I often get invites for food reviews, but haven't actively participated in many. In a city that's ruled by heavy traffic and long travel hours, going out for food reviews after a long day at work doesn't thrill me much. But when the team at Sheraton send their invite, I do not think twice. It's a joy being there, each time and every time. As much the long travel stresses me, being at Feast, their signature multi-cuisine restaurant has always been a fantastic experience and eases me out. Their ambiance is warm and inviting, and their staff amicable and friendly as always.

Feast is out to host the much famed Chettinad food festival through this week. If you are from Bangalore, this ubiquitous cuisine needs no introduction to most of you. As often acclaimed to be a spice lover and non-vegetarian's delight, this food festival left me with deep impressions of unique flavors, spices and aromas of this region, demystifying all myths associated with typical South Indian cuisine of rice-rasam or idli-dosa. Quite surprisingly, the spread was elaborate with variety of options for vegetarians like me, which I had quite unexpected, so much that my non-vegetarian counterparts spreed themselves in vegetarian dishes with great delight.

As we sipped the jaggery based orange drink, which tasted quite like a subtle, Westernized version of our Paanaka, Chef Marty and Chef Sabari gave us a round of introduction to the Chettinad cuisine, walking us through their journey in exploring this cuisine by travelling down South to rural villages of Tamil Nadu, visiting homes there to understand the culinary traits of the Chettinad region and tap its roots. What came as an outcome from this food excursion, was a revelation that most homes around this region use minimal spices and oil, yet they rank high on flavor, as opposed to the way Chettinad cuisine is often acclaimed in restaurants. Ofcourse, it doesn't come as a surprise that this cuisine has always known to be high on heat, owing to the liberal use of peppers and chillies, that's traditional to their cooking.

The menu at Feast was quite expansive, ranging from live cooking stations for idiyappams, appams and paniyarams to starters with likes of mushroom pepper fry, a vegetarian twin of pepper chicken and banana blossom vadai, both of which were peppery and delectable. An island counter that hosted a spread of malagapudis and a variety of chutneys and pickles did leave our taste buds watering. It's hard to scoop out each of it and give a try, yet harder to resist. Nevertheless, we did give a try. While I do not have a big appetite for sundals, their baby corn sundal salad was quite a modish twist to the traditional version.

Conforming to traditional home styled way of cooking with spices used in moderation, Feast excels in bringing the best of this cuisine in terms of flavors, style, aromas and variety. Much of Chettinad menu sounds like a tongue twister to me, but that did not deter me from trying Mor Kuzhambu, Kathirikai Sadham, Kaikari Biriyani, Kathirikai Kuzhambu, Beetroot Kola Urundai and many others that I could barely pronounce, each of which were high on taste and flavor. The Beetroot Kola Urundai was rich and stood out from the rest, nearly resembling in flavor to the North Indian Kofta curry. The Pachadis served alongside the course acted like coolants and helped soothe the spice in the curries.

By the time we were done with the main course, we had stuffed ourselves to the brim, barely being able to move after such heavy indulgence. Yet, I always make some room for desserts. I forced myself to taste all of the four desserts on menu. Of all, Elaneer Payasam was fresh and subtle with hint of sweetness from tender coconut, while Asoka Halwa, that seemed quite close to the North Indian Moong Dal Halwa wins hands down! It was rich, full-bodied and flavorsome till the last bite. Had I not stuffed myself so full, I was sure to take couple of more helpings of this.

If you love hot, spicy food and swear by love for fiery taste buds, then you just have the right cuisine for you. Visit Sheraton and be a part of the grandeur of Chettinad. Indulge in the aromas and variety of spices that invite a mouthwatering prospect for every foodie!

August 25 - September 6 between 11:00am to 11:00pm

Feast, Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway,
Dr. Rajkumar Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Ph. No.: 08042521000 / +91-9880699111

One would probably think what a vegetarian has got to do at a Korean Food festival. This is precisely the reason for the review today. When the PR team at Sheraton reached out to me with an invitation for their ongoing Korean Food festival at Feast, my uncertainties in regard to vegetarian menu were sent out on an email to them. They responded promptly assuring that there was enough on the menu for vegetarians and we would not be in last minute surprises. We made our way through the city to reach Sheraton’s food lounge, Feast where this food festival is currently being hosted. Feast is a well-designed, multi-cuisine restaurant located at the ground floor of Sheraton hotel. Adding to their assortment of multi-cuisine spread, Feast is out to host the exotic culinary flavors from Korea in an anticipation to introduce Korean flavors to Indians.

Chefs Link Chan Jae Chung and Shane Yun-Gi Hong from the Sheraton Seoul D Cube city Hotel have gone lengths to create buffet spread that well comprises of an array of authentic vegetarian and non-vegetarian Korean dishes with no compromise to flavor or ingredients.

Chef Marty and Chef Link walked us through a round of introduction to the Korean cuisine, citing prevue of what goes into their cooking, their techniques, medicinal value, common ingredients and their affinity and influences from the Japanese and Chinese cuisines. It was interesting to know that their National dish – Kimchi, a household staple comes in over 200 varieties and is fermented even up to 30 years for its medicinal value and authentic tart taste. Koreans’ love for fermentation is seen in the liberal use of fermented products such as soy sauce, fermented chilli peppers, fish sauce, fermented radishes, cabbages, etc. This comes through strongly in many of the dishes and the dominance of fermented pastes is quite prominent and could possibly be an acquired taste for many unknown to this cuisine.

The soups on course, the Korean Spicy Squid Soup and Kimchi Soup catered to the non-vegetarian tastes. Chefs at Sheraton put together an appetizing vegetarian version of the soup in Korean flavors. Be warned - fish sauce is often termed to be vegetarian in South East Asian cuisines, hence it would be best if you could check with the chef for its use in their vegetarian menu.

On the menu, we started off with the Gimbap, that has close resemblance to the Japanese Sushi. Layers of sticky white rice and vegetable juliennes, encased in the black seaweed nori sheets make up for pretty, healthy bites. Water Kimchi, made from fermented turnips, radishes, apples, was another interesting dish that tantalized our senses. It has a strong pungency from fermentation and you bet one cannot indulge on this beyond a couple of bites. The Konguksu, which is cold noodles served in soya milk broth was quite similar to vermicelli kheer, minus all the sugar. A dish that I thought deserved an applause was Japchae. The sweet potato noodles, stir fried in sesame oil with vegetable juliennes and garnished with sesame seeds and slivers of chili was delicious and deserved multiple helpings. Although Japchae is most commonly served as a side dish, I could probably eat it on its own as a main course.

The Korean Mini-Pancakes that were served had close resemblance to Indian maida dosa. Nothing exceptional to mention about.

Kimchi Fried Rice was good, but can be passed for the more interesting Bibimbap, a signature Korean dish. Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sautéed and seasoned vegetables and Gochujang (chili pepper paste), soy sauce, or salty soybean paste. Yet another dish that had unique flavors from the fermented ingredients used. This is a must try I suggest.

Traditionally Korean desserts are low on sweetness and can actually be termed as healthy! The Honey Rice Cake and Baek Seol Ki were basically cooked rice cakes which tasted very close to the rice modak sheath we make during Ganesh Chaturthi. These did not impress my tastes and left me disappointed for not getting that ‘sugar-kick-kind-of’ dessert. Song Pyon was better with a mild bean filling, although I would still give it a pass and enjoy the Korean tea that soothed our senses with sweet and warm hint of ginger and cardamom.

Unknown to a cuisine and being welcomed into a new world of flavors, I am glad to be a part of this invite at Feast. If are like me and have never tried Korean food in the past, or you’ve assumed it to be faithfully non-vegetarian, then put your reservations aside and give into a whole new world of authentic regional gastronomy. It can put you into a cozy surprise! So head out this week to discover the unique culture and rich flavors of Korean food at Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway as it invites you to be a part of this celebration between 13th February to 25th February, 2015.

Price – Lunch @ Rs. 1395+taxes and Dinner @ Rs. 1545 + taxes.

Earlier this week I headed over to the Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway located in the heart of city on Malleshwaram-Rajajinagar road to experience the flavors of Awadhi cuisine. I was invited to be a part of this 10 day long food festival hosted by Sheraton in all splendor to celebrate the traditional cuisine of Lucknow - it's warmth, feel and richness you will experience right at the entrance of Sheraton's Feast restaurant where this festival is currently running till the 19th of October. Make your way through the city and be there to indulge in the vivid, rich flavors of Awadhi khana.

Cuisine from Awadh isn't unknown to many. It comes with a legacy from the Nawabs and the kings. With heavy influences from the Mughal cooking techniques such as dum, Awadh cuisine bears striking similarities to those of Persia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. It's essence lies in its richness with liberal use of exotic spices including saffron and sandalwood. While Awadhi cuisine is predominantly known for its non-vegetarian delicacies, my eagerness to visit this food festival was to explore the uncharted reigns of vegetarian delicacies of this region. What's in it for me and if it was really worth the visit? A year ago I had a chance to visit Lucknow and savor their local cuisine. However with Sheraton's Guest Chef Rehman and their in-house Chef Maqsood re-creating the Nawabi flavors, this food festival promised to offer more than what I had known and savored in the past. So I put my thoughts to rest and headed for an evening to savor the royal feast put together by the F&B team at Sheraton. Indeed worth every bit.

The food festival is being held at Sheraton's signature restaurant - Feast, which is located on the ground floor of the hotel. As a well designed restaurant in warm shades and rich feel, Feast has 4 counters boasting of live cooking at every counter, each specializing in a particular cuisine. The staff is courteous and willingly helpful beyond what one can ask for.

Accompanying the theme for food festival is a musical stage with live musical play, scoring the perfect background to set traditional mood.

We started off with a platter of starters that catered to both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian taste buds. Through it's course, Chef Rehman walked us through an array of dishes on the menu they had to offer, explaining their history and significance, each unique and rich. Aloo Neze Se and Achari Paneer Tikka served were both delicately flavored with smoky tandoori flavor that's typical of the Nawabi cuisine, a delight to someone like me who loves tandoori food and its grilled flavors. Grilled babycorn was good, but nothing of out the box to state.

Next came along a basket of some delicately fragrant Sheermal Roti and Awadhi Naan. Sheermal Roti was unique with light toned sweetness from saffron and cream. So delicious that you could snack on them by themselves. The Sheermal Roti went through second and third helpings. Awadhi Naan, a crisp and flaky mildly spiced bread with herbs and spices was in the second lead.

On the main course was Nawabi Baigan Bhurta that stole the show away. Unlike the Punjabi Baingan Bharta, Nawabi Baigan Bhurta though not visually appealing, was rich, creamy and delicious. Worth every bite and rightly fit for the kings. The Paneer Begam Bahar, a chic cottage cheese based dish, lightly spiced in gravy of cashewnut and almond paste was another dish I thought was delightful. The chef did highlight that Dal Mumtaz was a must try. This unique dal made of urad dal was simple and grounded and so satisfying to my taste in contrast to its rich, cream laden counterparts. Dhingri Dolma and Subzi Sheek Noorani, both heavy on Indian spices were delicious. Subz Dum Biryani was robust in flavor, but not any spectacular. So was Dal Makhani as a usual accompaniment.

Up on menu for desserts were Shahi Tukda, Balushahi, Malai Sandwich and Anjeer ki Kheer. I loved the simplicity Awadhi desserts had - not cloyingly sweet, nor heavily creamy or fatty as I had presumed. Anjeer Kheer was delicious. Shahi Tukda was unlike what it usually is, distinct, soft and just right on sweet.

The Awadhi cuisine is undoubtedly a royal feast meant to pamper your senses and made to feel like Nawabs. So if you are in a mood to dine out or celebrate an occasion or pamper in some Nawabi indulgence, head out to Sheraton where this festival is currently running till the 19th of October. The Dastarkhwan awaits!

Address:
Feast, Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway,
Dr. Rajkumar Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Ph. No.: 08042521000 / +91-9880699111