Glasses of chilled fresh juices and lassi, bowls of dry fruits, dates and crunchy nuts, an assortment of breads, salads warm snacks and scrumptious goodies...
The Iftar dinner buffet at Malabar Café in Hyatt Regency Trivandrum is a dreamy spread right out of fairy tales.
The hotel brings together all the familiar elements of ‘nomb thura’ and much more through a specially curated buffet. What begins with the usual starters soon expands into a selection inspired by culinary traditions from West Asia.
The menu features more than 130 dishes associated with Ramadan tables from several regions, including Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Morocco, Lebanon and Egypt.
The meal opens with a hot bowl of Kozhicharu soup — a simple, warming start before moving to the snack counters. Here, the spread leans into familiar flavours. Vegetarian options include unnakkaya, pazhampori, paneer tikka, poricha pathiri and soft vattayapam.
The non-vegetarian side features mutta bhaji, BBQ chicken lollipop, kozhi vada, beef cutlet, meen porichathu and squid. It is a generous line-up, and one that could easily feel like a complete meal on its own.
Then comes the main course. The Kabsa, a Saudi-style rice dish cooked in a spiced meat broth with vegetables, is fragrant and flavourful. The Palestinian Quidra rice, layered with meat and spices, is richer and more filling, making it one of the standouts on the table.
Among the slow-cooked dishes, the lamb tagine offers tender meat with a mild, comforting flavour. The grilled Shish Tawook, marinated chicken skewers from the Levant, might feel like a chicken tikka but with lighter seasoning.
The lamb dolma has a savoury filling, while the Turkish pide stands out for its soft texture and subtle taste.
There are also smaller bites worth trying. Sambusek Laham, the crisp pastry filled with spiced minced meat, works well as a quick snack between heavier dishes. Thari Kanji, familiar to many in Kerala during Ramadan, adds a comforting local element to the buffet.
Haleem is another highlight. The slow-cooked meat and lentils have a dense texture and a deep umami taste. It is easily the best Ramadan fare and one that comes with heavy praise from the chef.
The buffet also favourites such as shawarma, butter garlic prawns, parotta, Malabar biriyani, Alappuzha fish curry, and mutton pirattu, etc.
As usual, desserts bring a sweet finish to the meal. Balah El Sham, the syrup-soaked Egyptian pastry, is light and crisp, while Umm Ali and Qatayef offer more traditional Persian taste. Western and Indian sweets are also part of the spread. The selection of teas — black, peppermint, hibiscus and Assam — provides a simple end to the meal.
Hosted daily from 6.30pm to 10.30pm until March 20, the Iftar dinner buffet has been curated under the guidance of chief chef Karthik Gunashekharan.
“I strongly believe you won’t find this kind of spread anywhere else in the city. The menu changes slightly every day as we try to introduce different dishes. We spent the past six months analysing the feedback from last year’s Iftar spread. Based on that, we curated this menu with a special focus on Arabic cuisine,” he says.
“The guests have appreciated both the quality of the food and the variety of the spread. The starters, in particular, have received the most compliments. After breaking their fast, guests usually begin with the starters, and I believe the first impression matters the most,” he smiles.
The buffet is priced at `2,300 + taxes per person