Bengalis are known for their elaborate meals, sea food and of course, their desserts. Ushering in the Bengali New Year, which falls on April 14 this year, The Park Hyderabad has whipped up a three-day Bengali feast, Nobo Borsher Bhoj, which begins today. In order to introduce Hyderabadis to the world of Bengali cuisine, chef Kedar Muduli from The Park Kolkata has been brought in to ensure authenticity of the food being served. Apart from that, various ingredients, which bring out the various Bengali flavours, have been sourced from the City of Joy.
Some of those ingredients include Gondhoraj lemon, Randhoni spice, varieties of fish like Bekti, Parse, Pabda, Topse, among others.
The festival is on at Aish and Verandah (in-house restaurants at The Park). For those who want to experience every dish on offer, should head to Aish, since they will be serving a Thali, which will include a variety of starters, main course, followed by desserts. However, for the ones who have their favourites, can visit Verandah, as it has an a la carte menu to choose from.
In both cases, the feast will begin with a welcome drink of aam panna, which will surely refresh you in this heat and whet your appetite.
While Bengali food is like a dream come true for all the non-vegetarians out there, the menu at this festival is balanced out with an equal amount of delicious vegetarian dishes as well.
A must-try for the non-vegetarians would be Fish Chop (Bengali minced fish and potato cutlets), Topse fry (whole batter fried fish), Golda Chingri malai curry (prawn in coconut gravy served in a tender coconut) and Kacha lankar mangsho (mutton cooked with green chillies).
Vegetarians must try out some of their Posto Bora (poppy seed and onion fritters), Sukto (Traditional Bengali mix vegetable curry in coconut and poppy seed gravy), Dhakai choto aloo dum (baby potatoes) and Mochar ghonto, among others.
A Bengali meal is incomplete without dessert, especially Rasogolla. The dessert platter also includes Mishti Doi, Nolen Gurer Rasmalai Icecream and Sandesh. The festival is open for lunch at Aish, and for a la carte lunch and dinner at Verandah.