This was my first visit to Pink Poppadom in Hyatt Bangalore MG Road, next to the Lido mall. The first thing you notice as you drive into the property is the lush greenness along the driveway paved neatly. This isn’t just manicured and landscaped, but actual green – that seem to instantly transport you from the hustle of the city (and you are in MG Road) into a quiet nook in the lap of nature. We went up to the 4^th floor that housed the restaurant. It was special tasting meet for the Ambarsariya food festival at Hyatt Bangalore – featuring a menu inspired by regional delicacies from the lanes of Amritsar.

Malai Lassi and Mango Lassi were the variants served, I loved the Malai – thick and sweet, generously topped with saffron and dry fruits. There was a set menu for this tasting, with shareable platters. We started with the vegetarian and non veg appetizers. There were Spicy Bhatti De Jhingay (prawns), Amritsari Mutton Chaanp, Tandoori Chicken, Amritsari Machi, Sigdi Bharwan Aloo, Soya Chaap and more! The chicken and prawns were deliciously spiced, rich and flavorful. The mutton on the other hand, had too much of spice and not cooked enough. Led to chewy and hard texture. The seer fish fry was crisp fried, great to munch on. The bharwan aloo was basically potato with cottage cheese fillings, very nice again. Reminded me of a recipe my mom used to stuff keema into potato. Well done. Another interesting vegetarian starter was the sattpuda, which basically had a bread layered patty with soft mashed potato fillings. Not sure about the authenticity of this, but tasted pretty darned good!

The main course that followed was a long series of dishes. Butter chicken, Rara Ghosht, Keema Kaleji, Kofta Amritsari, Pind de Saag, and probably a few more served with a host of kulchas and rotis.  The pind de saag was brilliant – a beautiful mélange of spinach and mustard leaves tossed in desi ghee – an unparalleled taste. The keema kaleji was another favorite of the evening, the perfect protein shot – liver of lamb cooked on a bed of lamb mince – great! Dal from Punjab is different, and I never miss out on trying that, was very good combination of black and gram dal, loaded with butter!

The desserts, an unexpected surprise – were some spectacular local dishes, not the run of the mill sweets that we usually see. Unfortunately we were way too full to appreciate it well enough. But even a bite or two was enough to floor us with the amazing tastes and sugary happiness! We were served portions of Makhane de kheer, Kesar phirni and Chakundari halwa. While they all tasted good, the chakundari halwa deserves a special mention – that’s beet root halwa, rich, creamy and just the right bit of sweet, and presented beautifully with a transparent tuile – rarely do I say this – but this looked every bit as good as it tasted!

The Ambarsariya food festival is available at The Pink Poppadum in Hyatt Bangalore until 17th July 2016 during dinner (7pm – 11.15pm). Chef Manish Sharma has some delicious recipes up his sleeve worth trying.

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