International Street Food Festival at L-14, by Renaissance Lucknow

Hey loves, what's happening? Is it just me or you too are excited about the fact that the weather in Lucknow has taken a drastic turn and cold waves have hit Northern India once again. Its been raining heavily here and the climate has become delightful with a hint of romanticism! People are planning long drives and enjoying. And, amidst that, the all day dining restaurant at L-14, Renaissance Lucknow Hotel has this on-going INTERNATIONAL STREET FOOD FESTIVAL welcoming foodies, giving them a chance to dig into global cuisine from India, U.S., China, Thailand, Mexico, Italy and the Middle East for dinner!

For many of you who keep asking me if I get bored going to the same restaurant again and again, let me tell you what keeps me getting back here is the newness and the innovation the F&B team at the hotel offers each time! LIVE food stations is just one of the many things I experienced this time, where you see the appetite for good food, cooked with passion and authenticity with the wide spread of the ingredients that offers you to choose your favorites, and for anyone who loves everything customised, its going to be really exciting for you!

STARTERS

The map (you see in the picture above) displays all the food stations as placed at the restaurant to help you find your favorite cuisine. Starting from the CHAAT COUNTER, which included everything that I could find at any random chaat hawker across the streets in town, but displayed in a much more beautiful setup with all hygienic contents. I tried the Paani Puri in 4 different flavoured water, along with Aloo Tikki, Matar Chaat, Aloo Chaat and Bhel Puri. All items served in recycled structured donas (banana leaf bowls) to keep the authenticity of the Indian culture as best known for reviving the age-old eco-friendly culinary traditions!

Around the world street food is one of the biggest, most loved, yet most unstructured culinary cultures. My second stop was the SOUP STATION where they served Soup with a variety of condiments and offered to choose between fried and boiled noodles, assorted veggies and types of breads! And, amongst other starters, I had some Nachos and Pita Bread with Salsa and Dips from the Mexican cuisine, and really yummy vegetarian Sushi rolled with rice, herbs and spices from Japan.

Asian Soup Station

Mexican Station - Nachos & Pita

Japanese Station - Sushi

MAIN COURSE

With variations within regions and cultures, street food vending is found across the world. Sold by vendors and peddlers, chief characteristics of street food is that it is reasonably priced and flavoured and easily available! And for all of you who might be thinking why would one go to a 5-star hotel to eat the same food that's available on the streets in less than half of the price, guys I feel you should know that there is much diversity in the raw materials as well as in the preparation techniques of dishes, which is much hygienic and healthier. 

The MONGOLIAN COUNTER opposite to the bar in the restaurant had an array of stuffed and regular Pasta including raviolis, spaghetti, bucatini, fusilli, fettuccine, etc. I ordered for some spaghetti in red sauce and assorted vegetables and it was indeed a lovely sight watching them prepare for me LIVE! From the ASIAN COUNTER, I picked some Veg Shawarma that was filled with some sauce and vegetables which of course was a very simple dish and tasted just regular salad in pita. Also, some Green Thai Curry, Gobhi Kebabs, Beetroot Kebabs, Momos, and Side Vegetables sauted and fried on the authentic Indian tawa. And one thing that came as a surprise was the Kottu Paratha from the SRI LANKAN CUISINE. Its basically a kottu roti chopped into waves and fried, served with vegetable curry or eggs, and tasted delcious!

Mongolian Counter - Pasta

Spaghetti in Red Sauce

Veg Shawarma

Thai Green Curry

Momos from Dehradun

Asian Counter

Garlic Butter Sauce Veggies, Garlic Mash Potato, Gobhi Ki Shami, Nawabi Chukandar 

Tawa Sabz

Srilankan Counter - Kottu Paratha

DESSERTS

Renaissance Hotel is a chalk full of desserts, and its vast array of options make it difficult to decide which ones to indulge in. At the on-going International Street Food Festival, you will get to discover the top delicious sweet dishes from different corners of the world that will win not only your heart but also your soul! 

At the restaurant, the CREPE STATION attracts you with the LIVE setup where you can opt for your favorite sweet condiments (chocolate bars/choco chips/brownies) that will be rolled into your crepe and layered with maple/chocolate/strawberry syrup, or honey. I chose chocolate brownie with strawberry syrup and it tasted exemplary! Next at the Dessert Theatre is a wide layout of Fresh Fruit Cakes, Truffle Pastries, Fruit Savarin, Baked Yogurt, Choco Tart, Strawberry Buns, etc. All in all, you cannot go without digging into each one even if its just a bite!

Crepe Station

Strawberry Choux Bun

Baked Yogurt, Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

Fresh Fruit Savarin, Fruit Cake, Chocolate Truffle Pastry 

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I hope you liked going through this post. Don't forget to share it across and let people know that the International Street Food Festival is running up till 12th March, 2017 so you can go there and experience it yourself. Tip : Take the entire family along! INR 1350+ taxes per head. Make bookings HERE.

Photographed by : Azman Khan

~xoxo~

Oriental Food Festival at L-14, by Renaissance Lucknow

Hey everyone, hope y'all are doing good! 

A lot of you already know that I've not been keeping well past a few days as I told you in my last post, and also as my Snapchat was filled with all kinds of sickness melodrama all this while, if you noticed! What more you must have noticed there, were glimpses of an evening from last week that I spent at L-14 of Renaissance Lucknow Hotel, enjoying the dinner buffet at the on-going ORIENTAL FOOD FESTIVAL.

L-14 is the 14th floor of Renaissance Hotel, the tallest building in Lucknow city, and thus has the best view for the visitors to experience! Also, its a fine-dine restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is of the most beautiful places to dine in town! So, as I attended the first day of the Oriental Food Festival serving the amazing Asian cuisine here, I thought of sharing the entire escapade with all of you.

Mesmerized to see this lady at the reception, dressed up all Asian and stuff, I don't think she's Chinese though, Japanese maybe?

Well, Asian cuisine has become increasingly popular all over the world, and being an Asian myself, I felt its high time I should know my own native flavors. This cuisine refers to any of several major regional cuisines, including East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern. Ingredients common to many cultures in the East and Southeast regions of the continent include rice, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, chillies, dried onions, soy, and tofu. Stir frying, steaming, and deep frying are common cooking methods in this cuisine!

So, the Food and Beverages department at Renaissance Lucknow Hotel has brought together the diverse and authentic flavours from the far East in its ongoing Oriental Food Festival that aims at serving delicacies filled with a variety of oriental tastes that extend beyond the traditional Chinese and Thai food to Japanese, Vietnamese and South Korean dishes. This time it promised food connoisseurs a culinary expedition, rustling up favourites like Singapore Chicken Rice, Satay Ayam, Tofu Satay, various Thai Curries, Schezwan Stir Fries, Pok Choy and Shittake with Burn Garlic, Malay Coconut Curry, Vietnamese Pho, Spinach Tomato Tossed Noodles, Crispy Corn and Black Mushroom, Aromatic Chicken and a lot more regular Indian dishes as well!

I was invited to attend the festival, along with my friend and photographer Mrinal Khatnani, and we made sure we didn't miss it as for my previous deals with Renaissance have been so amazing! 

PS : The fest is UP TILL 31st JULY, so you can actually go and experience it yourself. 

The buffet presentation was beautifully laid, as everything appeared so colorful and elegant. You just can't resist getting up from your chair, picking up a plate, and start pouring in the food. I too couldn't resist myself, you see! ----------- Scroll down to take a look at all the food pictures and drool. :p

Aromatic Chicken

Sliced Lamb in Massaman Curry

Curried Indonesian Vegetables

Crispy Corn & Black Mushroom

Slice Fish

Shrimp with Lemon Grass Rice

Murgh Awadhi Biryani

Indian Dishes : Dal Makhani, Yellow Tadka Dal

Thai Vegetables Tossed in Mild Garlic

Indonesian Fried Rice

Spinach Tomato Tossed Noodles

Both Mrinal and I were swayed by the extravagant preparations already, and not just the main course, this Oriental Food Festival introduced us to an extensive range of dips and sauces like red Thai curry paste, green Thai curry paste, Khow Suey paste and Japanese mayonnaise. Apart from a sumptuous culinary presentation, Renaissance L-14 also offered various salads and side dishes (both veg and non-veg) along with all the essential herbs, spices and necessary ingredients required to prepare these Oriental dishes. My mind was blown with excitement, tbh!

Veg sides/Salads

Non-veg Sides/Salads

Plain Sprouts

Salad Leaves, Seasonings and Dips

Asian Noodle & Soup Station

Oriental Pickles

I picked a few vegetarian dishes to try, which included noodles, an Indian curry dish, Indonesian fried rice, crispy corn with mushrooms, roasted eggplant and fruit salad. Whereas Mrinal being a non vegetarian, tried the biryani (which he absolutely loved), chicken satay, sliced fish and shrimps! It just won't sound true if we say we didn't like even one of the dishes. It was all super yum and flavoursome! 

If you thought that was it with the food pictures above, you'd be surprised when I tell you the Oriental bakery section was bomb! The appetising savoury breads made me drool literally! Such wholesome it looks, eh? The freshly baked buns and bread loafs took away my heart. So soft and delectable! (see pictures below)

When it comes to deserts, I just feel they should let the entire section to me. I can literally finish all the sweet dishes all by myself. They look purely scrumptious at the buffet table as well, during the food festival. And the best part about attending the buffet is you have no limits! Watch what all ate in the pictures below. Please don't curse me for not taking you all along, and please.stop.drooling! (haha)

Coconut Tart & Phirni (topped with fresh date)

Fresh Fruit Bread

White Chocolate Barfi

Mango Cake

L-R : Chocolate Truffle Pastry, White Chocolate Coconut Pastry, Fresh Fruit Savarin, Mango Mahalabia

Banana Bread

Halwa, Gulab Jamun

The best part about L-14 is that it has this open kitchen for the customers to see how their food is being cooked. Renaissance displays it all unique, I tell you! Also, I interacted with the Director Culinary Sandeep Pande and Chef Sachin who being the sweetest as always, made sure that I had a comfortable and the most wonderful evening, tasting some of their inventory preparations.

For all those who've been to this place already, know how pleasant the ambience is. But for those who haven't visited it yet, let me tell you L-14 is a high top floor, and has an amazing view (like I already told you above) covering more than half of the city on a wide scale and the nearby structures like the eminent Ambedkar park, Sahara States, Gomti River, etc. And other than that, the interiors are truly prepossessing as well. From the marble counter tops, to the wooden textures, the glass walls making it look glamorous and graceful, I feel like I'm sitting at some restaurant in the states. Renaissance L-14 has evidently raised the bar of luxury dine-ins in town and is liked by many! A jam packed corner is a proof, say wha'?

I don't really go and pose at bars at restaurants, but this one called for it loud! Just look how minimal and elegant it appears already. With some wine & martini glasses on the side, I compelled Mrinal to click a picture of me sitting here, while our mocktails were being prepared! Its was a chilled lemonade refreshment, after drinking only which I caught tonsillitis and am still on abstinence with hot water to cure the throat. But I must mention, it was delicious!

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Nothing like dressing up the theme, but I just wanted to keep it stylish and look my best as the typical Asian woman! Quite rare you see me in long slit tops, but I really like this floral one from Missa More. Paired it up with the lustrous, beige cigarette pants and a pair of green heels. Accessorized the whole look minimally with just a bronze hand cuff, over sized ring and a pair of long black earrings and I was good to go!

Photographed by : Mrinal Khatnani

If you liked this post, do visit the Oriental Food Festival at Renaissance Lucknow Hotel (running till 31st July, 2016) and experience an array of toothsome dishes from the most exquisite Asian cuisine, yourself.

 

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~xoxo~