The buffet at Café Knosh sure catches your eye if only it was more palatable. By Ankita Jain
It is with a reason why Café Knosh at The leela Ambience Convention Hotel is called so as one could ‘nosh’ at any time of the day as its doors are always open to its guests. Apart from its sprawling open verandas and sit-outs, the place has been rousing taste buds with its lavish buffet, last we heard. And that’s exactly what we had come to dine on. Thesmorgasbord comprised Middle Eastern, Chinese, Indian and European delicacies.
As we tucked into vegetable au gratin, we were informed that the menu of the buffet changes every day. Coming back to the continental fare which we expected to be served warm with crisp breads drowned in white sauce and melted cheese had us disappointed with every single bite. The bread was missing and it was more of a tasteless pudding flooding with veggies.
Moving ahead, we gave the braised chicken with thyme a go. Pot chicken meal is cooked in a flavourful garlic and mustard sauce with potatoes and vegetables. To our surprise, the flavour of garlic was missing and it clearly didn’t match our expectation. About cottage cheese steak wrapped in tomato sauce, the cuisine didn’t add the spicy touch which is the known signature of the dish.
Next thing which we thought would work well were the salads. They were spread out invitingly on a separate counter and soon our plates were piled high with chicken and potato, fresh lettuce and orange salad and the likes. We could have just had the salads and be happy.
And yes, we did have plenty of space left for desserts. We started with a Middle Eastern festive favourite Mahalabia - a rich, creamy, rose water flavoured milk pudding. Though it appeared tempting, garnished with crushed pistachios and almonds, it was more a sort of thick cream with light toppings of dry fruits.
At the end, the chef suggested moong dal ka halwa and we crossed our fingers. The delicacy is suitable for any time of the day or year.
Every spoonful of this Rajasthani dessert with an additional flavour of cardamom assured us that it took a long time and lots of patience for the chef to sauté the dal, and probably required a little extra ghee too. However, the outcome was worth every bite of extra effort they had put into it.