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H – 3, Sector – 14
Ghaziabad
+91 8744050670
Hyderabadi Food Festival –17th June – 3rd July
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This is the third time I am reviewing a food festival at Kama, Radisson Blu, Kaushambi. Earlier I have tried various delicacies at their Kashmiri Food Festival and Lucknawi Food Festival. While the previous festivals ticked all the boxes for me, this one had a few hits and a few misses. To start with, the appetizers were phenomenal and few of the dishes were the best I have ever tasted.
Hyderabad’s culinary history dates back to almost 400 years and Hyderabadi cuisine is one of the very few Muslim cuisines in the world that boasts of a wide variety of vegetarian fare as well. This cuisine draws influence from two rich legacies, one being the Deccani cuisine of Nizams which is a more sophisticated cuisine and mainly consists of delicately spiced biryanis, haleem and kebabs, and the spicy Andhra style of food, which in itself consists of really spicy dishes that are accompanied by chutneys and pickles. This is also one cuisine which has not been too rigid and has cultivated itself by remaining open to innovation that came with intermixing of different cultures including European aestheticism.
The various delicacies that we tried at this festival were a glimpse of how the Hyderabadi food has adopted a fine mix of north Indian and south Indian food. The starters were mildly spiced and absolutely mouthwatering. Pathar ka Gosht, that basically consisted of pounded mutton pieces was extremely soft and extremely rich in flavour. Some of the finest techniques have gone into preparing these kebabs. They were softer that Galauti Kebabs so the natural thought that came to my mind was that raw papaya has gone into its preparation but Chef Devilal told us that he has not used raw papaya, instead he has used only the spices and unique stone cooking technique to make it soft.
In the veg starters Vegetable Lukhmi and Begum Bazar ka Subz Shami were two out of the box dishes and were exceptionally well made. Lukhmi is a deep fried vegetable dumpling similar in shape to a ‘gujiya’. The flavours of Lukhmi were really good and it was accompanied by a Rajasthani style red chilli chutney, another specialty of Chef Devilal. Coming to Veg Shami, its uniqueness lied in the use of more vegetables and less potato, which gave it a really nice flavour.
Main course didn’t appeal to me much except Hyderabadi Haleem and Bagara Baingan. I had not tried Haleem before and this first experience I would really cherish. The gravies of Dum ka Murgh and Paneer Rizala were almost similar, mildly spiced with saffron without having any other flavour, and were just about okay. Qabooli, which was a kind of ‘khichdi’ was really well made. In fact I found it better than the Kacche Gosht ki Biryani.
The desserts Khubani ka Meetha, a halwa style dessert and Dil-e-Firdaus, a kind of kheer prepared using coarse rice flour, pistachios and lauki (bottle gourd), which had a phirni like consistency, were presented well and tasted great.
Kama at Radisson Blu, Kaushambi is one of the finest restaurants in that area and is doing really well to remain in limelight. The team of chefs is doing a great job by recreating some of the traditional recipes of different parts of the country and the management is doing a great job by organizing such festivals which not only benefits the hotel but also the residents living in the vicinity.
Disclaimer – This review was done on an invitation from the establishment. Views expressed in the review is entirely ours and without any bias. Pictures of the dishes are not the standard portions, they are sample portions.
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