Mango desserts at The Taj Bengal, (above) the Caribbean festival at Charnock’s. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

Mangoes are one of the few truly cool things about the sultry season. Serve them neat or flavour them in a soufflé, just turn to the succulent, aromatic fruit to beat the heat.

The Taj Bengal is doing its bit with a mango festival featuring exotic desserts devised by chef Surinder Singh.

If Philadelphia Mango Cheese Cake packs the punch of some excellent Philadelphia cream cheese, the king of fruits finds a novel lair in the Fresh Mango Frangipane Tart, a combination of baked almonds and fresh mango topping.

There is the ubiquitous mango ice-cream as well, but most other preparations play safe with soufflé. So, while the sugar-free Cheesy Mango Dome is nothing but a fluffy souffle, the Mango and Chocolate Diplomatica combines mango and chocolate cream to spongy effect.

Mango Marquise Wedges are wafer thin sponges again, whereas Mango and Brandy Japonaise Charlotte is a sponge and mango recipe deriving its exotic nomenclature from its Swiss role shape.

The price you pay for going mangoes ranges from Rs 155 to 200, per serving.

Go west

The fruity fusion flavours of the West Indies are spicing up the culinary calendar starting Friday. Charnock’s, Salt Lake’s restaurant with a view atop the Charnock City supermarket, is hosting Caribbea, a food festival, on till next Sunday.

“We wanted to do something youthful to inject some zing into the place,” smiles Mandira Mukherjee of Charnock’s at the preview on Thursday, which saw young star Parambrata Chatterjee and model Sreshtha digging into the fare.

Chef Subhodip Majumder, having spent three years on cruises in the Caribbean, knew just how to do this. The emphasis is on meat and seafood, liberally laced with fruit and a variety of chillies.

“It is spicy, but very refreshing too,” says Majumder, who feels the Indian and Spanish influence on the food will go down well with the clientele.

“Even three years ago I would not have thought about such a festival. But now, Calcutta’s palate has opened up with travel,” adds Mukherjee.

Promotions of this kind require quite a bit of planning and investment as well. The chef, having come from the region, brought some of the special spices and sauces with him.

e the menu offers nothing for the vegetarian, for meat eaters, there is plenty to choose from. Most items are flavoured with fruit — mango, papaya, lichi, grapes and apples — and spirits — whisky, white wine and rum. Coconut and bananas are widely used too. Pepperoni Lamb with Banana Fritters, Crab in the Coconut Shell, Jerk Roast Chicken are a few of the interesting festival entries. Oysters and clams also make an appearance.

A West Indian festival would seem a little incomplete without a cocktail menu, and Charnock’s is mixing some exciting beverages.

Children dig in at Malgudi Junction. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Shop sop

Folks forced to sweat it out with shopping bags at Gariahat now have an obscure corner to cool off at.

The only ice-cream parlour-cum-fast food address (apart from a Baskin Robins outlet) — Melting Zone at 208/6 Rash Behari Avenue — is yet to pick up pace owing to its off-the-main-road locale, but explorers swear by the “three-layered Mumbai-style grilled sandwich”.

The mammoth mouthful stuffed with green veggies, chutney, cheese and special sandwich masala from Mumbai pairs well with sundaes (even on Mondays!) like Banana Split, tutti-frutti, Pineapple Pitch and Mango Mania for a satisfying snack and slurp on the run.

For those in-between times, the outlet stocks all the flavours of Metro and Amul to go with a variety of spicy chaats, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas and French fries.

The all-vegetarian fare is as fresh as it comes (a common grouse, one learns, with growling tummies, as it takes a while to get your orders). Sherbats and shakes are other quick gulps on offer on the standing slab if you fail to find a place in the 10-seater air-conditioned joint done up in peppy colours.

Dosa delight

The soaring summer Celsius would find it hard to compete with their spirits if it had to.

After an excursion to the Nehru Children’s Museum, 36 children aged between three to 13 arrived at Malgudi Junction on Camac Street at 3.30 pm. They came prepared to take the cosy and rather quiet speciality south Indian coffee shop by storm. After all, it was time for a late lunch after a hard day out in the field and the kids were all set to feast on the newly introduced combo meal for children.

Participants of a summer camp called Smiling Stars, this was the children’s third and very memorable day at the camp. As they sat down to lunch, a platter with idlis the size of candies, vadas you could grab by the half-dozen in one hand, and a mini plain dosa a third the usual size — all in keeping with the size of the little ones — and a glass of cola was served to each of the pocket sized dynamos.

l this comes for Rs 40, and is meant to add a little bit of excitement to the lives of young ones this summer,” says Pankaj Poddar of Malgudi Junction.

For the small eater, there is also the option of ordering for two items among the options of idli, vada and dosa. Along with a soft drink, this package comes for Rs 30.

“The festival is targeted at young people who spend their holidays in Calcutta,” says Naveen Pai, whose company supplies the food to the outlet. The craze continued with the kids having a cracking time bursting balloons. “The last day at the camp tomorrow is going to be one long party. I guess they’ve already got into the mood,” laughed Aparna Basu, coordinator of Smiling Stars.