HYDERABAD: October seems to be the preferred month around the world for merry-making. While India immerses itself in Navratri fasts and feasts around the country, Germany soaks up the autumnal spirit with food, dances and lots of beer during Octoberfest.
Hyatt Hyderabad has tried to replicate the German fest in its full glory, giving diners a glimpse of the gastronomical superstars of the this Bavarian food orgy. “Most of the dishes in the main menu are pork items. We have included traditional German breads like pretzels, and also Bratwurst, which is a kind of sausage made from pork. We have used pork imported from Germany for giving the dishes an authentic taste.” Apart from German delicacies, the menu also offers Indian and Thai food.
The spread started with an array of salads like Bavarian radish salad, red sauerkraut salad, German potato salad and creamy cucumber salad. The radish salad was tangy and the potato salad, made from bits of pork and baby potatoes, left a mark with its simplicity.
Starters included tenderloin goulash, sour chicken roulade, hasselback potatoes, curried pork sausages, beer-battered onion rings and Indian preparations like kababs. The goulash was mildly spiced with the meat nicely done, and the roulade was a tad dry. The pork sausages in a tomato-based gravy turned out be a winsome combination which was very flavourful, and the onion rings were crispy.
The counter for the main course was set outside where the appetising smell of pork ribs on the barbeque and music from a live band blended to give the atmosphere a cheery feel. Traditional German decorations, and tables laid with covers that had the signature blue and white checks of the Bavarian fest added to the milieu.
The bratwursts, the pork ribs, the red cabbage sauerkraut (a tangy preparation made from shredded, fermented cabbage) and the pretzels completed the German platter. There were other varieties of bread too like pumpkin seed bread. There were German bread dumplings that went well with the mashed potatoes and gravy. The sour and sweet glazed apples added the perfect light touch to the heavy, meaty affair. All these, of course, was washed down with a chilled mug of draught beer.
Among the desserts, traditional German sweets like the Bienenstich cake and Crullers deserve a mention. The cake was a dry one, not too sweet, and had dry fruits. Crullers tasted a lot like the Indian Malpua.
The festival falls on October 21, 28 and November 4. With beverage, the spread costs `2,199 ++, and `1,699 ++ without beverage.
— Kakoli Mukherjee
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@newindianexpress.com
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