Southern Thai Food Festival , Benjarong, Till 1st October

Benjarong is one of the few restaurants that I love, and keep going back to and never get tired of. Infact, I found the food there to be closest in terms of taste to what I had in Bangkok. And so, whenever they have a festival, I make it a point to head over and give the menu a trial.. There are friends who I have introduced to the place who also fell in love with the food and service~ 

This time around I was headed there for their Southern Thai Food Festival. The minute I saw the menu cover, my mood kinda fell, cos it seemed to reflect more of seafood.. But then when I began flipping through the pages, smile creeped back onto my face. There were veg options in every category.. Yayy!!

Here is a photo journey of the dishes I got to taste... Psst, there is an egg dish there, since I love egg, chose the stuffed omelette :D

The evening opened with a delicious lychee based drink... 

 The Starters and Mains

 Spinach deep fried and coated with sticky sweet chilli sauce... 

 Lotus stem stir fry with fresh pepper corns..

 Stuffed Omelette - this one had mushrooms and few other vegetables.. I quite loved it.. 

The traditional Raw Mango salad 

Thai rice.. This was not part of the menu but the chef whipped up a portion for me to try..

 Pad See ew- Pad thai noodles sautéed with broccoli and bean sprouts in brown sauce..

 Tofu stir frie in fresh pepper - this was the highlight for me amidst all the dishes. Loved how the tofu was melting in the mouth and the peppercorns added just the right hit of spice... Apparently it is quite a popular dish in Thailand, one of the few dry dishes. 

Desserts

I tried not one or two but three of them... 

First up was Sakoo Piak Maprow - Little pearls of sago served with tender coconut milk and  pieces of cantaloupes.

Khanom Kluay - which I loved- which is steamed banana cupcake in banana leaf it has been cooked in served with vanilla ice cream.

Kluay Buat Chee - Elaki[tiny variety] banana cooked in palm sugar syrup and topped with sweetened coconut cream  - Did not enjoy this too much.. it was sweet plus I dont like this particular kind of banana...

This festival is on only till the 1st Oct. So if you have been curious about this restaurant or haven't been in ages, then time to book a table and make a visit!! 

Address: 

Benjarong,146 TTK Road, Chennai. 

For reservations for the Festival call 044 24322640.

Disclaimer: The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember these were just my views!! Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit :-)

Celebrating World Tourism Day at Madras Pavillion, ITC Grand Chola- 27th Sep

'You have to taste a culture to understand it ~ Deborah Cater." When you bring together two of my favourite elements, it is bound to be filled with excitement.  What two aspects am I talking about - Travel & food.. 

ITC Grand Chola is celebrating World Tourism day with a host of activities such as Art walk, talks and of course through food as well. The bottomline being Responsible Luxury meets Sustainable Tourism right here! 

At Madras Pavilion, as part of the buffet you will find a few new Live stations that will tingle your taste buds leaving you happy and confused and ecstatic as well..  I got a sneak preview of the same...  Here is what you can expect - 

Thakkali Rasam Ramen - Yes, you read it right. It was delicious flavour packed rasam served on top of Semiya with nori strips, blanched cherry tomatoes, spring onion, fried garlic.. What a twist right?! The flavours blended well and the spice in the rasam had the perfect kick..  

    Idli Arrabbiata - Talk about going berserk in the name of fusion right? But know what, this fusion worked well. Idli was soaked right with the sauce and it had shaved parmesan on top and rocket leaves as well. For someone who isnt a big fan of idli, I was in love.. On the side we have the milagai podi blended with some cheese powder.. 

 Raw Mango Som Tam with chickpea sundal in vietnamese rice wrap - My head took some time to wrap itself around this dish. Cos what I saw was a vietnamese veg wrap, but then there was mustard seeds on the plate.. With a bit of apprehension I popped one in my mouth and wowwie, I was in love. It was fabulous. inspired by the sundal at Marina beach, there was sundal inside this, and it substituted the peanut that you find normally in Thai/Vietnamese food.. 

 Nacho Parota - Served in a beautiful cast iron pan, it arrived in style and looked at me as if to say "Cmon, give me a shot wont you?"... I picked up a crisp parota and lopped it with potato masala, onions/tomato salsa, dipping into the sauce at the bottom and that is how the party started in my mouth. The pan was wiped clean in minutes, and I saw others had done the same thing.

Mushroom pepper momos- While I love mushrooms and momos, this one was a bit of let down. Did not excite me as much as the other dishes did.. It is served with a delicious tangy sauce that had soya sauce, coriander and chilli hit 

 Filter Kaapi Tiramisu -Served in a Kaapi vattai tumbler [ tradiitonal south indian cutlery for coffee], this was deliciious in every spoonful. Filter Kaapi flovour - good [this was in the place of Kahlua], cream- good, sponge cake/lady finger biscuits- good, what more can I say!! :D 

Well, if you too wanna enjoy these dishes, head over to Madras Pavilion on 27th Sep [Wed] and celebrate World Tourism Day in style!! #WTD2017 #responsibleluxury #ITCHotels 

Address: 
ITC Grand Chola 
#63, Mount Road, 
Guindy, Chennai
Ph- 044 2220 0000

Disclaimer: The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember these were just my views!! Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit :-)

Oktoberfest at 365 AS, Hyatt Regency

Bring on the party.... that seemed to be the theme of the 6th Oktoberfest at The Arena in 365 AS at Hyatt Regency..  The atmosphere was buzzing, food was aplenty and beer kept flowing.... From the minute the festival was opened by the German Consulate general, beer flowed free across the tables. 

I spotted guys dressed in traditional Bavarian outfits- Trachten shirts paired with suspenders and troubers [ even though traditionally guys wear leather shorts] .. I did miss seeing the girls in their traditional  Dirndl dress and staff carrying tonnes of beer mugs in their hands.. These guys carried pitchers and poured beer into glasses that were empty/half empty.. :-) But they did a good job of keeping our glasses full at all times... lolz. 

There was german music, some dancing, and amazing food as well. I felt the veg spread was lot more this year and loved the salads and breads, not to mention the various kinds of mustard sauces on each table. Well, am not gonna go on.. Go have fun and let the beer do the talking... 

It offers the chance for locals to experience what it is like in Germany and to just chill, unwind after a long day! 

This festival is on till 7th October ...