HYDERABAD: In the cool and compliant environment of the restaurant, Viva, the hot food comes as a reprieve when it arrives. The ongoing Sindhi Punjabi food festival at Vivanta by Taj explores cuisine of the two states of Sindh and Punjab. The delicacies in the festival have been prepared individually by two chefs - Monica Rawlyani and BS Rawat who prepared the Sindhi and Punjabi food respectively.
The meal starts with chilled sweet lassi which coats the tongue and floods the taste buds with its exquisite taste. For the starters, we were served sindhi chapa which is gram filled patties that are flavoursome paired with paneer tikka. The paneer was a bit too tough, not the melting in the mouth variety and can be left in favour of the traditional sindhi took which are double fried aloo patties. The non-vegetarians were served with Amritsari fish tikka which was polished off quickly and bhunne lassan de murgh tikkey which are a must try. For the main course, the vegetarians can go for the palak paneer and sat sagi which are the the most delicious of all. The delicious dal makhni, makhmi dal and satpura which is spicy layered wheat bread are worth a try. But what stole the show was the desserts. There was moong dal halwa and sindhi pragri which elicited pure pleasure. Drenched in ghee, they just melt in the mouth.
The Sindh Punjabi food festival is an ongoing till November 9 at Viva, Vivanta by Taj and is open for lunch and dinner.