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!
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~
