Watch the nail-biting Indian Premier League (IPL) season V matches with some finger-licking eats.
The capital’s hotels and clubs are gearing up to lure cricket-crazy fans with a platter as entertaining as the action on the pitch — kebabs, biryani, Japanese, Burmese and specialities of different states — apart from big screen live coverage of the matches.
At Lalpur’s Hotel Landmark, cuisine of different states will be named after nine IPL teams, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Kolkata KnightRiders, Pune Warriors, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.
“Linking IPL teams with corresponding cuisine from the area each one represents is a novel idea, which will add fun to the cricket extravaganza,” the hospitality hub’s food and beverage (F&B) manager Kaushik Gupta said, adding that the hotel’s resto-cum-bar Peppercorn would be “suitably decked up”.
“The fest starts from April 4 and will continue till the season lasts,” he smiled as he rattled off the list of delights. “We are Indians. And in India, foodies are equally passionate about cricket and vice-versa,” he added.
Root for your favourite team with a dish from the region, goes the inspired logic.
Each item or items will correspond to a team — Rajasthani lal maas (Rajasthan Royals), chicken Chettinad (Chennai Super Kings), Kolhapuri fish curry (Mumbai Indians), paneer makhana curry (Delhi Daredevils), baigan kalonji (Pune Warriors), bhindi, chana dal makhani, Amritsari kulcha (King XI Punjab), vegetarian Hyderabadi biryani (Deccan Chargers), avial (Bangalore Royal Challengers) and mishti doi and rosogolla (Kolkata KnightRiders).
The cost for the buffet will be Rs 300 per head including taxes.
On the other hand, Hotel Capitol Residency will promote food of a completely different pitch for its customers during IPL.
Check out the 10-day I-ching, an oriental food festival at the hotel’s restaurant Fluid from April 6 till 15.
S. Satish Kumar, the hotel’s food and beverage (F& B) manager, said: “Our customers will relish delicacies such as the Thai mee krob with crispy noodles, bean sprouts and tangy sweet-sour sauce, satay kai re nuea re koong or grilled prawn skewers with peanut sauce, and others, while watching the live action on big screens.”
Adding that lady chef Jajo would play the culinary innings at the hospitality hub, he said they were expecting “tremendous response” as far as the food fest went.
“We plan to surprise and then wow our customers. Call that bowling them over,” said Kumar.
Hotel Arya officials said they were planning to put up an LCD screen at restaurant-Sheila, adding that they would also woo guests with a spicy menu to match the matches.
Cricket lovers said they were elated at the double treat. “Good food, great cricket. What can be better? I’ll definitely catch up the matches at city hotels hosting food festivals in honour of IPL V,” said a twelfth grader of DAV Public School, Nitin Kumar who appeared in his class XII board examination.
Equally enthusiastic was the city’s oldest club, which aims to stay, like Bob Dylan, forever young.
Ranchi Club with 1,200-odd members will for the first time host a month-long kebab and biryani food festival from April 15. Functionaries added they would put up big screens and ensure a steady flow of drinks with special offers.
Ranchi Club president Sunil Verma added that exclusively for the food festival, three chefs would be especially flown in from Hyderabad for biryani and kebabs.
