The specialty of the four-day food fest lies in its title, ‘The Thrill of live Grill'. The food lovers of the city would be served kababs grilled slowly on a light sigdi, live on their tables. The guests can have as many kababs as they can. Other than vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties, this time the Za-aiqa restaurant would also serve the ‘zaaiqa' of sea food, writes Sana Riyaz
The Bhopalites are on a riyasati gastronomic expedition to the kitchens of the Nawabi Daur. The foodies of the City of lakes are enjoying the taste of the Nawabi cuisine, in a royal manner. Za-aiqa, an authentic Indian restaurant at Noor-us-Sabah Palace is serving Shahi food at the food festival, 'The Thrill of live Grill- Jashn-e-Aazadi'. The fest that began here from Thursday would continue till August 18. The festival got off with a colourful start.
The carefully crafted menu comprises traditional spice laced food, created from fresh ingredients keeping in mind the nutritional balance.
The specialty of the four-day food fest lies in its title, 'The Thrill of live Grill'. The food lovers of the city would be served kababs grilled slowly on a light sigdi, live on their tables. The guests can have as many kababs as they can. Other than vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties, this time the Za-aiqa restaurant would also serve the 'zaaiqa' of sea food. Prawn kababs would also be served for those who love grilled prawns.
Talking to Viva City, general manager of the hotel, Amit Kumar Singh, said "poised to take the food enthusiasts of the city by storm, Za-aiqa with its contemporary and soothing ambience is all set to become a trend setter in Nawabi cuisine. Our team has been planning to organise a food festival that can suit the taste buds of all people. Moreover, we wanted to do something different and unique. So, after a lot of discussion, we decided to launch the live grill dinner for the food lovers of the city." Elaborating further, Singh said "other than the taste factor, hygiene is also one of the major concerns of the customer who comes to have dinner. So, it is exciting for them to watch the food being cooked in front of their eyes. The hot grilled kababs would be an exciting experience for all the foodies," he added laughingly.
"The kind of food served at Za-aiqa is thoughtfully planned, to balance the six tastes of 'Shatrasa'. Elaborating further, he says "Shatrasa means the six tastes that include sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, salty and astringent. Each taste has its inherent qualities. It might be heavy, moist or dry but each flavor would suit the taste buds of food lovers." Welcoming everyone to experience the delicacies at Za-aiqa, he said "we have everything for everybody. This fest would be a place to enjoy an exotic, sumptuous and relaxing meal."
He further said "to give the citizens of Bhopal the most authentic experience of the nawabi culinary delights, these talented chefs bring not only the sizzling grilled kababs but also host of other specialties." More than 250 meals would be served in a four-day festival where the people would experience a new dish each day. Other than this, two different welcome drinks, a newly introduced 'papad ki tokri', eight varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian salads, 10 types of desserts and much more would be served at Rs 799.
Every day the foodies of the city would experience a different menu picked up from the kitchens of the Nawabs. The veggies of Bhopal would also be served with different varieties of the vegetarian Nawabi dishes. Every evening, the customers would be welcomed with a new welcome drink and Sham-e-Gazal. Welcome drinks may include soothing and relaxing mocktails, pepsi and traditional drinks like jal zeera, matha and much more.
Not only this, the dinner platter would also be adorned with missi roti, butter naan, plain naan, roti and even lachcha paratha and plain paratha. The vegetarian starter menu consists with Bharwan Aloo, Paneer Ke Sholey, Soya Ki Chaamp, Bharwan lauki and much more. On the other hand, the non vegetarian menu would have Prawn kababs as Jhinga Sarsari, mutton kababs, Mahi sarso ka tikka, chicken tikka, murgh tikka lahsooni, egg kabab, etc.
The main course has exotic dishes like Paneer Sofiya, Vegetable Makhanwala, Navratan Korma, Corn Palak, Bharwan Karela, Dal Sunheri, Dal Za-aiqa. The non vegetarian platter serves delicacies like Rara Gosht, Biryani e Khaas, Methi Murgh. Other than these exotic delicacies, the buffet would include different types of salads in vegetarian and non vegetarian varieties. Other than this, an enormous variety of desserts would also be served adding sweetness to the platter.
The senior food and beverage manager, Mohammad Aslam, said "we have brought all kinds of Nawabi dishes of the country together in our Za-aiqa restaurant for the food lovers under one roof." Elaborating further, the executive chef of the restaurant, Surjit Jana, said "culinary art is a passion at Noor-Us-Sabah Palace. Food at Za-aiqa is delicious and one can see the passion for cooking here. The delicacies present a veritable melange of flavours and textures for the gastronome to savour."
Elaborating further, Amit Kumar Singh said "at this food festival, the Bhopalites would go back to the nawabi era and would taste the rich, signature dishes that nawabs of those times used to be served with." The spices are handmade and some of the dishes are prepared using the secret spices that adds to the majestic flavour. Singh said "all the spices are handmade and prepared freshly to be mixed as an ingredient in the dish." The four-day food fest would be a delightful experience for the food lovers of the city as they could eat unlimited varieties of Nawabi dishes each day. The festival would take the foodies of the city on an extraordinary expedition to taste the flavorsome Nawabi dishes.