Food Connoisseurs Luncheon

The most awaited day for the 15 bloggers whose names were announced via Instagram, making them a social buzz all around the city, was organized on December 20, 2015. The spectacular idea of conducting a bloggers meet was so fresh that it created a buzz all over the city almost immediately and the idea of such an event was the brain child of one of the most creative and one of the most popular youngsters of Indore, Mr. Rakesh Dawani.

So, this day started off as quite a normal day until it was lunch time. So we start at Vidorra, one of the finest roof-top restaurants to dine-in in the city. The weather could not have been better than this for such an occasion. Although it is so chilly around these days, it was a nice, warm, sunny afternoon. What more could you have asked for with such an event just about to unveil the best of what it had in store for us. Us, the privileged bloggers of the city (at least that’s what we’d like to believe…)

Since everyone was meeting each other for the first time, we started off by introducing ourselves. Although we knew all the names, we were now able to match the names with their respective faces. And also acknowledge certain new faces. One and the most prominent of all the faces was Chef Lucky. Chef Lucky owns a joint called “Paratha on Wheels”, which is one of the most talked about place of the city, especially known for its experiments with fusion of various dishes. We were not quite certain about why Chef Lucky of all the chefs of the city was invited but towards the end we were really glad he was there with us. Then after a brief introduction with one another, we went and seated ourselves at the table. The seating arrangement was perfect. A U-table arrangement made it really convenient for the staff to move around and serve everybody, we could interact with each other without much trouble and we could also see and interact with Chef Lucky as he went on educating us about the variety in food and its origin.

Now, we were supposed to start with the soup course but us non-vegetarians were served with “Fish Kebabs”, something that was said to work up our appetite. Then we were served with “Chicken Coriander Thick Soup” which had shredded chicken with coriander leaves to add to the flavor. Soups are always a delight in the cold days and when you have this much chicken to chew upon, it’s ever so good. The vegetarian course had

“Sop Malay Veg Soup”, which I did not eat, but looked like a real treat with all those vegetables and noodles mixed perfectly in the bowl.

Then we went on to eat salads. Healthy as salads are, if they are as warm, fresh and delicious as they were, the nutritional values would hardly be my concern. We had the “Chicken Chinese Salad” with shredded chicken pieces and lots of colorful bell peppers and other vegetables that gave it a wonderful look. Little spicy, but then what’s life without some spicy or in this case salad. We also had “Mushroom-Broccoli & Lettuce” salad as straight forward as the name suggests just plain regular salad to go with your other salads. Then another treat to the eye was the “Cottage Cheese and Pineapple Salad” looking like an iceberg and so refreshing to taste. And in the non vegetarian warm salad, we had the “Chicken Pate Salad”, wonderfully presented in the dish; it was a warm paste of minced chicken in cabbage wrapping. Yummy as it sounds…

Then from the Salad bar we proceeded to the vegetarian and the non-vegetarian starters. It was a variety of cuisines and so much to eat that it blew our minds away. There we had the usual stuff we eat, like the starters from Tandoor, we had the Falafel and a variety of cottage cheese starters. Amongst the variety of non-vegetarian starters we had Egg, Chicken, Fish and Mutton starters. Amongst the many that we were served, “Goong Phad Kapparo” which was a particular type of prawns was just amazing. Prawns are not quite easily found in every restaurant in Indore but they are always a treat for someone who loves seafood, and those which we were served were no less. Another starter that I think requires a special mention is something called “Mutton ka Panjaa”. Although the name is not exactly what one would want to hear, but once you have it in your plate, it neither looked like a Panjaa nor gave you second thoughts about eating it. Mutton ka Panjaa does not need many adjectives, it was absolutely flawless. Cooked just the right amount, served with the right amount of gravy, perfect blend of spices; there could not have been anything wrong with that dish.

After having about 19 dishes, we most definitely needed a little break from all the food and drink and the ever so tempting aroma all around us. So we got away from all of it for one long session of getting clicked. There were just flashes and props and boards all around and the warm breeze set the mood right. We had pictures clicked in groups, with the chefs and also everybody had their photos clicked separately with Mr. Dawani. The photo session was a nice little break (and by little I mean an hour long) from the food that we’d been eating for the last 2hours or so. After the photo session we go back, ready to dig in the delicious courses to be presented before us but we have a little surprise waiting for us. We were offered a variety of Mocktails, with their different colors and glasses and those cutely cut lemons and cherries on the rim, they were so irresistible. We had soda-based mocktails, ice-cream based mocktails and also the juice-based mocktails. They were all just to refreshing and delicious.

Then we finally started with the main course. Main Course comprised of gravy, staple and the bread basket. Thank god we did not have a lot of variety in the main course. Had it been a lot, all of us would’ve probably fallen sick because of over-eating. So, in the gravy, we had 3vegetarian and 2non-vegetarian gravies. Out of the two non-vegetarian gravies, which were “Mutton Bhutti ka Neelgiri” and “Shaoxing Wine Chicken”, I liked the wine chicken better. Maybe the cashew nuts gave it a better taste and look, but I cannot belittle the Mutton gravy. The green gravy too was so good and with perfectly cooked Mutton, it tasted even better. And as for the vegetarian gravies, I did not eat much but the Paneer looked really mouth-watering. Then we also had the staple which had “Nasi Goreng Istemwa” which were coconut flavored chicken rice. This one belonged to the Indonesian cuisine, whereas the other one, “Shitake Mushroom and Leek Noodles” were from the Chinese cuisine. These noodles had a little burnt taste about them but that did not make them taste bad at all. In fact, it gave it a nice, different flavor.

Finally, we attacked, with whatever little strength and empty space in our stomachs was left, on the desserts.

There were two of them. First we had “Hot Chocolate Rolls with Vanilla Ice-cream”, these rolls because of being warm were not as crispy but nowhere less in taste. It was not as deadly a combination of hot and cold but still pretty good. And then, we had “Coconut Pancakes” I had never had a dessert as perfect as these pancakes ever, before that Sunday afternoon. There are not words that would be sufficient to describe how much I loved that dessert but all I can tell you is, after having all that food all afternoon, I asked for a second serving of the pancakes. If that does not tell you how much I enjoyed those pancakes, I don’t know what would. Then when we thought that it was all over, along came another little surprise, “Paan Shots”. Plain old Paan that people usually eat after a mean we drank it. It was another wonderful surprise.

With that we concluded a successful food blogger’s meet, conducted of the very first time in Indore. Meeting new people, from different walks of life, brought together by their love for food and the love for writing; it most definitely was a once in a lifetime experience. All I’d say is that it was a fun, food-filled experience.

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