The word Caribbean conjures up images of a colourful party with parades, costumes, beach-side venues and not to forget, lip-smacking delicacies. Though devoid of parades and costumes, a Caribbean food festival at a beach-side venue in Rushikonda offered what can be safely described as an epic gourmet experience.
Right from the beach shack ambience overlooking the Bay of Bengal, swimming pool, live barbeque counters to the breezy music, the Caribbean flavours at Vihar in Rushikonda promise a wholesome entertaining experience.
The team of chefs at Vihar believe that the festival is not just about the food, the entire feel of the place is equally important to recreate the “Caribbean experience”.
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Keeping the flavour of the season in mind, the food festival offers a refreshing range of cocktails and mocktails to begin with. Blending the fruit crushes and syrups with mint, ginger ale and lime juice, the summer coolers do their bit in setting the mood for a beachside summer party.
The watermelon slush smoothie is a mix of watermelon juice, almond milk and mint while Caribbean mango is a tempting flavour of mango juice, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, mint leaves and butter scope syrup. If you desire a milder flavour, the ‘Blue Driver’ or Hawaiin ginger cooler tops of the list.
Sea food lovers will be spoilt for choice. The menu includes Jamaican grilled prawns, Caribbean grilled prawns, grilled fish, beer butter fish, Mexican barbeque fish, chicken ‘sukki yakki’ and chicken pepper steak among other delicacies.
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The beer butter fish is portions of fish marinated in beer and flavoured with butter and pepper.
One of the highlights includes the chicken ‘sukki yakki’, which is chicken skewered and marinated with black bean, ginger and spices. The best part of Caribbean dishes is that the flavours easily suit the Indian palate.
At the live barbeque counter, guests get to create their own barbeque dishes.
The festival’s vegetarian section includes grilled pepper paneer, sauté paneer, barbeque mushroom, grilled potato, skewered vegetables and grilled eggplant.
After the sumptuous spread if you desire to relax, a dip in the swimming pool can be a great option to beat the summer blues. A big screen has been provided for cricket lovers to catch all the IPL action while enjoying catchy Caribbean music. You can also enjoy some indoor and outdoor games and water-sport activities like boating.
The food festival is on from 7 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. on week days and from 11 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. on Sundays.
A meal for two: Rs 600 (approx.)