Awadhi Food Fest, Marriott

Having a long day at work while fasting, is a little more tiresome! And if you are stuck on the road in traffic at the time of breaking fast, its a little more annoying. For a day that started at 4 am and having had only water at 645 and nothing again till 8 pm, the Awadhi Food Fest came as a beautiful end to the day! Marriott has flown down Chef Younis Khan from Bombay, who apparently specialises in Awadhi cuisine and the minute we heard 'Galouti Kebab', all foodies were in!

What surprised us was that the restaurant was packed on a Wednesday evening. There was a large family of about 16 people in the table next to us and they were very intrigued by us taking food photos and having the chef next to us and it was a pleasure when they wanted to take photos of themselves and were praising the chefs to no end. It's always nice when you have a great food experience and you know that the table next to you also had a great time. Its like sharing the good things that enhances them! Complete with a dancer and the place set up with props, this was the works.

This is a buffet which has (besides the regular buffet), a selection of Awadhi cuisine. You get two veg and two non veg starters, followed by an excellent buffet spread. The galouti this time was different. The meat was cooked to perfection and was a melt in the mouth, but the flavour was slightly different. I wasn't able to point out what was overpowering, but the melt in the mouth lamb made us forget the flavours. I didn't know that could happen! This was followed by an excellent Malai Prawn. The galouti kebab faded in comparison! This was just super yumm!!!! For the vegetarians, there was a vegetarian galouti kebab that was a stunner for me. I would have preferred if it was called by a different name, but the paneer potato sandwich in the guise of a galouti was a kicker. The masala paneer completed the four starters, but having been invited by Marriott, we were served one extra veg and non veg starter - a superbly tender lamb ribs and a very average malai paneer.

Having stuffed ourselves with the starters, we contemplated going straight to dessert in a typical BBQ Nation style, but the smell of the biriyani was alluring. This was the Awadhi style biriyani, complete with raisins et all, and in the same pace that Iftar' box's quality dropped in Chennai, the quality of the food festivals are going up notch by notch! We all enjoyed the wonderful biriyani, but were even more surprised by the Nehari, which had a pull apart lamb that could be tore with a finger! Super yum! The dessert spread had a surprise - a mirchi halwa! Clearly with an overpowering capsicum taste, this was a masterpiece. Sweet, but without undermining the taste of the capsicum.

We came for the Galouti, but went back having a superbly satisfying meal.  The festival is on till the 20th of July and the menu changes everyday!