No short cut to a regal meal

‘The Royal Kitchens of India’, a festival at Le Meridien, brings to the table recipes from the erstwhile royal kingdoms

FIT FOR THE KINGS A meal at The Royal Kitchens of India at Latest Recipe restaurant, Le Meridien, is all about savouring the flavours. Photo: Special Arrangement

It’s a challenge that chef, food researcher, the badabawarchi from Lucknow, M. Rehman takes up with a smile.

Can he customise the elaborate menu of the ongoing festival, The Royal Kitchens of India, a rich, regal, sumptuous, la-di-dah menu, into a working lunch?

There’s little time, much to savour and so the appeal. It’s a tall order, but Rehman is game. His big challenge is to showcase a staple each from the Muslim cuisines of Lucknow, Kashmir, Hyderabad and Rampur.

So we begin with

tehzeeb or the gracious mannerisms that accompany royal foods. Latest Recipe, the posh restaurant at Hotel Le Meridien is ready with sophistication and grace that’s de-rigueur for such a fest. The staff is hospitable, ready with the right response to any query. Questions get answers, wit is matched with polite wit and repartee makes the guest feel a king.

Is there a need to look at the watch, being a working lunch? No.

Soft drinks are followed quickly by kebabs. Murg kabab, mahi mahi cutlets and a vegetarian nibble make the entrees. The delectable preparations come with three creamy chutneys with haunting flavours. The time factor is decreasing the joy of eating heartily. So when

kewra fragrant lamb biriyani makes an appearance, along with a maz (mutton) curry and rich white chicken curry, the chef is summoned and half way through the meal, the challenge is called off. I eat humble pie. The chef wins and I lose. There is no half measure when it comes to savouring such supremely delicate food.

So I let work hang and begin to enjoy every morsel.

Rehman is a specialist of food from royal kitchens of the nawabs. He talks about the fall of the Mughal Empire and of the break-up of their households, of the orphaned cooks and khansamas who began looking for work elsewhere.

Many joined the kitchens of small nawabs and some began their own outfits. Rehman has gathered his recipes from those lineages. He is now researching on vegetarian food of Muslims, exotic shorbas(soups) like bhune badam ka shorba and ghuti daal ka shorba .

The mutton is succulent and comes off the bone easily. Has he used a tenderiser? Is it lamb flown in from elsewhere? No, it’s home lamb well-cooked. The bread basket is replete with an assortment of typical breads- Lucknowi sheermal, Hyderabadi zafarani and Kashmiri Lavash- besides the more familiar naan and laccha paratha . There is roti too. Apricot chutney with a hint of black salt is a teaser and works well with the breads. Vegetarians can relish panner pasanda , cottage cheese chunks in creamy rich gravy.

Rehman lets me on to a secret; he has brought the iron tandoor all the way from Lucknow for the breads and his team of five, all khansamas, to host the festival.

The grand finale is just right once again, nothing more, nothing less. There is semiya or vermicelli in thickened sweet milk enriched with a variety of finely chopped nuts.

The much loved shahi tukde, a dessert that is a poor man’s love as much as a rich man’s weakness, is presented in finger food style, in keeping with the elegance of the restaurant and ambiance. As double ka meeta it is a quick –fix but as shahi tukde it is served as bite sizedsweet triangles of fried bread with a sweet creamy top.

“Some more?,” ask the staff and I am tempted to relent for such fine dining is a pleasure that’s rare to come by in a our work-a-day world. But here I abide by the rule in royal cooking- the rule of being just right.

Head for the experience to: Latest Recipe, Hotel Le Meridien for dinner, 7 p.m. onwards.

( The writer was at the restaurant on invitation )