Here’s a chance to relish the culinary gems from the land of the Nawabs and mouth-watering array of Ramzan special, sans the traffic snarls of the Old City area in Hyderabad. The 10-day food Hyderabadi food festival at Hotel Grand Bay’s Café Oceanic promises lip-smacking buffet affair, recreating street food charm of Hyderabad with a combination of the Nawabi flavour.
With all its richness and enticing aroma, the feast will leave you feeling like a Nawab, right from the word go. To bring in the charm of Hyderabad’s Old City, the festival has a décor matching up to the glitter of lights of the place with three live counters. As we enter, we are greeted with the Chai ki Galli, a tea counter. Here, you can take your time savouring the Osmania biscuits and keema samosas and then wash it down with ‘chai’. Hyderabad’s famous Gokul Chat comes alive at the next live counter, while Ram Ka Bandi dishes out steaming dosas with keema and veg and paneer serving it with salans.
We start off the culinary feast with Hyderabadi channa ki tikki, golinchina paneer, shikampuri and mahi malai fish. The shikampuri kebabs are soft with just the right amount of yoghurt and spices. Next to arrive is the Hyderabadi marag. A flavour which is relatively new for the residents of the coastal city, this dish is a delightfully rich mutton soup. “Marag is served as a starter in Hyderabad and forms an essential part of Hyderabadi cuisine, especially in weddings and festive occasions like Ramzan. It is prepared from tender mutton with bone, pumpkin seeds and cashew nuts and pista which is boiled for over three hours to get the consistency and subtle flavour,” explains the hotel’s Sr. Sous Chef Sreedhar Kare.
The main course is an elaborate feast of traditional delicacies like nalli gosht nihari, paya nihari, khatte meethe aloo with dahi ki chutney. We try the aloo paratha with Nizam murgh handi, a must-try at the festival. No Nizami affair can be complete without a dig into its famous biryanis.
One of the highlights of the royal spread is its traditional dessert section. As we sunk into a bowl of kaddu ki kheer with angoor rasgulla, it symbolised the true definition of Nawabi cuisine’s richness. Try out the katthal ke meetha or jackfruit halwa. “The festival is designed with an objective to introduce authentic Nawabi delicacies that are usually served during Ramzan in Hyderabad. We want everybody in the city to experience the exotic and distinct flavours and take them on a culinary journey,” said Chef Sreedhar.
The food festival is open for dinner till June 2. Priced at Rs 999 (plus taxes), it is open from 7.30 p.m. onwards.
