Goan Food Festival at Siesta Hitech

Qube Café at the Siesta Hitech Hotel in Kondapur is known for its value-for-money food festivals – it brings regional cuisine promotions to Hyderabad at a very attractive price. Whereas around Durga Puja their Bengali food festival with unlimited Hilsa is a huge hit, they had also done decent Kashmiri, Awadhi and Punjabi festivals in the recent past. Now the restaurant is organizing Goan Food Fiesta, a celebration of food from Goa and around.

The festival buffet is priced at an attractive Rs 570 on Bookmyshow. It is part of the dinner buffet and includes a wide range of meat and seafood. The buffet is dominated by Goan food, though it has a few non-Goan preparations for the in-house guests.

Goa is a favourite weekend destination for people from Hyderabad, and as a result, food lovers here are pretty familiar with the cuisine. Recently two restaurants offering Goan food have also opened in the city. Fish and other seafood items are popular in this cuisine, which has a lot of Portuguese influence on it. The buffet at Qube Café also had a lot of seafood items in it.

Anchovy Fry

The first dish we tried out was Anchovy Fry – a spicy and crispy preparation of small nethili fish with sliced green chillies. An ideal dish to go with drinks. Sadly Siesta Hitech does not have a liquor license yet.

Mackerel Rechado

This was followed by Mackerel Rechado. The rechado paste has red chillies in abundance along with cumin, ginger and other spices. The fish was soft and well-cooked and the dish worked out pretty good for me. Some of my fellow-diners had a tough time picking the bones though.

Goan Style Squids

Goan Style Squids seemed to be an oriental preparation for me replete with a lot of chopped garlic and bell peppers. While not scoring on the authenticity front, it was definitely tasty. The Goan shacks usually have a lot of such preparations with the fresh catch to go with the fenny. There were also other starters on the buffet like Stir Fried Prawns.

Mackerel Pulao

The main courses had quite a vegetarian dishes – Goan Style Okra and Mushroom Fry being noticeable among these. The buffet also had some dishes from Udupi area of Karnataka like the coconut based Mixed Veg Sagu and the Mangalorean Chana Gassi.

Goan Crab Curry

Among the non-vegetarian items, the star for me was the Goan Crab Curry – a coconut based gravy of crab which was simply delightful. Another one I liked was Prawn Balchao, a garlic and chilli based spicy dish, which went well with rice.

Chicken Cafrael

Chicken Cafrael, the green Goan curry with coriander, green chillies and mint scored on the taste front. There was another chicken dish Chicken Sukeem which I did not like. Coconut based Mutton Xacutti and Goan Fish Curry were also on the menu.

Prawn Balchao

With the curries, I missed Sanna – the rice cake which is usually eaten with the gravies.

The dessert platter had Nevris, deep-fried sweet dumplings stuffed with coconut. Bebinca the most famous of the Goan desserts was a tad too dry. I enjoyed the Mango Mousse which was part of the buffet too.

Bebinca

I am no expert in Goan cuisine and would not be able to vouch for the authenticity of most of the dishes. What I can say is that almost all the starters and main courses tasted remarkably good. Also, as always I wondered how the value-for-money buffet at Qube Café packs so many non-vegetarian dishes.

Mango Mousse

The festival is on only for dinner till 4th June. It is recommended for lovers of non-vegetarian Indian food.

Location:
Qube Café
Hotel Siesta Hitech
55E Kondapur, Hyderabad
Telephone: 42420000

Disclaimer: The review is based on an invite from the restaurant. However, the opinion expressed in the post are honest and unbiased.

The New Menu at SodaBottleOpenerWala Hyderabad

SodaBottleOpenerWala, the Bombay Irani restaurant from the Olive group is credited for popularizing Parsi cuisine in areas like Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. In Hyderabad it is a popular destination for lovers of Indian regional food. The outlet had since extended the Irani café concept to include quite a few Hyderabadi delicacies to the menu (Read here about the Hyderabadi menu). Now, the restaurant is making a major enhancement to the menu, adding about 30 odd new dishes.

A Traveler’s Food Diary: McLeodganj’s Tibetan and Oriental Food

McLeodGanj or the upper part of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh is best known for being the home of Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet living in exile there. Apart from attracting lakhs of Buddhist devotees, the place is also a tourist attraction for its breathtaking view of the Dhauladhar range.

On the way back from Khajjiar (Read about that trip here), we made a two-day stop at McLeodGanj. The splendour of the peaks was our main attraction, but I was also hoping to try out some Himachali and Tibetan delicacies.

I was told that unlike the Dalhousie zone, where the local food had a strong Punjabi influence, the areas around Dharamshala has a lot of Tibetan food. There is also a distinct preference for oriental food like Japanese, and Korean, as there are a large number of tourists from these parts of the world who visit McLeodganj due to religious reasons.

On the Himachali food front, I drew an absolute blank. I admit that my window was small so I could not do a complete search. However, almost everyone I met said that Himachali food is eaten at home, and there is no place serving the Himachali Thali in McLeodganj.

Finally, one person directed me to Moonpeak Café on the Temple Road, but alas, the Himachali food was not available on that day. They said, that they mostly prepare on request, and I was leaving the next morning.

Japanese Food at Lung Ta

As soon as I checked into my hotel, the reception staff directed me to a Japanese restaurant in the neighbourhood. Lung Ta is so famous in McLeodganj that the landmark for our hotel on Joshiwara Road was given as near the Japanese restaurant. The place on a Saturday afternoon was full, and people were standing outside for a seat. It has a set menu for the day (priced only at Rs 200) which had a fried tofu, veggies in soya dish, a miso soup and mashed potato salad. I, however, was interested in trying some of the a-la-carte dishes. As sushis are only available on Fridays and Tuesdays, we started with the other delicacy, the Miso Soup (Rs 80) with seaweeds and tofu. We were advised to try the Omu rice (Rs 100), fried rice inside an omelette, topped with tomato puree and served with salad. Both the dishes were fresh and aromatic, the miso soup had that distinct aqua-food flavour, and the fried rice inside the Omu rice was delicate.

Omu Rice

The third dish was Kakiage Don (Rs 100), a complete bowl dish with rice cooked in soya sauce topped with vegetable tempura and eggs. Again the sauce-soaked rice was fabulous here. We would have definitely gone back to try more dishes, but we had time for only three meals in McLeodganj, and that really restricted us.

Kakiage Don

Tibetan cuisine is primarily carb and meat based and vegetables are using sparingly due to lack of availability. Ginger, garlic and onions are popular as an accompaniment to meat, whereas spices are used more in the area adjoining India and Nepal. For Tibetan food, I was given names of three places – Tibet Kitchen, Lobsang’s Four Season and Norling, and we could only visit the first two. Of course, during my stay in McLeodganj, we could see many Tibetan eateries, and I am sure some of them will be as good.

Tibet Kitchen

Tibet Kitchen is near the main market and has seatings in both ground and first floor. We tried their steamed Tibetan Momos (Lamb – Rs 120) which were large and well stuffed with lamb and a smattering of ginger and garlic. It hardly had any spices, but the accompanying red chilli paste made up for it. The other starter Shredded Chicken in Honey Chilli Sauce (Rs 180) was crispy and decent.

Tibetan Momos

Shredded Chicken in Honey Chilli Sauce

Apart from Tibetan, they are also known for their Bhutanese food, like Datshi and Paa. I had been recommended their Shakam Paa (Deep Fried Lamb and Pok Choy in a chilli pepper sauce – Rs 230). The chilli pepper sauce was the highlight of this dish as the soya based gravy had a slightly pungent taste. The dish went well with some well-made Mixed Fried Rice.

Shakam Paa

Tibetan Kitchen is an extremely crowded place and a favourite for both locals and tourists, they have a pretty large menu of Tibetan fare including Shapta and Thentuk.

Lobsang's Four Seasons Cafe

Lobsang’s Four Seasons Cafe, in contrast, is a laid back small place with just five tables. This place, again on Jogiwara Road, was recommended to us for its Tibetan Thukpas and Tibetan gravy noodles. Unfortunately, they had only chicken for the day, but their Thukpa (Rs 100) was a delightful dish. Unlike the Nepalese version, it was low on spices and retained the taste of fresh vegetables.

Thukpa

Chicken Soutesmen (Rs 150) was a chop suey kind of a preparation, with chicken and vegetable gravy spread over fried noodles. I had never heard of Soutsmen before in spite of my regular trips to the Himalayan region, but the dish was a perfect meal. There were also Thentuk in the menu, but it was not available on that day.

Soutesmen

Apart from these three, McLeodganj is dotted with restaurants of all kinds serving a range of cuisines. Pizza seemed to be a popular food, popular joints being Nick’s Italian Kitchen and Illiterati. On the last day, we discovered a Korean restaurant called Seven Hills of Dokkaebi in the basement next to Lung Ta on Joshiwara Road. Unfortunately, we had our dinner by then and had to give it a miss.

The cool hill station of McLeodganj is best visited between February to June and again in October and November. It is best avoided during the rainy season and cold winter, except for the adventurous travellers.

A Taste of Maharashtra at The Westin Hyderabad

Maharashtra is the second largest state of India after Uttar Pradesh. There are significant diversities in the culture of various regions across the length and breadth of the state, and the same applies to food. Marathwada, Vidarbha, Malvan, Kolhapur as well as the Bombay region have their preferences in styles of cooking as well as ingredients. This was explained by Chef Uday Karmalkar, Chef De Cuisine from Courtyard by Marriott Mumbai, presently in Hyderabad to curate the “Taste of Maharashtra” food festival at The Westin Mindspace, Hyderabad.

Bihari Cuisine and the Food Festival at Ohri’s Tansen

I have been exposed to Bihari food from my childhood. The rickshaw puller who used to take me to school used to share his sattu gola with me, and I still remember the taste. During my college days in Banaras and subsequent working years in Jamshedpur, I always enjoyed the cuisine. The littis, dhuskas, samosas and lavanglatas, as well as the signature mutton curry, were all my favourites.

Litti Chokha

Beating the Hyderabad Summer Blues with 7 Up Revive

This year Hyderabad is passing through one of the worst summers in recent times. In mid-April itself, the mercury has touched 43 degrees and we are left wondering how May is going to pan out. Every day the newspapers carry stories of people suffering sun strokes.

Haleem Trail: Cafe 555, Masab Tank

In recent years, one of the haleems which was much sought after in Hyderabad is that of Café 555. Tucked in a lane close to the Masab Tank flyover, this outlet had such a great word of mouth publicity by satisfied customers that towards the end of the season there used to be quite a queue there.

Fortunately these days Café 555 has started offering their signature dish well before the Ramzan period. On a Saturday following Shab-E-Barat, I landed up at this place at 5:30 pm to try out the haleem.

A Trip to Khajjiar: The Mini Switzerland of India

As I was researching my next trip to Himachal, a friend had suggested that a visit to a place called Khajjiar is a must, as there is hardly any place with similar scenic beauty in India. On researching the place on the internet, I came to know that the Government of Switzerland has awarded Khajjiar the name “Mini Switzerland”, as this place has a striking resemblance to that country. My curiosity was aroused, and thus Khajjiar became my first stop for my latest trip.

Khajjiar