Recipes handed down generations orally, jaribooti — no, not black magic, but secret spices — and the flavours from royal kitchens that infused the Lucknowi way of life... All this just begins to describe Swissotel’s Awadhi Food Festival. 

Visiting chefs Nanku Rawat and Harish Kumar Mishra take you quite far way from the pulao and kebabs of popular imagination. “Each region has some sort of speciality, like here the fish is very good. We cook that as well, but our jaribooti will give it a completely different flavour,” they said. And their Machchhi Shagufta lends credence to that claim. 

Then there are vegetarian dishes like nothing we’ve tasted before. Paneer Mumtaz, Dal Ulfat Shorba and the GM’s favourite, Subz Galawat Kebab. “The vegetarian dishes were amazing and truly different. We had to bring the festival back after last year’s success,” smiled Marco Saxer, talking about his last food festival as the general manager of Swissotel before he moves on to Doha.

His parting words? “I will miss the people of Calcutta the most. And once in Doha, I will introduce some Bengali dishes to them!”

What: Awadhi food festival
Where: Durbari, Swissotel
When: Till March 27, 7pm to 11pm (all days) and 12.30pm to 3pm (Friday to Sunday)
Pocket pinch: Rs 1, 500-plus for two

Pictures: Rashbehari Das