Bhog - The temple cuisine of India at The Eatery - Four Points by Sheraton

India is a land of festivals and has a rich cultural heritage. This is reflected in the temple food served across various Hindu temples of India.

Vola! It's that time of the year when it's raining festivals in India. And what better way to celebrate than gorge on some delicacies, especially to usher into the festivities! FPBS presents Bhog-The temple cuisine of India for a limited period of 13th - 22nd Oct for dinner, all at Rs.675+ taxes. For the variety and the heavenly taste of this fare, I would say it's value for money.

Right from the decor to the presentation of food to the taste, all represent the festive mood of the season.

Matris, Karanjee, Patra, Aloo Kachori, Khandvi, Dhokla were some of the dishes that we started our dinner with. All being quite authentic in taste reminded me of the times I spend at my native place during this part of the year. My favorite pick out of these is Aloo Kachori and Patra. Dadhojianam reminded me of my roots in Andhra Pradesh. It's kind of tempered curd rice preparation, which is made using broken rice and is mildly spiced. The Dahi Wadas were quite fluffy and tasty. I added some tamarind chutney to my taste and it tasted even better.

As welcome drinks, we were served a portion of Papaya Panna and MuskMelon Panna. I liked the musk melon panna for it's delicate cardamom infused flavor and it's smooth consistency and light body.

A few warm starters were served on the table - Paneer Tikka, Hara Bhara kebab, Masala Potli. All this came with a tamarind chutney, green chutney and a dry fruit powdered chutney.

For the main course we had a choice of authentic curries to choose from - Delicately flavored pumpkin curry Elliserri from Kerala was my favorite. Loved the delicate flavors of coconut and mild spices. Methi Palak, Kache Kachalu(Loved this one too!), Thoran, Pakori Rassa, Moong Dal Khichdi are some other options. Patal Rassa and Aloo Dum reminded me of the kitchens of Odiya temples. Quite authentic in taste. We had these curries with a selection of Bajre ki Roti, Poori and Chapatis.

Desserts section was quite impressive and thank heavens I still had some room in my stomach for them. Nei Payasam, Battasha, Revri, Safed Pedha, Boondi, Besan ka Sheera, Jalebi, Besan Barfi, Modak were highlights of this section.  One has to try each one of these to appreciate the variety in the temple cuisine of India.



Each part of the country has it's own unique temple cuisine and this festival is just a reflection of the same. A must try for all who want to try some traditional food, inspired from the famous temple kitchens from length and breadth of the country.

Hotel Gavran Kolhapuri

I must admit I'm not a big fan of Kolhapuri cuisine, thanks to my average experiences until I visited Gavran Kolhapuri. Some of my work colleagues highly recommended this place and I finally made it on a Friday afternoon.

As was advised, we booked a table in advance. It's a tiny home run joint, very close to the EON IT park. This place is quite a hit amongst the IT crowd of EON. A Kolhapuri family run this tiny joint from their verandah! The family is completely involved in the cooking process of all the dishes on the menu, hence the homely touch to all their food. The masalas are home made.

It's a tiny garden-verandah kind of alfresco area with 4-5 tiny tables, neatly and sufficiently spaced out. We went for a veg thali and a chicken thali. The chicken thali came with a choice of 2 'bhakris' or 3 'chapatis' and rice alongwith egg masala, Kolhapuri style chicken,' tambada' and 'pandhara rassa'. We were also served some complimentary onion-lemon salad. The veg thali came with a rustic style dal and a chana masala.



The chicken curry was quite impressive. The masala had a burst of Kolhapuri flavours but was surprisingly not too high on the chilli content. Lots of coconut and authentic Kolhapuri masalas blended into a thick gravy with lots of succulent chicken pieces. How I wish they had used country('gavran') chicken instead! 

All my previous experiences of Kolhapuri cuisine made me believe that Kolhapuri food means highly spicy, oily and hot food. But this lunch certainly changed my perception completely and introduced me to some authentic food from the region.  The 'Sol Kadhi' that we ordered for, was served chilled and went very well with the food. I loved the Sol Kadhi! The 'tambada rassa' was bright red in color and was quite rich in terms of flavors and spices. The 'pandhra rassa' was it's milder cousin - white in color and very subtle in taste. The egg masala was pretty average and tasted too much of masala. It consisted of boiled egg halves in a thick spicy gravy.

Overall the food was pretty good. For those who like Kolhapuri cuisine and work/live in this part of the city, do give this place a shot. For others, you may drop by only if you're in the area. It's not worth a drive from distant places. Nevertheless, once you're here, be rest assured of home cooked taste :)