The Vijayanagara Feast @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Meen Huli @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Meen Huli (Fish cooked with tamarind & tomatoes)

Well, it is not every day that we get to indulge in royalty right?

India was a land of many kingdoms at one point and one of the most powerful and flourishing of them was Vijayanagara, the cuisine of which we’ll be talking about in this post.

This post is all about the Cuisines of Vijayanagara food festival at the Cubbon Pavilion, ITC Gardenia which is on till the 4th of June.

This comes under the Royal Repasts aegis of Kitchens of India by ITC.

The food was exquisite, rich & spicy but was like comfort food at the same time. This region was known to use a lot of spice, especially chilli in their food & care was also taken so that it does not overpower the natural flavours and that is what we experienced.

This cuisine is also considered as Hampi cuisine which is also long gone, but the master chefs from ITC took it to task to recreate this in as authentic a way as possible keeping modern dining in mind.



Now, moving on to what this festival has to offer:

More or less equal options for vegetarians & non vegetarians. We won’t be stressing too much on the details and we’ll mention the must tries. There was nothing disappointing about the food we were served, but some were exceptional whereas some were decent.

From the starters: All the 3 are highly recommended! From the raw banana dumplings to the spicy dry chicken preparation and the lamb & coriander dumplings, simplistic brilliance we would like to call it.

The raw banana was shallow fried and it had a homely touch to it. The chicken was very spicy, well-cooked and not overpowering. The lamb balls were amazing. They are pretty small in size but big on impact! The freshness of the coriander & the flavour of lamb are an impeccable combination.

From the mains: The Ivy Gourd preparation, The Lamb Chops, Prawns with Black Pepper are a must! The accompaniments were equally amazing.

Balakkai Vada @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Balakkai Vada (Raw Banana)

Kaima Unde Bartad @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Kaima Unde Bartad (Lamb & Coriander dumplings)

Koli Menasakai @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Koli Menasakai (Spicy Chicken)
Urida Mamsa (Lamb chops)

The Ivy Gourd had a rich coconut flavour and was cut into very thin slices which gave a delicate crunch to each bite. The Lamb chops were heavenly. The best part about them was that the flavour of lamb was present because they were not smoked. The masala used really boosted the taste & that’s the drawing line for a non-vegetarian!

The Prawn preparation was very simple. The prawns were fresh & sweet and the black pepper gave the contrast in flavour.

The other preparations include: Chicken in Coriander & Coconut gravy, a lentil preparation, a Brinjal preparation & a Sear fish preparation cooked in tomatoes & tamarind.

All of them were palatable. The fish had a unique tangy taste. The Brinjal preparation had a few shortcomings in terms of balance. The chicken had the characteristic flavours.

Ennai Badakanai @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Ennai Badakanai (Brinjal)

Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Centre: Raw Mango rice. From left: Ivy Gourd, Brinjal, Chicken, Lentils, Fish, Koli Pulao

Akki Payasa @ Cuisine of Vijayanagara @ Cubbon Pavilion | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Akki Payasa

The accompaniments like Raw Mango Rice, The Koli Pulao (Chicken cooked with rice & spices) & the Akki Roti deserve a special mention. The first had an amazing aroma & was lip smacking. The Koli Pulao was mouth-watering! It was very light on the stomach, lightly spiced & the meat retained the flavours.

For dessert, we tried the Akki Payasa which was very comforting. It was dilute but gave a sweet finish as always. We felt it was a tad bit over sweet.

That’s all from our side!

The festival is on till for another week so quite some time left to gear up.

Such opportunities are hard to come by and we definitely recommend a visit.

Do try out what we mentioned and other things as well and let us know about your experience if you visit. This is available only for dinner (07:30 PM - 11:30 PM) and priced at 1950 ++.

This festival might not have much for dessert, but the other things are sure to satisfy you.
 We’ll be back soon with a bang ;)

Till then—stay tuned & bon apetit!

The Lunch Experience @ Edo | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Seafood Sushi@ The Lunch Experience @ Edo | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore
Sushi

As we have mentioned before, our love for food has no bounds. From A to Z we are always willing to try everything but there are certain cuisines which are not easily available and are extremely difficult to pull off.

One of these cuisines is Japanese and our recent experience at Edo, the in house award winning Japanese Resto-Bar in ITC Gardenia, Bangalore was nothing short of brilliant. One of the finest places for food & luxury, ITC Gardenia does not need an introduction.

So, normally these luxury dining restaurants are open only for dinner but now Edo is open for luncheons as well. We tried out their authentic Japanese Obento concept.

This format is perfect for business gatherings as the entire meal comes in one go, so no waiting for each item to come. The dessert is served separately though.

We tried the Non veg Obento at Edo and it is undoubtedly the best Japanese food experience we have had till date!


There were specially handcrafted menus for everyone and they contained all the information about the items present in the Obento.

All the preparations were fresh and crafted to perfection. The colour, the presentation, the taste and the ambience is guaranteed to elevate you to a different level!

The Risotto Fare @ Ottimo | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

The Risotto Fare @ Ottimo | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Which cuisine comes to your mind when you think of romance?

For us, like most people we associate Italian Cuisine with romance and during this time of the year i.e. around mid Feb when love is in the air, we were invited to the Risotto Festival of Ottimo, ITC Gardenia called the Risotto Fare.

This post will be all about Risottos and how beautifully they were made. Before that, the setting of Ottimo is truly unforgettable. The open kitchen, the theme of the restaurant, the service, the food & wine and the tunes are bound to make your dining experience unlike any other.



Sunbean Gourmet Coffee Launch | ITC Gardenia | Bangalore

Two variants of Sunbean Gourmet Coffee


Coffee is that one ingredient which since its inception has been a favorite around the world and has been prepared in number of ways. But, most commonly coffee is always seen as a beverage. Cappuccino, espresso, filter kaapi are all just various examples of what you can make with coffee as the base. Like grapes for wines, coffee beans also have a distinct character when grown in different regions and climates.

We learnt that a lot of factors contribute to the final taste of the coffee in your cup, at the Launch of the Sunbean Gourmet Coffee by ITC. The taste even is effected by the fineness or coarseness of the ground beans. The event introduced us to the two varieties of Sunbean coffee and Bangalore seemed like the perfect place to launch a coffee brand in India.

The event started with the introduction of the two variants by Mr. Abhijit Chakravorty, who manages the marketing of the same. He described how they picked the 2 different regions for each blend. I variety of coffee in each blend comes from an Indian region and the other comes from a famous coffee region around the world.





The two variants are Nicamali and Panagiri. Nicamalai is a fruity- sweet aromatic blend of carefully selected beans from Nicaragua and Anamalai hills and Panagiri is a fragrant coffee with strong aroma, blended with mildly sweet Panamanian beans along with the intensely sweet flavored Arabicas from Baba Budangiri hills. Baba Budangiri hills are considered to be the birthplace of coffee in India where Baba Budan, a legendary saint planted the first coffee seeds that he brought.

Our personal favorite is the Panagiri blend. Each coffee’s logo is also carefully thought out keeping in mind the culture of each place.

After the introductions, we had two sessions. A coffee making and brewing session and a Coffee painting session. The art of brewing session with Mr. Vikram Khanna was very informative on how to grind, how to extract the flavors properly, how to blend, etc. We tried different forms of coffee with these two blend like cinnamon honey coffee, cappuccino, etc and all of these were beautiful to taste! We also tasted the shots of Panagiri and Nicamali individually and both have a very distinct and strong flavor.



A refreshing coffee drink with cinnamon & honey

A proper Cappuccino using Sunbean

Frappe created by Mr. Vikram Khanna 

Coffee Painting Canvas

The coffee painting session was a creative one and each and every person enjoyed it!
It was wonderful experience at the event and we would recommend you to try out these coffee blends if you have a weakness for coffee because these are wonderful indeed. The coffee variants at the moment are available at all ITC hotels, where you can go and taste and select which coffee you would like and you can also customize the grind size as well. The expert baristas will help you choose the perfect blend for your taste.

We will definitely keep you posted with the different ways we try to make these.

So this was all about coffee!

We'll be back soon so stay tuned and bon apetit!

ITC Gardenia "You Ask We Answer" Event | Bangalore



ITC Gardenia "You Ask We Answer" Event | Bangalore


We were invited for an event quite some time ago but it was recently that we came to know about the venue and of course the brand associated with the event. We were quite thrilled as we got to know about the venue and it was quite an experience indeed.

The venue was ITC Gardenia, Bangalore situated in Residency road and of course the brand associated was none other than ITC itself. The name of the event was “You ask we answer” by ITC Foods. 

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