The Middle Eastern Food Festival @ Mynt | The Taj West End | Bangalore
00:21 |
| Mahalabia |
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 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:
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| Welcome drink |
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| Cold Mezze platter |
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| Khoubz (bread platter) |
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| Pita bread |
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.
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| Cigara Boregi |
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| Spinach Fatayer |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Lamb chops (Kebab Istanbulli) |
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| Grilled prawns (Rubian Meshwi) |
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| Chicken Kebabs(Sheesh Taouk) |
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| Turkish Grilled Vegetables |
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| 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.
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| Roz Bil Shaareyyah |
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| Lamb Tagine |
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| 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!
8 comments
Love the way you write, Rudra :) I'm also a huge fan of baklava, it's one of my favourite Middle-Eastern desserts.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nandini :) I try to make sure whoever reads through, feels at least a bit hungry ;). The Baklava was really good btw!
DeleteI have been commenting thinking Priyanjana posted the latest three food festival posts :'D I'm so sorry Rudra!
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous that you guys get to attend such amazing food festivals. :D Fab read!
haha, no problem :D i am glad you enjoyed reading through!
DeleteYou must have read through the entire thing to understand i posted it :P
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..
ReplyDeleteGlad 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!
DeleteFab food festival... your post makes me want to go to one such food festival :-)
ReplyDeletePankhuri (addictedshades)
Delete