The Middle Eastern Food Festival @ Mynt | The Taj West End | Bangalore

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Mahalabia
We have visited many Taj properties in the past, both in Bangalore and in our home town Kolkata. Each hotel has its own unique significance and a story behind their existence. Each hotel has a different charm, beauty and set of specialized chefs.

Very recently we have been to the oldest Taj property, not only in Bangalore but also in the entire country—The Taj West End. It is located at the heart of the city in Race Course Road and its grandeur is simply astounding! The lobby was exceptional with medium sized trees and dim lighting. The property was earlier meant to be used by British soldiers when India was not independent. Afterwards, it was taken over by many a group and currently it lies in the hands of the Tata group which cares about this property and beautified it beyond brilliance.

Now moving on to our objective: We were privileged to be a part of an exclusive dinner preview of the upcoming Middle Eastern food festival at Mynt which kicks off from the 17th of August and runs till the 27th.




The adept chefs at Mynt with their executive chef Sandeep Narang crafted this special menu which aims to bring certain Middle Eastern delicacies to the table of all customers of Mynt. 

The menu we tried was elaborate but during the festival the entire menu will not be served to the customers but it will be on a rotational basis.

Now, coming down to the food:
 
Welcome drink


Cold Mezze platter

Khoubz (bread platter)

Pita bread
For starters, we were served the cold and hot Mezze which consisted of an array of items. The cold Mezze consisted of Mouttabel, Tabbouleh, Hummus, Flavored Labneh and Muhammara Dates.

We did not expect the dates to be stuffed at first and it was a surprisingly tasty first bite! The stuffing consisted of walnuts, pistachio dip and red pepper and it had a sharp and sweet taste.

Following this the Labneh was something we tried for the first time. They were softer than marshmallows, made of thick yoghurt and covered with spices. There were Mint, Olive and Sumac flavoured Labneh and all of them had a very sharp taste. The Sumac one was reddish in colour and slightly sweet whereas the others had the characteristic flavours.

The Hummus and Mouttabel were in the form of dips and tasted very fulfilling with the accompanying pita breads. The former is traditionally chickpea based with sesame and olive oil and the latter is eggplant based.

The Tabbouleh was in the form of a salad predominated with parsley. It tasted refreshing and worked as a palate cleanser.


Cigara Boregi

Spinach Fatayer

Pide Bi Zattar (Middle Eastern Pizza)

After this we were served the hot Mezze which consisted of Cigara Boregi and Spinach Fatayer. The former was cigar shaped and in the Middle East, Boregi means baked/pastry and hence the name. These were crispy and stuffed with molten cheese and herbs. 

Absolutely delightful! The latter was oven baked and triangle shaped, stuffed with spinach and pine nuts. I (Rudra) am not fond of spinach but in this case, the essence of spinach was not that strong and so, edible!

We can conclude that Middle Eastern people eat their spinach just like Popeye!

The soup which was served after this was a lentil based soup called the Shorba Adas. It was rich, tasty and flavourful with loads of caramelized onions. The best addition to this soup was the caramelized onions.

Along with this we were served a traditional Lebanese bread platter called Khoubz and the Pide Bi Zattar which consisted of rectangular slices of bread with feta cheese and spices. It was like their form of pizza.


Shorba Adas

Now that completes the first innings and now time for the second. Next up the grills and the mains followed by the best game finisher—desserts!

There were grilled prawns, fish, chicken and lamb and all of them had a smoky touch to them. Each of these was marinated in different spices from the Middle East and had a unique taste which we have never tasted before.

The Rubian Meshwi was the prawn preparation. The prawns were juicy and simply mouth watering. The prawns would have tasted better if they were marinated more as in some of them the taste did not go through!

The Samak Charmoula was the grilled fish preparation. The fish was grilled to perfection and was succulent. Each piece of fish had a bed of spices on top and it tasted remarkable.

The lamb chops were if we put it correctly: heavenly! The portions were meaty and lean. The char grilled lamb and spices have no competition whatsoever. It was lip smacking to a whole new level! The name of this preparation was the Kebab Istanbulli. Please note: If you eat this like a gentleman you are insulting yourself.

The Sheesh Taouk was the chicken kebab preparation. It tasted similar to a chicken malai kebab with different spices. The chunks of chicken were huge and thus, were not equally cooked throughout. The sizes should be made smaller and the numbers should increase.


Lamb chops (Kebab Istanbulli)

Grilled prawns (Rubian Meshwi)

Chicken Kebabs(Sheesh Taouk)


Turkish Grilled Vegetables

Grilled fish (Samak Charmoula)

The mains consisted of a lamb preparation called Lamb Tagine which tastes a lot like our traditional Nalli Gosht but with a hint of lime and saffron. The olives in the gravy had little role to play. The accompanying Roz Bil Shaareyyah was magnificent. The rice was so flavourful and complete that it stands to be a dish by itself and not just an accompaniment!

Finally it was time for us to end our Middle Eastern Feast with a Baklawa and a Mahalabia.

The Baklawa had perfect layers, was full of nuts (Mostly walnuts) and had the right amount of sweetness. It was also firm and did not break apart easily. The latter was a milk pudding preparation which had a tangy flavour with whole pistachios in it. Although there were only two desserts, they were magnificent and struck the right notes to end this feast of ours!

This is one festival we would genuinely recommend everyone to try. Keep an open mind, unwind and ride the tide of flavours.


Roz Bil Shaareyyah

Lamb Tagine

Baklawa


Since this is again a festival with tight time bounds, planning is essential. We are here to help you guys decide so we are giving all the info before this even starts!

In case you guys visit, do let us know how you feel and also let us know how you feel about our experience.

We’ll be back with something new soon enough ;)

Till then—bon appétit!
Mynt - The Taj West End Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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8 comments

  1. Love the way you write, Rudra :) I'm also a huge fan of baklava, it's one of my favourite Middle-Eastern desserts.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Nandini :) I try to make sure whoever reads through, feels at least a bit hungry ;). The Baklava was really good btw!

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  2. I have been commenting thinking Priyanjana posted the latest three food festival posts :'D I'm so sorry Rudra!

    I am so jealous that you guys get to attend such amazing food festivals. :D Fab read!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha, no problem :D i am glad you enjoyed reading through!

      You must have read through the entire thing to understand i posted it :P

      Delete
  3. Interesting read and loved the pictures.. Pita bread, hummus and kebabs is something I love indulging in but had baklava like ages back. Now I can't wait for the weekend to try it out..

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    Replies
    1. Glad you liked it :) Normally there are some things you can try and some things you can chuck but in this case, all the items were fab :) Enjoy!

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  4. Fab food festival... your post makes me want to go to one such food festival :-)

    ReplyDelete

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