Rivaayat, a revival

That is the theme of the food festival running at Kanak, Trident Hotels, Hyderabad. This is a revival of traditional recipes and styles of cooking, intended to take you on a trip down the memory lane, to remind you of the food cooked in your family kitchen. That’s how I felt as I was sampling some dishes here.

 

One thing that I always notice at 5-star restaurants or food festivals is how vegetarian food is taken for granted. There are just one or two dishes in the menu for vegetarians, and almost of them are either corn or paneer based. One of the main reasons I stopped enjoying food in restaurants around Hyderabad is that I stopped finding stuff that interested me, stuff that I’d love to eat and lick my fingers after eating. Well, I had that experience here, at Kanak.

There is an entire vegetarian menu at Kanak , and the dishes that were made for Rivaayat were, if I may say so, lip-smackingly good. The minute I spotted a raw mango cooked in spices with Okra was that moment when I knew I was going to love the dinner, thoroughly. But am getting ahead of myself…

At Rivaayat, there is nothing you haven’t eaten before, so don’t go if you are looking to experiment with food or if you want to expand your palate. Here it is the revival of dishes we’ve eaten all along, just that they are cooked to perfection. Each of these dishes I ate are made the way they have to be made, the traditional way, the way it was loved by people spanning across generations.

For example, Amritsari Chaat , on the face of it is a simple dish, if I may guess. But one bite of the crisp pastry topped with the chana, the medley of chutneys and yogurt told me that’s not the case. There was a depth to the dish, with various flavors intermingling to produce this tangy, slightly-sweet starter.

I can talk like this about every dish I was served there – One bite of the Rampuri Paneer Tikka told me that the marinade was made with great love for the paneer, and the tikka itself, though smoked to perfection didn’t let paneer harden. It was also the first time I was eating Soya ke Tootak, and I loved the crispy texture of the tootak.

 

 

 

Main course was another set of delicious dishes I’ve eaten before, but yet again, cooked to perfection. As the table was being set, I could feel the taste of the food from the delicious aromas coming from the dishes and I literally died and landed in heaven as I tasted the first bite of  my Makki ki roti with Sarson ka saag. Rawalpindi Chole, a traditional dish from the land of Punjab felt like an honest dish, sober, spiced just right and cooked to the right texture.

And then, there is my favorite Bharwan Amchori Bhindi aur pyaz, okra filled with spices and fried with raw mango, served with onions. I saw the dish and fervently hoped that the big greenish piece on my plate was a piece of mango, and there it was… everything I hoped it to be, and nothing like I’ve eaten before, in short, foodgasm!

 

 

 

I’ve grown to like the Lakhnawi Dal made at Kanak. My mind tells me that its full of ghee, but my heart wants me to eat it all, so I ate the dal from the cup, like it was soup, because I was full of stuffing my mouth with the other items on the menu.

Chef Manik, along with this team has planned for this brilliant food festival, which runs across all the Trident Hotels, till April 5th. Am told that a conclave of chefs from Trident were trained by experts specific to each traditional cuisine, spending a day each to master every recipe, and trust me, the effort was well worth it, when they made the food sing!

There are set menus at this food festival, which is only during dinners at Kanak in Trident Hotels, Hyderabad. Even if you are not based in Hyderabad, I strongly recommend you try this food festival at the Trident Hotel in your city.

Am told that the Butter Chicken served at this restaurant is out of the world, so is the Tale Jhinge ka Salan, but I haven’t eaten either dish.

 

 

I loved the Dry Fruit Dudhi Halwa, the dessert served at the end, which smelt heavenly and tasted even  better. It was so good that I went all local and put aside the fork to eat it with my fingers. The Gulab Phirni, a rose flavored rice pudding, smelt like a garden of roses, only very faint, and was just enough sugary.

Notes

1. The set menus typically start from 1995/- INR excluding taxes, with a beverage option for 3000/- INR plus taxes.
2. Based on what I saw at the hotel, my guess is it would cost a couple approximately 2500/- INR if they go a-la-carte and ~3500/- INR if they include wines in this list.
3. I was invited to do a food review, so I did not have to pay for my meal. This did not influence my review in any way, and I found my favorites in the menu, which are the ones mentioned above.
4. The experience and opinions are entirely mine.
5. Owing to my dietary preferences, I was served only vegetarian food, which I thoroughly enjoyed. All the items I reviewed here are vegetarian.

For reservations, call: 91 40 6623 2323 OR e-mail: happenings.hyderabad@tridenthotels.com

Venue and Dates: Kanak, Trident, Hyderabad from March 22nd – 05th April, 2015
Timings: Dinner