This Independence Day I went to Dawat-e-Aman by Crowne Plaza Today, Gurgaon. Host to a 10-day long food festival ending on August 18 to celebrate the spirit of Independence, unity and peace, its USP is the dishes from across the border. These have been tweaked a little bit by the in-house chefs in accordance with the Indian palate.
The set up of the buffet at Café G, the market style multi-cuisine restaurant, was royal. Waiters were dressed in Pathani suits and Sufiiana kalam by Abida Parveen playing in the background created a nice ambience to dine in and enjoy delicacies of both the countries. Bound by habit, I started with a soup.
Paya kali mirchi ka soup was not as piping hot as I would have preferred, and was a little bit over spiced, yet tasted fine. On the other hand adraki subz choliya shorba was light and flavourful.
After the soup chef served me a platter of vegetarian and non-vegetarian kababs. As I love lamb liver I tried the hare masale ki kaleji first. It was tender but lacked seasoning. Flavour of fresh mint and coriander should have been more dominant. Tangdi kabab was delicious and juicy. I loved its flavour and taste. As a lot of prunes are used across the border, chef made murgh aloo bhukhara kabab and what a yummy dish it turned out to be; very different in taste, a bit like chapli kababs.
Lahori handi gosht kabab was dry and had suppressed flavours. Paneer sarson, peeli mirch tikka was juicy and mouth watering. Khumb mutter ke kabab was again tasty. Fried mushrooms stuffed with green peas had a nice crunch.
Once through with my starters I moved to my third course. As the menu was extensive, chef prepared a thali for me serving most of the dishes. I had my curries with lacha parantha and missi roti. Machli quilia cooked in onion and yoghurt base was tasty. It had very subtle flavours. But it was the Lahori jukkad aur choley which impressed me the most. Chikpeas cooked as a base with chicken just elevated the dish to the next level. It tasted divine with missi roti and gave a feel of a traditional Lahore home style food. Pashto gosht biryani, a very unique aroma filled preparation, was also worth trying. For desserts chef prepared a fusion of gulab jamun, rabri and sheer for me.
Food Festival till August 18
Buffet price: Rs.2200 (all inclusive)
Crowne Plaza Today, Gurgaon
