One thing I love about Delhi is that it has numerous five star hotels which keep doing food promotions and one hotel which comes up with some really good and authentic food promotions is Welcom Hotel Sheraton located in District Center, Saket. It is undoubtedly amongst the best which curates a festival after a lot of research and tries to be authentic. The ongoing Bohri Food Festival at their all day dining restaurant Baywatch (ending this Thursday) is one of them.
A lot has been written about Bohras, the business community of Muslims from Gujarat and settled in all parts of the country. But it’s their cuisine which fascinates me a lot. The uniqueness of this cuisine lays in its fascinating mix of traditions, geography, culture and community influences that have partaken to lend their own distinctive stamp.
Chef Vipul Gupta, the man behind the promotion, greeted me warmly and took me through the menu. Further to get the minute details about the Bohri cuisine, he introduced me to Chef Zaber who has been flown in from Mumbai especially for the delightful fest. The menu was on rotational basis having a three course meal. I tasted the special Bohri samosa first and quite liked it. Stuffed with cashew nuts, samosa was tasty. I would have liked it even more if it would have been served immediately after frying. But the non vegetarian counterparts were exceptional.
Chicken cutlets had a new flavour which I liked. It was a nice blend of minced chicken patty having good aroma of Indian spices coated with a crisp layer and fried. Naan chop was also worth trying. Reshain kabab was full of succulence and tenderness. I would relate it close to a burrah but with distinct flavours of its own. Though the appetisers were tasty it was the main course delicacies which were different and delicious. I missed on dabba gosht but was served pai chicken. It was something which I had never tasted before. It was a perfect fusion of pasta and chicken, flavoured with black pepper. Another delicacy which I loved was dal gosht, which Bohras really make well . Flavour of lentil with tender pieces of finely cut meat was divine. Bohri biryani needs a special mention as it was one of the best I had in recent times.
I ended on a sweeter note with thulli, which is basically a halwa made out of daliya .
Buffet: Rs.1750 plus taxes