Chef Arokia Das and Chef Janarthanam from Chennai and Hyderabad have come to Park Plaza Kolkata to present an array of popular vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes from the states of Southern India. The festival starts from 26 Feb and will continue till 6th March.

I was invited by Park Plaza for a special preview of the festival and we started off our meal with a refreshing pineapple salad and a glass of Hallu Husru Panaga, a drink made of green moong dal, milk and jaggery.  The pineapple salad with curry leaves said to be a signature dish of the GRT Grand was a great start to the meal. For starters, we had Masala Vadai, Pazha Dosai ( a fried banana dish) , Kari Sukka and Prawn Varuval. The prawns were spicy, soft and succulent and the dry mutton with chillies, curry leaves and garlic, a treat for the senses!

For the main course, we had the staple rice with rasam and sambhar along with Pumpkin Erussery ( a lovely pumpkin and coconut curry) , Mokkachonna Meriyali (baby corn), Fish Varuval (fish marinated in curry leaf and fried) and Kozhi Varutha Curry (Chicken in a tomato gravy). Chef insisted we try the famous Madurai Kari Dosa with the chicken curry and the combination was brilliant. I also tasted a rather lovely Kavari Karai Khuska or rice made with raw banana. We finished our meal with Aval Payasam and Ukkarai or moong daal and coconut mix.

The South Indian Food Festival at K-19, Park Plaza will be on till the 6th of March, 2016, and the items will be available during lunch and dinner (12 noon to 3 pm and 7 pm to 10.45 pm). Lunch will be served a-la-carte while the dinner buffet is priced at INR 1299/- + taxes per person and 799/- + taxes for children under 12.