From tri-coloured idlis to thandai cocktails named baba ji ki booti, top restaurant and hotels are whipping up quirky food and beverages for their patrons this Holi. By Shrabasti Mallik and Arjita Mishra
Holi brings up images of gujiyas dipped in chashni, thandai, bhang and of course — colours. It is perhaps one day of the year when you don’t worry about whether the colours would leave your clothes.
But the festivities are largely over by noon and, if trends are to be believed, people go out for a quiet dinner — either with family or with friends. And to add to the fervour of the occasion, restaurants in the city and in top hotels have curated food and beverages keeping colours in mind.
Taj Mahal Hotel is providing a Holi special weekened stay package. No Holi is complete without the traditional drinks like the classic thandai or the refreshingbadaam milk, hence, the guests will be delighted with these special refreshments present at the hotel. They are also offering a discount of 10 per cent on the best available rate inclusive of a thoughtfully created Holi inspired breakfast buffet at their restaurant Machan. They also have something special for their in house guests. A special celebratory platter of gujiya and organic colours would be placed inside the rooms.
Hyatt Regency, Delhi has crafted a collection of exquisite Holi hampers at Sidewalk to add cheer to the festival of colours. “We also have set gift hampers available at Rs3,000 that comprises of traditional Indian sweets like gulab jamun and gujiyas, raspberry macrons, cashew nuts and strawberry cakes,” said Somnath Dey, executive AM, F&B of the hotel.
Cafe Dalal Street has decorated their restaurant with herbal colours and will be welcoming their guests with a teeka. “We also had a pre-holi bash with dhol and popular tracks of Holi,” said owner Vidit Gupta.
They will provide a holi special package to their customers which will include drinks ranging from Rs400 to Rs1,000 and shots ranging from Rs195 to Rs295. The restaurant had also curated the food menu especially for Holi. “We have the tri-coloured steam idli cake with honey yoghurt dressing and tri-colour ravioli aglio oleo,” Gupta informed us.
On other hand, Molecule is providing molecular phuchka shots. “As the name suggests, the dish gives a feel of a chemistry lab where chefs are providing five different colors and flavours of water in a test tube along with two syringe full of imly chutney and mint chutney along with with homemade puchkas presented with smokey hues,” said Manish Sharma , owner of the restaurant. He also told us that the water accompanying the phuchkas are of five types, or in five different colours and flavours.
As Saurabh Chandna, executive director at Zerucco Kitchen and Bar at Ashoka Hotel said, “We at Zerucco are bringing special offering of Holi cocktail delights starting 5.30 pm to 12 am where people can dig into our colorful Zerucco Signatures at Rs1,999 plus taxes only for six cocktails. We are also placing colourful upholstery to go with the theme of holi.”
Priyank Sukhija, owner of Tamasha, seemed very excited for the festival and going with the theme Holi, had introduced holi colour feista cocktails. “The cocktails not only pleases a person’s sense of taste, but also delights sense of sight and aroma,” said Sukhija and added, “One can choose from tamasha smash (smoked bourbon, lime, mint, bitters, ginger ale and apple caviar), which is a smoky and woody version of the classic mint julep with added zingy ginger notes and apple-flavored pearls.”
Dharam Garam has curated colourful rotis with their main course signature dishes. According to owner Umang Tewari, “Holi is the season to spread happiness. I am not letting this colour fervor go down till evening. Adding more fun side to the drinks, we are serving cocktails inbaalti, so while you have played enough with water in baalti’s in morning, we are ready to serve you best of cocktails.”
like Cafe Dalal Street, Imly, too will welcome their guest by applying gulaal. “In terms of food, we have introduced colourful chat platter,shahi gujiya and fruit Dessert according to the theme,” said Varun Puri, owner of the restaurant.
Aryan Singh and Vani Vats, owners of Jugaad Cafe and Bar, had organised pre-Holi bash with Holi fusion music and had also decorated their restaurant with pichkaris and colours.
Talking about the packages which they are providing to their customers, they said, “We are offering a package of Rs1,450. It is too economical and therefore we say Yaha sabka Jugaad hai.” At their restaurant, there is one drink which has been added to their Holi special menu called Baba Ji Ki booti. “This is a thandai based cocktail and mocktail which brings out the best in you this Holi,” promised the owners.
So what are you waiting forIJ Take a pick and dig into some post colour celebrations of your own.