Chanakya chef and staff members display the spread prepared for the Hyderabadi food festival that started at the Patna hotel on Friday. The nine-day festival will give foodies of Patna the opportunity to enjoy the taste of the city of Nizams, Hyderabad.

Takshila restaurant at the hotel is in charge of the nine-day programme. T.K. Sinha, senior general manager of Chanakya hotel, said: "The Hyderabadi Food Festival is yet another offering to foodies to try some exceptional and exciting food like Mughal-e-sabz-Bahr, Gosht Dum Biryani, Tamatar Lahsunia Sorba and other delicacies.

A chef from Hyderabad has come to Patna to train the hotel's chef." The Hyderabadi cuisine, he added, is the princely legacy of the Nizams of Hyderabad state. On the speciality of the food, Sinha said it is an amalgamation of Mughlai, Turkish and Arabic with influence of Telugu and Marathwada cuisines. Text by Amit Bhelari, picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh