24/ 7 happiness
The 24/7 is an all day dining restaurant at The Lalit. It is also a cafe which serves International and Indian dishes all round the day on a la carte basis. They have special buffets for lunch and dinner during the weekends. While the ambiance of the place is sophisticated, right now it has been transformed into a festive mood.
Street Food Festival
You can feel the buzz even before you step in, the paan wala stationed just outside the restaurant with the neatly folded betel leaves sets your expectations soaring high. While the nicely dressed staff (suit, boot aur tie) seats you, you can't help but roll your eyes as you see food around you glowing with brilliant colours.
The Lalit had organised this sit out dinner for the blogger community in collaboration with FBAI (Food Bloggers Association Of India) Sameer and Salloni, the couple behind FBAI were there to greet, meet and eat. Without gabbing much, I shall take you on a gastronomic flight so that you can experience what I did. I felt something loosening around my heart which gave me the buoyancy to float around,I felt joy and time moved so fast as if the Earth was spinning on its axis in double speed. Food can indeed take you to soaring heights.
Khao gallis of India
The center stage was taken by the chaat counter, I wish to generalize that we Indians love chats ( have not met anyone who does not drool at pani puris or sev puris) That night also most of us started our journey from this humble counter.
Can you remember when was the last time you had pani puris on the street? There is always a question mark on the hygiene as far as street food is concerned, rapidly rising threats from diseases have kept us away from enjoying the local pani puri. That night it was nothing short of vengeance, the way we let ourselves loose at the chaat counter. I think our liking for chaats come from the fact that our lives are just like them, sweet, salty, tangy, spicy and colourful.
Can you remember when was the last time you had pani puris on the street? There is always a question mark on the hygiene as far as street food is concerned, rapidly rising threats from diseases have kept us away from enjoying the local pani puri. That night it was nothing short of vengeance, the way we let ourselves loose at the chaat counter. I think our liking for chaats come from the fact that our lives are just like them, sweet, salty, tangy, spicy and colourful.
Mumbaiya Pav Bhaji
Reminded me of the pav bhaji at Juhu Beach. Do I need to say any more?
Along side this was also Kheema Pav which my friends loved.
Along side this was also Kheema Pav which my friends loved.
Rajasthan ro bhajiyas
In the bubbling oil were being fried onions, potatoes, spinach, green chilli all battered with the lentil paste. This counter took me to my childhood and I remembered how on a special day my mother would fry bhajiyas and how we would crave for that day to come.
Momos khabe ki chowmein
Kolkata is the capital of India's street food. Its legacy is so rich in this field that no other city can come anywhere close to it. Thus it had the rightful space in this food festival. Not only was the food lip-smacking but it was a delight to watch the cook toss the chowmein mid air and grab it back in the wok. It was smoky but we didn't mind that at all. The non-veg momos were better than the veg ones.
Chandini Chowk di mithainya
Kesariya doodh in mithi di glass. Wah! Wah!
Mithi di katoriyan mein rabadi. Kya swaad hei!
Kesariya Jalebi, malai toast aur pethe. Lajawab!
Mithi di katoriyan mein rabadi. Kya swaad hei!
Kesariya Jalebi, malai toast aur pethe. Lajawab!
The Salad Counter
Though my stomach had stretched beyond its elasticity, I could not stop myself from trying these salads, simply because they looked exotic and they had healthy ingredients like broken wheat, zuchini and Tofu. It was like sau sau chuhiya maar kar billi haj ko gayi.
There were also other regular dishes in the buffet, which are there in most buffets. The chef, Aungshuman Chakravorty very gracefully took us around the restaurant, brought our attention to some details, introduced us to the cooks/servers at the various counter. In short brought the personal touch to the hospitality.
This festival is on till the 30th of this month, get in touch with them to know what's happening next. They will make the best efforts to please their clients. Also they have festivals at their other restaurant Baluchi, can't wait to visit that.