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~

Sigdi food Festival at Sepia, by Renaissance Lucknow

Hello foodies, hope y'all are doing great! Firstly, thank you for making my last post a mega success, and you'll be glad to know it reached at the no.1 position on this blog beating others within a span of 5 days, and I cannot express how much your views and comments mean to me! So, I'm back with another yummy treat for you all in association with Renaissance Lucknow Hotel.

Some of you watched me dine out with my team at Sepia restaurant at Renaissance on my snapchat and instagram stories a few days back, and asked me to publish some details about the on-going SIGDI food festival there. So, as per your request, below is the full story for you to take a look and drool!

Renaissance Lucknow Hotel is well known for its unique food festivals that keep on taking place every month. With the start of winters this November, Sepia at Renaissance arranged a new concept of dining under the stars with their chefs preparing various Awadhi delicacies in the balcony area of the restaurant and serving everyone with love. The mix of cold, foggy weather in the evening with the barbeque setup looked ecstatic and I too tried roasting some paneer tikkas on the flames. With that, I along with my team tasted some scrumptious food from the chefs' set menu for the festival and we loved it like always (see all pictures below).

The SIGDI food festival is up till 4th December, so you can go and enjoy it yourself! 

LIVE Barbeque Counter

STARTERS

Mewe Maawe Ke Seekh Kebab

Tender kebabs with a melt-in-mouth tendency. Tastes sweet with a blend of rich flavors.

Musabbari-E-Aloo

Baby potatoes roasted perfectly to core and coated with spicy flavors all over.  

Faldaari Falon Ki Chaat

Barbequed fruit chaat bursting with juicy flavors including sweet, spicy, sour.

Aurangi Paneer Tikka

Paneer is one of my favorite food items and the variety of dishes that can be prepared are innumerable, and the chefs at Sepia never fail to serve me something new everytime! The aurangi paneer tikka that I tasted this time was wholesome, marinated and barbequed perfectly and tasted delicious. 

MAIN COURSE

Paneer Korma

Like I told you, paneer is something I've loved always and paneer korma is something that pampers my senses with its rich aroma every time. The soft, succulent paneer cubes in a onion-tinged tomato gravy with accents of cardamom and the abundance of fresh cream make this dish a true luxury. 

Sarson Saag

I've always savoured the authentic taste of sarson saag in winters. Its my staple food if I frankly tell you that's cooked at my home, but the unconventional taste that this saag contains at Sepia is winsome. It isn't too runny, nor too dry but contains the perfect texture and aroma with a hot spicy flavor! 

Bhuney Baigan aur Matar

I'm someone who doesn't experiment with food much, I like to eat something I've often tasted at a particular restaurant, and one dish I never forget to order at Sepia is a dry sabzi of roasted egg plant mixed with peas, tossed with onion & garlic that fills up your mouth with pungent flavours! (must try)

BREADS

Makke Ki Roti

That's a crisp corn flour roti, often eaten with sarson saag. Extremely palatable and tasteful.

Warqui Paratha

Favorite bread at Sepia, these warqui parathas are the most ordered on our table always. Once tasted you're never getting over it, mind you! 

DESSERTS

My favorite part of any meal are the desserts. I mostly tend to eat some before the main course and save the yummiest part of it for later. This time at Sepia, as I told you they had this new concept of welcoming the winter season with love, so they arranged a LIVE HALWA COUNTER for all their guests to experience something amazing. The huge variety of colorful ingredients ignited the sweet lover in me, and I along with my friends tasted various kinds of Halwa mixed with lot of dry fruits and other sweet toppings. #MustTry at the fest!

An array of Halwa ingredients at the counter

Three favorite desserts from the counter : Phirni, Malai Paan Pudding, Mix Halwa

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P.S. : I'm sure many of you must be missing the non vegetarian food menu in this food review. Well, I'd like to tell you all that from now onwards I will not be posting about non vegetarian food on this blog or on any of my social media platforms due to some reasons I strongly stand for! I've always been a vegetarian by choice and one of the greatest reasons I refuse eating non-veg food is because of the extensive animal killing. I am a blood shed hater and strongly oppose the act of animal slaughtering anywhere.  

So, if you're looking for non-veg food reviews on Picker At Pace, this place isn't for you anymore. But you can always enjoy all the vegetarian food reviews here! :)

If you liked this post, go ahead and share it with your family and friends. Also, I write something for everyone on my blog so if you wish to, do check out other categories other than Food on Picker At Pace that include Fashion, Beauty, Travel, Lifestyle and Poetry, and I'll be happy to read your comments on some posts that might excite you. Until next time, lots of love!

Photographed by : Saumya Kumar

~xoxo~

Safar - The Journey Of Flavours From Then Till Now at Sepia, by Renaissance Lucknow

Aadaab janaab aur mohtaram! I am surely ruling by this style of greeting, eh? Anyway, that just simply means 'hi everyone!'

Being a Lucknowite by birth and have lived in the city of Nawabs all my life till now, I have a great great attachment with Lucknow and everything that's associated with it. May it be the culture, fashion, its people or most importantly its food. As you might know, Lucknow is known well worldwide due to its unmatchable Awadhi cuisine which is an indigenous part of the city. The dishes and cooking style of the people here is inspired and influenced by the Mughals, and I'm one die hard fan of it too!

Recently I attended the on-going Awadhi food festival, SAFAR - THE JOURNEY OF FLAVOURS FROM THEN TILL NOW, along with my friend Azman Khan at Sepia restaurant at Renaissance Lucknow Hotel, and it became a must share story for me with you all!  

The richness of Awadhi cuisine lies not only in the variety of the cuisine but also in the ingredients used like mutton, paneer (cottage cheese), and rich spices. The need for such a cuisine arose in Lucknow as the emperors, the Nawabs of Awadh, being inhabitants of Persia were used to a certain type of diet which comprised of grains, dry fruits, fruits and vegetables available in that part of the country apart from various forms of meat. This style of cooking was further polished by the Nawabs by adding exotic flavors of saffron and other Indian spices.

The bawarchis (chefs) and rakabdars (gourmet cooks) of Awadh invented the dum style of cooking or the art of cooking over a slow fire, which became popular and synonymous with Lucknow. Their spreads consisted of elaborate dishes such as kebabs, kormas, biryanis, kaliyas, nahari-kulchas, zarda, sheermal, roomali rotis, and warqi parathas. 

Today, years later with SAFAR, Chef Mohsin Qureshi - the Chef De Cuisine along with his team at Sepia, took ques from the original recipes of some popular Nawabs of the city, and has reinvented its glorious flavours while recreating an extravagant menu for all of us to relish and feel the modernised twists in the age old recipes! 

Awadhi cuisine is native to the city of Lucknow. The cooking patterns of are similar to those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Northern India with the cuisine comprising both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes prepared with exotic spices, herbs and garnished with dry fruits. I, along with Azman gorged upon some of the finest Awadhi delicacies prepared exclusively for us by Chef Qureshi and below is an array displayed for you to have a look and drool!

Oh JK! This food festival is running up till 2nd November so you can actually go and taste the entire menu yourself!

STARTERS (VEG)

Kebabs are the integral part of Awadh. There are several varieties of popular kebabs in Awadhi cuisine like Kakori Kebabs, Galawat ke Kebabs, Shami Kebabs, Boti Kebabs, Patili-ke-Kebabs, Ghutwa Kebabs and Seekh Kebabs are among the known varieties. So, we were served lots of kebabs in the starters and I was so happy to see that they had some unique vegetarian recipes incorporated!

Til Bhindi ke Kebab (Sesame + Lady Finger)

My favorite out all, so that's no.1!

Doodhi Dahi Gilawti Kebab (Bottle Guord + Curd)

This is one of the most unbelievable kebabs I ever tasted.

Tara Arbi

For most of you who don't like colocasia, this is a must try!

We also tried 'Gobhi (Cauliflower) ke Shaami Kebab' which were super tender and tasteful!

STARTERS (NON-VEG)

Machhi Masala (Fish fried in herbs and spices)

Soft, delectable, yummy!

Jeera Dhaniya Murgh 

(Cumin Seed + Coriander in Chicken filled with Mozerella Cheese)

Very innovative dish, and Cheesy AF. A junk non-vegetarian's paradise!

Gosht Gilawti (Mutton Kebabs with Garlic Bread)

Love the unique display and it did taste awesome as well!

MAIN COURSE (VEG)

Curries and Kormas originated in the lavish Mughal cuisine wherein lamb or chicken was braised in velvety, spiced sauces, enriched with ground nuts, cream and butter. The main course menu of Safar include lots of revamped vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties and you must take a look below at what all we tasted the other day!

Bhindi Nain Tara (Spicy Ladyfinger)

I was drooled by the name already, and also its my favorite vegetable so it was yum indeed!

Dal Dhungar (Black Lentil with Mixed Spices)

Khumani Kofta (Apricot Stuffed Koftas)

Melts in mouth, amazingly thought of and well put together with a blend of spices and innovation!

MAIN COURSE (NON-VEG)

Turai Gosht (Ridge Gourd + Mutton)

Succulent enough to pop your taste buds and delight for the fans of fusion dishes!

Lagan Dum Ka Murgh

Completely swayed by the juicy chicken and Awadhi flavored gravy. A complete gourmet delight!

Awadhi breads are very significant. A few varieties are of the raised breads and improvisations are of different types and made in various ways that include the rumaali roti, tandoori roti, naan, kulcha, warqi paratha, lachha paratha, sheermaal and baqarkhani. We preferred tasting Plain naan and one of our favorite breads at Sepia, the Warqi Paratha. I'm not too sure, but if you remember in my previous post for Sepia during the Kakori food fest, I did mention how luscious this bread was, and still is indeed!

I am a vegetarian survivor, but my friends keep forcing me to try non vegetarian food too. Well, its just not my cup of tea and I am glad that vegetarian food combinations are innumerable for people like me to taste some real good food without compromising on taste. Well, Azman says the same for non vegetarian food served to him!

PS : I had a wonderful time during the Awadhi dinner and it was an helluva experience rediscovering flavors from the times of my great grand parents (or even earlier I'm not sure) but the twists added by the chef at Sepia restaurant truly won my heart! I personally and highly recommend all of you to at least visit SEPIA once, also because the ambience is so authentic and soulful, and like I say you can always thank me later! ;)

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I can never really dress up to impress, but dressing up for a theme could be in my 'I-Like-To-Do-Stuff' list! This time I wore a long indo-western kurta from Saatchi Fashion with a pair of maroon churidaar pajama from Jabong, and styled it with a crystal necklace from Accessorize, a brass handcuff from Myntra and beige-gold heels from Steve Madden. Suited well I guess! 

If you liked reading this post, don't forget to share it across! Until next time, lots of love and virtual hugs.

Photographed by : Azman Khan

~xoxo~