Celebrate #BaisakhiAtJW with Chef Jolly @ JW Marriott, Bengaluru

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It denotes celebration of harvest and also a celebration of their New Year. A celebration with pomp, festivity and rich gourmet indulgence can be none other that Punjab's very own; rich in tradition and heritage Baisakhi festival.

Though thousands of miles away from Punjab; this vibrance of colors, the liveliness of the streets of Amritsar and a culinary indulgence of the state of Punjab has been recreated by Chef Jolly and his team at JW Marriott Bengaluru's pool side restaurants - Spice Terrace.

Hailing from Punjab himself and emphasising on the importance of keeping it authentic; Chef Jolly spend time in Punjab to bring the nuances of the masters themselves. There's no shying away from the fact that Punjabi's love their food rich and scrumptious but what surprised me was that a sizeable chunk of the population in Punjab are vegetarians. Okay! what if I said 'Majority'?

Moving on it was a long evening that started with a Roohafza shikanji a twist to well, the roohafza itself. It was sweet, had a nice lingering flavor of lime and mint with the crushed ice added to it just adding a perfect marriage of flavors, crunch and temperature.

Over to food, it Punjabi indulgence and it's got to start with a nice and fresh Amritsari Macchi which is a fish coated with a seasoned batter and fried. Soon followed was also one of the stars of the day - Lamb chops. This was no fancy New Zealand lamb but was our very own desi lamb which was perfectly marinated to have the spices and flavor seep into the meat.

For vegetarians, there was sheekh kebab, rajma ki tikki, paneer and lots more. There was so much to eat that I decided to stick to non-vegetarian. Bhatti da murgh was succulent and flavorful. Tandoori Jhinga were juicy and perfectly crunch prawns marinated with tandoori spices and cooked in a tandoor. I could have eaten more but knew mains would follow soon.

In mains, no guesses required - baingan da bhartha, tawa chicken, mutton keema kaleji,  and of course the maa di daal.  I loved the simplicity of the baingan da bartha followed closely by the taw chicken. All of this was accompanied by assorted breads but right from the beginning, I had my eyes and mind set for the Amitsari Kulcha. When it was time, I did not deviate. It surely made for a lovely combination for the mains.

For desserts, I tried the badam da halwa, gulab jamun and jalebi with rabdi. My personal favorite of the batch was the gulab jamun.

What I tried was just a small segment of the buffet which is priced at 1599 plus taxes and charges. With just 2 days to go I recommend you head down to JW Marriott Bengaluru till 19th April to celebrate #BaisakhiAtJW with Chef Jolly.

Address: 24/1, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore - 560001

Phone Number: +91 80671 89999

Wonderful Evening at Harry's Whitefield

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If you've been to Singapore; Harry's bar needs no introduction for it is the most famed bar back there with 27 outlets in operation. With huge expansion plans in India, Harry's is off to a fiery start here with the 3rd outlet having been launched in Phoenix Market City, Whitefield Bangalore after witnessing success; first in Indiranagar followed by Koramangla. It doesn't end here coz. if I hear it right, 2015 will witness the launch of more outlets across Mumbai and other cities in India.

Taking their expansions very seriously, Harry's has been roping in highly specialized and renowned personalities to spearhead both the bar and kitchen. Right from the first outlet, Shatbhi Basu has set up the bar scene at Harry's India and now, Celebrity Chef Vicky Ratnani has been roped in to head the kitchen for the brand in India. While Shatbhi aims to put the drinks ahead of the food, Vicky strives to put the food ahead of the drinks. In this wonderfully competitive team at Harry's who wins? Well, it clearly is 'We the customers' for we get the best of both worlds - 'Food' and 'Beverages'.

Shatbhi Basu @ Harry's

Me with Vicky Ratnani @ Harry's

In between all this, I got to enjoy the best of both the worlds at Harry's Bar and cafe, Whitefield. Vicky's magic wand has clearly done its tricks. This evening was one delicious evening of enormous spread of fabulous food and amazing cocktails. Marinated olive and feta in a jar was the first to arrive and the flavors were bang on. Asian classic Chicken Satay made an appearance standing in a glass. I loved the delicious peanut sauce and the chicken was so tender; it just melted away in my mouth.

On the vegetarian plate, there was whole mushroom stuffed with ratatouille and cheese. Not a fan of mushroom specially in it's direct for; this dish was my vegetarian favorite of the day. It's weird for me to be writing this but I highly recommend this mushroom plate to be on every table for the vegetarians. Another hit among everyone on our table was the watermelon and feta salad. 

Whole Mushroom stuffed with Ratatouille & Cheese

Water Melon & Feta Salad

Fisherman's basket was a basket full of crispy fried fresh and assorted sea food. This dish is something we munched on pretty much al evening. The batter was seasoned with spices, was really light and crisp (reminding me of the Japanese tempura batter) and the fish, prawns and calamari were soft and fresh.

Fisherman's Basket

Vietnamese spring rolls were light and easy on the palate. They were rice paper rolls with a filling of crisp, light and crunchy veggies, toasted peanuts and chill soy dip. A delicious eat indeed with a nice crunch coming in the end from the tasted peanuts.

Vietnamese Spring Roll

Thus far, every snack served was a fine blend of global cuisine, comfort food, bar snack and gourmet treats. This affair continued as a lot more food came fresh and hot from the kitchen as we continued to sip on some interesting cocktail concoctions. With loads of food, I enjoyed the company of 2 new concoctions - 'Sex on Pattaya Beach' and 'Blood on the Rooftop'. Both the drinks were perfectly balanced; a great example of a good drink where the liquor is not overpowering the other flavors yet giving the required buzz.

Blood on the Rooftop

Sex on Pattaya beach was a wonderful rum and watermelon drink; 2 ingredients when together are hard to go wrong. Blood on the rooftop was a mix of multiple white spirits and topped with red wine; hence the name. The liquor was there and so was the wonderful and subtle aftertaste of the wine. Both drinks are available in 3 sizes - 500 ml, 1 and 3 liter.

Sex on Pattaya Beach

Our quest with food at Harry's progressed with vegetarians flipping on the potato wedges which were beautifully crisp on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside and wasabi cottage cheese squares - wasabi coated cottage cheese, wrapped with spinach and then batter fried. Wasabi is an acid taste and can be a turn off to most but this one was nice and well balanced toning down the strength of the wasabi.

Potato Wedges

Wasabi Coated Cottage Cheese

For us non-vegetarians there also was crispy chili chicken and Pattaya Fish Goujons. Of the two, the Pattaya Fish Goujons hit the right spot in terms of the heat, the flavor, the fish and the crispy texture coming from light coating of the fish. 

Chili Chicken

Pattaya Fish Goujons

Moving on to the mains, I went for the chicken Thai green curry with the fragrant Jasmine sticky rice. Everything that went into the making the Thai curry was prepared in-house which eventually resulted in bowl of deliciousness. Yes, it was a meal in a bowl and perfect for one but can be shared if you've done a lot of starters. I will surely have this back on my table again except for the onions in the curry which gave an unusual bite in an otherwise fabulous bowl.

In desserts, a chocolate volcano was shared between two of us and was a nice finish to a wonderful evening.

The ambiance is unpretentious and comfortable. Guests can pick their preferred space to be seated - indoor, outdoor or by the lovely large bar. An average meal for two with two starters, two mains two drinks and a dessert each will cost about Rs 1800 plus taxes and charges; surely worth every penny for the experience they offer.

I'm going back here for sure!

Address: 2nd Floor, Phoenix Market City, Whitefield, Bangalore

Phone Number: +91 80 6726 6646

Wish-Dish: Piri Piri Fries @ McDonald's India

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"Each one of us has a favorite dish that keeps us going back to a specific restaurant time and again."

Extending on this statement, it may also be true that you not only love to relish it when you have a chance but also love recommending it to others. I know it for sure, I'd do that and that's exactly what I do in my Wish-Dish segment.

I love french fries and the portions for me always come in a large size. Sharing fries is usually not my preferred choice but then maybe I'm quite considerate. A couple of months ago, passing through a McDonald's drive-thru, I picked up a portion of their newly launched Peri-Peri fries and was hooked on to them in no time not realizing that this was a special promotion and will soon not be available on the regular menu.

Guess what! The Piri Piri fries are back again.

Have you spotted the below hoarding as you drive through the city? I think the hoardings are all around announcing the relaunch of Piri Piri fries in Bangalore. 

Hoarding as I drive by...

I like this campaign #UnshareMyFries as it make me NOT feel bad about not wanting to share my fries. 'Weird english' but then I know you're getting my point. On noticing the hoarding(s), I rushed to the McDonald's outlet to grab my portion of large Piri Piri fries and the rest of the conversation was between the fries and my stomach. 

Piri Piri Fries - This is how they arrive

What I love about these Piri Piri fries is that the Piri Piri powder mix comes in an accompanying sachet along with french fries, a shake shake bag and each one can balance the mixture to their desired taste levels. Your piri piri fries are ready when you've shaken the bag of fries with the accompanying spice mix. 

Shaken or Stirred? Shaken Piri Piri Fries

Another Shot - Piri Piri Fries

Wondering what's Piri Piri? 

Well, it's an African spice mix made from Bird's eye chili. Yes, It's the same Peri Peri spice mix or sauce you might have got your hands on before. Then why 'Piri Piri'? I don't know and I don't care. All I care about is eating these delicious fries.

What are you looking at? Go get you PiriPiri-licious fries from a McDonald's outlet near you.

Price: Pay Rs. 15 and upgrade to Piri Piri fries

PS: I wont share them with you but I might buy them for you.

Tangra Food Festival @ JW Kitchen, JW Marriott, Bangalore

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The past two weeks have been nostalgic with memories of the Chinatown in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Purely from the perspective of experiencing food and culture, I wish such towns / communities did exist in Bangalore too. On this note, a cuisine that is probably the most popular cuisine in India after Indian cuisine itself is the Chinese Cuisine; well actually 'Indian-Chinese Cuisine'. Like many of you, I love Chinese food; be it in its most authentic form or the famous Indian-Chinese form which to me is, "comfort food at its best". 

While we love this cuisine, what we may not know or tend to ignore is that this very familiar Indian style Chinese cuisine is actually an adaption and a result of the Kolkata Chinese Cuisine which was introduced to India in the year 1780. It all began with the immigration of Chinese residents from the Hakka region to settle down in Calcutta now to be known as Tangra Community / Kolkata Chinatown. A result of changing laws and its impact to their Tannery business led to the setting up of restaurants serving food that prevailed in the Hakka region back then. 

Sighting business needs and preference to the local Indian palate, this community began tweaking and improvising on their food to appeal the Indian Palate in order to attract more business. In no time, 'Kolkata Chinese' gained popularity and spread across the country like a wild fire; the result of which we get to see and experience today. Speaking of Kolkata Chinese, the best way to experience it is to visit the Kolkata Chinatown itself which houses over 40 Tangra restaurants with some like 'Golden Joy Restaurant' being the most popular. 

The next best way to experience it is even simpler for us foodies in Bangalore - drive down straight to JW Marriott Bengaluru where Chef Jolly aka @JollyGoodChef and team present to us 'Tangra Food Festival' at JW Kitchen till the 9th of November. Going by their motto of serving not just healthy but honest and authentic dining experience, Chef Jolly and JW Marriott have flown down Chef Edwin of Golden Joy restaurant himself to take charge of Tangra Food Festival.

Chef Edwin (L) of Golden Joy Restaurant, Kolkata; Chef Jolly (R) - Needs no introduction

Enough reasons to visit, I obediently drove down along with my wife to JW Marriott on Saturday to experience the food first hand. Over the course of the evening, I not only got to savor some delicious Kolkata Chinese food but also got to watch Chef Edwin cook-up some signature dishes like threaded paneer - a vegetarian variation to the otherwise non-vegetarian delicacy, Hakka style chili chicken, golden fried prawns and Tangra stir fried golden prawns. 

Threaded Paneer

Each of these preparations demonstrated were really simple and would take under 20 minutes of preparation and cooking time put together. In it's simplicity lays the deliciousness of each of these dishes. The threaded paneer and golden fried prawns were served with Chef Edwin's special chutney / sauce which had a nice sweet touch along with primary flavors of mint and coriander. The paneer, prawns or the chutney were exquisite and each could have been eaten independently.

Golden Fried Prawns

The chili chicken was moist, succulent and exuded wonderful flavors to denote the love with which it had been prepared. What takes each of these preparations a notch higher is that none of these dishes involved the use of MSG/Ajinomoto as an ingredient. 

Chili Chicken

The stir fried golden prawns were out of the world. The flavors of the green chili, soy sauce, coriander, ginger-garlic were clearly felt on the palate yet beautifully married with the prawns whose original flavor was something that just could not have missed the palate. I couldn't get my hands off them all evening.

Stir Fried Golden Prawns

In addition to the above, the Tangra section of the buffet spread also offered the lovely golden fried fish and delicious Pork Sui Mai dim-sums for starters. In the mains, we non-vegetarians relished egg fried rice and egg hakka noodles which were enjoyed thoroughly with pork in hot garlic sauce and fish in oyster sauce. For the vegetarians, there were veg dim sums and 'golden fried baby corn  in starters; veg fried rice and veg Hakka noodles along with chili paneer and assorted vegetables with tofu, mushrooms and babycorn in the mains.

To give food company were a whole range of 'Tangra special cocktails and mocktails which were concocted in-house by Akshar and team. The cocktails like Shandong Mary, Beijing Bellini, Wild Liquid - both alcoholic and non-alcoholic were a big hit on our table.

Shandong Mary

Wild Liquid

Verdict:

Food festivals are a real treat to attend as they are always around cuisines that are not locally available at large and bring in a lot of authenticity and diversity to the table. At this food festival being hosted at JW Marriott Bangalore, each dish on the buffet stood out really well. It was one such evening when I ate like a Gourmand and did not take a glance of the diverse buffet spread that offers cuisines from across the globe. When such is the experience; one thing's for sure, "a 'Tangra Food Festival' in Bangalore can't get any better." 

This diverse buffet spread of Tangra food, other global cuisines and lavish spread of desserts at JW Kitchen comes at a price of 1599 ++ and promises an evening of superlative dining. 

Quick Tips:

While the buffet at JW Kitchen is on offer always, the Special 'Tangra Food Festival' part of the buffet is available only till the 9th of November. 

Don't think twice, just drive down is what I'd recommend.

Bon Appetit! 

Address: 24/1, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore - 560001

Phone Number: +91 80671 89999