of Odia and Bengali’ is offering cuisines from both the states. The best part is that the restaurant is the first organic eatery to have opened in the city. If you are wondering how meat can be organic, you’d like to hear what Mahendra Bhardwaj Dalal, the CEO of the place has to tell you. He shares, “Organic is not just the purity of the food
item, it is also about how the same is grown.”
That’s how when you bite into the pieces of tandoori prawns they are tender and juicy. The secret? They are grown in the organic way. Informs Mahendra, “They are cultivated in Sunderban delta in a barricaded area where the sea and the river converges, and the polluted water doesn’t enter.” The organic project is a collaborative initiative by the government of Germany and an NGO. The red and shiny crab on the plate was equally good. Said Swati Sucharita, food critic and curator of the food promotion, “These are fresh from Chilika Lake and retain the taste best when spices are minimal in the gravy.”
That’s why the meat within the shell was not just succulent but it also left that lovely sweet taste in my mouth. The crisp chicken chop tasted nice with a hint of pepper, the freshness in the taste was perhaps due to the fact the birds are fed on organic ragi and millets. It tasted very much like what is sold in the canteens of Calcutta.
We loved the fluffy, yellow Odia style rice Kanika fragrant with saffron. Slightly sweet, it tasted well with Mati Handi Manso Torokari: mutton cooked in earthen pot. Other than that, Mutton Cutlet is a must try and Sapuri Khatta, pineapple chunks cooked in thin mildly spiced syrup shouldn’t be missed. That’s where you feel that it is the proper Odia version which is tangy whereas in Bengal the same is eaten with saccharine. In the dessert platter, do try Channa Jhili, a version of paneer jalebi. What we really missed is hot, fluffy puris essential part of any Odia or Bengali platter. The festival ends today.
Price: `999++
— Saima Afreen saima@newindianexpress @Sfreen