A friend from US was craving for Indian food and after a lot of debate, we decided on Bombay Brasserie. The idea was to go in quick, get her food, get us some nibbles and then head out to meet every one else for dessert.

Quick didn't happen!

The order was simple. A Galouti kebab, 2 Garlic naans, one almond kofta gravy and one biriyani! The galouti had so much mixed reviews. I quite liked it. Both my other friends didn't. Our US friend is vegetarian! I don't know what they didn't like. I mean, it wasn't the greatest on earth, but certainly not bad enough for me to have to finish the plate. It was super soft, creamy, yummy and had a small bread. Maybe the bread, not being great did not add to the flavour, but the kebab it self was nice.

But the reason for this blog post is the gravy. I don't know we all loved, but the almond kofta gravy was fabulous! I mean, I could have just drunk the gravy without the garlic naan! Loved it, really loved it! The biriyani was white when the dough was removed, but when mixed, it took the colours. It was a good biriyani!

We headed out for dessert and the above cost us Rs. 1650! 

Supposed to be a food lover's paradise, Lucknow has been on my wish list. Not because anything else, but just the Awadhi Biriyani and the Gulouti Kebab. Taj invited us over and here goes.... Now that a Awadhi chef landed here from Lucknow, I was dying to try the galouti kebab.

Starter: Nice. Check
Main Course. Nice. Check.
No galouti in main course. Grrr......
Dessert: Nice. Check.

If I am going to spend anytime on writing about it, it will be about the fantastic Awadhi Biriyani. Loved it. Okay. review over. Okay, particularly, the fish kebab was very good and in the main course, the dhal was stunning. Surprisingly for me, the vegetarian dishes were quite excellent, coming from a cuisine that is predominantly, meat based. Okay. Review over.

But having a Lucknow Chef in Chennai and not eating Galouti was nagging me. It was like we missed gold. So, three foodies, decided to go back by ourselves on Monday and eat the Galouti Kebab. We hatched a plan and landed there. Again.

And it was everything we wanted it to be. A nice sheermal (or shirmal, or sheermaal) served first. 5 pieces of galouti on a separate plate. I was a little too impatient and so I gulped down one piece. It was near nirvana. Near, because it was a little spicy for me. Obviously, it had to be eaten with the bread, so this time I followed protocol. Bread first. Take photo. Place the kebab on top. Take photo. Smear it.  Take photo. Fold it. Thats it. After that I was done taking photos. Kept the camera aside. Folded it and gulped it down. This time it was nirvana. 4 such nirvanas. And we were done!!!!!!

Long live Awadhi Food Fest. Unfortunately its on only till the 26th of Oct!!!

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!