Mexican Food Festival

‘Eat-What-You-like-How-Much-Ever-You-Like’ is a very complicated concept for me. I have a small appetite therefore it’s very difficult for me to try everything that is at buffet tables. So the first thing I do before I start my dinner is to make a round of all that is available and is visually pleasing to my eyes.

 This is exactly what I did last Saturday when I was invited for Mexican Food festival at Lake View Café at Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel. Chefs Guadalupe Monterroza and Chef Narciso Alcazar have been flown from Mexico especially for this festival and they have done justice to the food by preparing their authentic Mexican cuisine.

On my rounds, passing through the live food stations of Tacos, fish, Cactus leaf, Panela cheese, I stopped by the stall that prepared pickled fish and also ordered some watermelon juice for me.

The Cancun Escabeche (pickled fish cooked with cilantro, tomato, lime, red onions) was delicately cooked and the chilies added extra flavor to it. (There were five different varieties of red pepper, I had asked him to add three of them.)

 Slowly does it. To digest food one needs to walk, admire the ambience and enjoy the Spanish music that was playing softly in the background. Walked over to the table containing large range of salads and a wide array of Salsas such as Molcajete, Mexicana, Guacamole, Chipotle, Borracha and Habanero.

Returned to the table with 2 types of salads containing squids, fish, chicken and few sauces. Mexican culinary contains beans, cheese and red pepper in most of their recipes. It is spicy and pungent; the flavor comes from the variety of red pepper used in their recipe. The chef returned to our table at regular interval, presenting us with different assorted plates made especially for us.

Moving on to main course on Mexican vegetarian delicacies included Chile relleno,  Arroz jardinera, Oaxaca cheese(Rice stuffed chili, oaxaca cheese), Calabazitas (Panela cheese stuffed squash), Molotes (Mushroom fried quesadillas) and non-vegetarians were Pescado Veracruz (Tomato, onion, red and green pepper, green olives), Pollo con mole negro(Chicken with a chile chocolate salsa) and Barbacoa de Borrego(Beer, tomato, green tomato, onion, avocado leaves, guajillochile), amongst other appetizing dishes.

I have never eaten black chicken (Pollo con mole negro) cooked with chocolate and chillies that contained nuts and sesame seed. It was delightful dish with chicken so tender that it melted on the first bite leaving behind the sweetest, spicy, chocolate taste. I am hoping that chef (he promised) will share with me the recipe of this dish. 

Dessert was the feast to the eyes. Churros, Tres Leches (Three milk cake), Arroz con leche (Rice pudding), Borrachitos(Mexicantequila cake), Flan de Rompope (Eggnog flan), Ponche (Punch). The churro con chocolate and soft delicious cakes brought back the fond memories of Spain.

Fun evening spend with friends who enjoy food as much as I do.

The Mexican festival will be on till 3^rd July at Lake View Café at Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel. at Powai.

Wok-An Asian Cuisine

Would you prefer ‘Buffet’ or ‘A la carte’?

H says she would love to go for Buffet because there is a big variety to choose from and there is no hurry to eat, we can take our own sweet time to eat whatever we wish, Chinese, Japanese or Intercontinental food. There is lot to choose from and if we don’t like what is on display we can select the raw stuff and go to cooking station to get it cooked.

Sounds interesting, so family and I headed towards Puerto de la Cruz at ‘Trompo Centro Commercial’ to a special restaurant called ‘Wok’ that serves only buffet. The rate of the buffet varies with 15 Euros on weekends and 10 Euros during weekdays.

“Don’t rush to grab the food like some starving urchins” says B, “let us order drinks first”. The drinks are not included (“they need to make money on drinks”, informs H) so we wait for our order to arrive.

Whenever I go for buffet, I always make a round to see what is on display and make a mental note of the food that I might want to try. There is not much variety. There are only about hundred containers to choose from, and that includes soups, salads, starters, mains and dessert.

I don't have a very large appetite, therefore I must be very selective. I start with sushi, cabbage salad and boiled egg. How pathetic, I pick only two sushis from the variety of twelve different types. one is coated with salmon and other with dried mushroom. I soak each sushi in wasabi and soya sauce, add a bit of pickled ginger and take mouthful. yum...it tastes good.

My brother and his wife are pure vegetarian, so while they nibble on few  vegetarian finger food and salads, they order some food from cooking station. Within ten minute, a plateful of freshly prepared fried rice and Pakchoy arrive.

Pakchoy with sea weeds is crispy, stir fried and cooked in ginger. Brother has his Aha moments with every bite.

After my second round of finger food that includes assorted roasted chicken and some vegetarian snacks, I walk to select few raw stuff for cooking. I pick up shells, shrimps, black mushrooms, capsicum, squids, lettuce and carrots and head towards cooking station to make me a spicy dish.

I want to see him prepare, so I wait. He empties my plate of raw food in a big pan, adds water and lets it boil for five minutes. Filter out the liquid and keeps the boiled stuff aside. He has different containers of differently prepared sauces. He takes a spoon of one sauces, stir fries and then puts the boiled ingredients, add few more sauces, few spices and the plates it.

It is steaming hot, ready to eat.

Completely satiated I head towards dessert station that has fruits, sweets and big range of ice-creams. 

Did I tell you that I am a small eater? Well..they should have served Chinese tea for digestion..you know.....