Bengali Food Festival at Hornby's Pavillion, ITC Grand Central, Mumbai

Arundhati at the ITC Grand Central (Parel) invited Rhea, her mum, me and a few of our blogger friends to  a food tasting at the Grand Central last evening. The ITC was having a Bong food festival and Arundhati at the ITC was sweet enough to ask us folks down. 

The three of us were joined in the lobby by Harini, Pawan and Megha and we proceeded to Hornby's Pavillion to meet Chef Sumeet (who runs the Hornby's kitchen) and Chef Somnath who had flown down from the ITC's Sonar in Kolkata to assure the authenticity of the Festival's cuisine.

I was a tad bit sceptical as the last such Bong food festival I had been to had a poor choice of dishes, they were not suited to a buffet and the food hit all those who attended that dinner quite hard in the belly ... but given that Arundhati had made such an effort I decided to give it an honest shot. 

Right from the start we were put at our ease by Arundhati, Chef Sumeet and the ever smiling slightly cherubic Chef Somnath. The food was surprisingly authentic and the dishes were not the usual 'chaap, rezala, biryani trio' that are trotted out whenever the term Bengali Cuisine turns up. Though the ubiquitous 'Ilish' was present it was not the only star in the night's repertoire. The dishes were authentic, unapologetic, and most definitely not dumbed down for the Mumbai palette. The Shorshe bata (crushed and ground Mustard seed paste) had its 'jhaanjh' (mustardy spicyness) and the Aloo Posto its green chilli bite ... the food was cooked in mustard oil and no healthy concessions of Saffola or Sunflower were anywhere near the horizon.

The starters were an interesting blend of veg and non-veg and Harini's Vegan options were firmly in place. Not very surprisingly a lot of the vegetarian Bengali dishes were naturally Vegan.

The starters included Veg Chop and Phoolkopi Pakoda, the non-veg options were a very funky Chicken Cutlet and  Kobiraji Bhetki. The Bhetki was sadly completely unsalted and a fine dish came to a tragic end -the Chicken Cutlets on the other hand were reminiscent of the crumbed fish fillets that all 5 star buffets doled up in the 70s and 80s and were crisp, crunchy and great fun.

The Veg Chop (left) and the Chicken Cutlet (right)

The Phoolkopi'r Pakoda

The Kobiraji Fish

When the chef asked us what we'd like to drink I asked for Aaam Pora Sherbat ... a green raw mango cooler ... he was startled at the request and immediately set about to make some from scratch. The Sherbet was a great hit with all of us though Chef Somnath was not satisfied as he had to 'tandoor' the mangoes instead of a slow pan grill (to save time) ... the quest for perfection is after all the mark of a good chef!!

Aam Pora Sherbat

The main course started with Ghee Bhaat (Rice redolent with fresh Jharna Ghee from Calcutta and liberally sprinkled with fried Cashew nuts), Chholar Dal (Chana Dal with small cubed Coconut pieces), Phoolkopi Torkari (Cauliflower), Aloo Posto (Potatoes in a Poppy seed curry with a green chilli bite), Chhanaar Dalna (Soft cottage chese koftas simmered in lovely red brown curry)  and finally a truly awesome Shaak Ghonto (Palak, Mooli and Potatoes cooked with small dried Dal wadis). The Shaak Ghonto was the highlight of the meal!

Chholaar Dal

The Shaak Ghonto

The non-veg main course included a lovely light Doi Ilish (Hilsa cooked with curd), A slow cooked Tangra, Shorshe baata Ilish (Hilsa cooked in a Ground Mustard Paste) and a luscious Kosha Maangsho (Mutton curry). The meal was completed not by the ubiquitous Kolkata Biryani (which according to me is a dry rice preparation with a large chunk of boiled meat!!) but a truly delicious Dakai Reyaazi Khaashi Polao (Rich Dhaka Style Mutton Pullao).

The Kosha Maangsho 

The slow cooked Tangra 

(Chef Somnath was unhappy with its small size ... but Megha felt the gravy was awesome)

The Reyaaji Polao (left) and the Chhanaar Dalna and Ghee Bhaat (right)

Chef Somnath with the Shorshe Ilish and Rhea polishing it off soon after.

The meal ended with a selection of Bengali Sweets and Mishti Doi (traditional Bengali sweet curd). The doi was good but not spectacular. The sweets on the other hand were really outstanding especially the Bhapa Sandesh and the Chitrakoot both made under Chef Somnaths directions and neither overly sweet.

It was a fantastic Bengali meal and all of us were stuffed all the way to the gills. 

Arundhati, Chef Sumeet and  The Horby's Pavillion crew took amazingly good care of us, as is the ITC way. 

Bringing the happy, smiling and truly great Chef Somnath down was a stroke of genius ... here's looking forward to many more such Food Festivals. The Festival is on today and tomorrow and I seriously recommend you folks in Mumbai give it a dekko.

The Mumbai Food Bloggers Dinner at the West View Bar & Grill, ITC Grand Maratha

The title of this blog is kind of self descriptive but doesn't even skim upon the absolutely fun time we guys had there.

Rushina magically conjured up a dinner for The Mumbai Food Bloggers at the West View Bar and Grill at the ITC Grand Maratha, Mumbai on the nite of the 1st of October 2011. It was a very erudite and eclectic gathering of Vegans, Vegetarians, pro Food Writers, a Tea afficionado, Food Bloggers and a lone Caterer (namely me). We met up in the small lobby cum Wine display area of the Grill and were immediately set at ease by our host Rini Sinha (of the ITC) and her team ... the bloggers descended on the meat, veggie and salad display like paparazzi at the Royal wedding!! Oh what joy!

Rini and Rushina soon rounded us up and we introduced one another over some lovely Prosecco and some nice Gouda, Edam and what I thought was pretty weird and according to Shanky - a Provolone ... not my strong suite these Italian cheeses.

We moved on to our tables (where we were served some superb light and airy but heavenly herbed Focaccia .... in its very baking pan) and pontificated on the concept of the Grill Restaurant. The Grill is essentially a New York favourite that has permeated the entire restaurant world. A classic example would be Les Halles - Anthony Bourdain's last place of employment. A Grill is essentially a place that has a wide choice of meats (and in India veggies) which are grilled to the clients specs and then plated straight off to the table. It's essentially a meat lovers paradise.

After a bit of 'chit chat' and all around introductions we set forth to pile our plates with the choicest of meats and some of us with some veggies ... me I'm a Meateatarian and very allergic to most forms of veggies ... esp at a Grill!! Just kidding folks.

There was an amazing selection of fish, fowl and red meat along with some very nice looking German sausages. The non-veg spread included: Himalayan Trout (Maseer), Andaman Tuna, Indian Salmon (Rawas),  Snapper (Ghol), Butterflied Tiger Prawns, Chicken Legs, Beef Tenderloin, Mutton steaks, Mutton chops, Bacon and three kinds of German sausage - including Weiss Wurst. I was already in heaven!

I took my plate over to the chef and asked her to do my tenderloin medium-rare and to do with the rest of my plate of fish, prawn, chop and wurst as she deemed fit. We then turned our attention to the rather well stocked Salad Bar. I've been to the ITC's restaurants on numerous occaisons and as always there was a superb spread. Unlike many other 5Star's the ITC really does a super salad spread and their cold cuts are some of the best in India. As usual they did not disappoint. Amongst the usual suspects was a new addition - a Mulberry balsamic - and it was superb, I kicked myself for not having thought of this and filed it away for future reference.

We returned to our tables with our salads and Shanky and I got a nice glass of Sula Red to go with our greens. The cold sliced Ham was the show-stealer amongst the Salad section.

The plates soon arrived at our tables whilst Rushina marshalled the troops and warned us of a competition post Dinner. The spontaneous arrival of 20 plates had created a bit a a snarl and a small bit off confusion and the first couple of plates were kinda lost ... order was soon restored by Rini and her staff who apologised for the mis-plating(?).

We clicked and zoomed and clicked away in a frenzy before knuckling down to the eating.

The meats were superb and my tenderloin was near perfect! I was one happy puppy. The chop, wurst, prawn and the trout were also cooked to perfection. The tuna though was overcooked and very dry. The meats and fish though were very lightly spiced and whilst this appealed to me it did'nt appear to go down too well with everyone. Many of my fellow bloggers felt the fish was overcooked. My only real complaint on the other hand was with the jacket potato which had obviously beein boiled/par-boiled in advance. But considering that they had to plate for 20 of us in less than 20 minutes and that too with plates piled high this was understandable though a tad bit cheeky. Jyotika then tried her hand at some chops, prawns and veggies with her 'Papa's' spl masala mix and added a very nice twist to the taste.

After all that meat (and veggies) we circulated from table to table talking shop and catching up and before we knew it all the tables were being cleared and a small granite super-heated granite/basalt slab in a ceramic vessel/plate/case was placed before us and we were asked to quickly marinate and cook some lamb chops ... which we proceeded to do with gusto.

Team Rushina won the challenge which was judged by Chef Padmaja herself .... Team Kurush got an honourable mention in dispatches :) - Team vegan had the most fun though ;) (see pic below)

Just when we thought it was over Rini and her team brought out a small very carefully planed set of desserts keeping in mind, vegan, veggie and non-veg preferences!! The carnivores got a lovely slice of Apple Strudel, a generic Choc cake/mousse and an absolutely heavenly and fantastic Lemon Grass flavoured Creme Brule!! The Creme Brule had a delicate taste reminiscent of Summery English High Teas and with a very nostalgic trip down memory lane for the Parsi in me. Parsis have been making lemon-grass tisanes for ever and have regularly added it to tea and milk.

The very cherry on the cake was a packet of Laya-chana from Jyotika and a very pretty hexagonal box with hand made tea bags (with Shri Lankan tea in them!!) from Snighda. What a wonderful end to a funky and phenomenal dinner - Good Food, Good Company & Great Ambience.

Thank you Rushina and thank you ITC.

PS This blogpost is dedicated to my friend Gurleen - Enjoy!!