The Great Indian Coastal Food Festival at Hilton, Embassy Golf Links is a great buffet with amazing food and drink choices!
Frankly, I am not a fan of buffets. I feel they overwhelm you with choices yet leave you underwhelmed, with not the best of the food served. It is the very format of food being served which does not lend itself well to care and excellence, on each item going out. However, every once in a while, I am proved wrong by a chef who takes utmost care in designing each item in the buffet menu with care and attention. The Great Indian Coastal Food Festival at Hilton, Embassy Golf Links was one such buffet I sampled last week.
The chefs at Ministry of Food, which is an all day dining restaurant of Hilton thought of this food festival as a way of celebrating the rich coastal cuisine of India. As a part of a 10 day dinner buffet which runs in three cyclic menus, the food showcases food from Kerala, Goa, West Bengal, Orrisa, coast of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and even Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
As one would expect the buffet is very high on sea food with a cart featuring catch of the day which the chef’s will grill for you as much the choice of marinade among choice of 4 marinades from the different coastal regions. We sampled a platter of fishes with a mix of marinades and it was outstanding, each marinade and fish had a distinct flavour and the fish was perfectly cooked, there was a very interesting using of podi’s in the marinade which made it stand apart from the stuff one usually eats
Apart from this, there are a wide variety of salads and starters to choose from (you will be spoilt for choice, take your pick if it is a good thing or bad 😉 😛 ), we sampled some Goa beef fry which was great and an exceptional vada, the vada was probably my favorite thing I ate that day. I know it is funny. but I don’t think I have eaten such a light and well flavored vada in a long long time.
Another dish that needs a special mention that day was the banana stem salad, so well executed and makes me happy that finally there is someone exploring vegetarian salads beyond the usual stuff.
For the mains, there were so many options again. The mustard maach from Bengal (so sharp so good), the blow-your-mind Kosha Mangsho (though I did miss my luchis), a very well made Allepy fish curry served with super soft appams.
The desserts too consisted of varieties of Indian sweets and coastal specialities pachor, date kazhukottai, caramel pyasam, til ladoos and more. However, I was happy with the taste of that kosha mangsho and decided to skip the dessert.
The festival is on till 30th April and at a cost of Rs 1399 +taxes I think it is a steal. So go specially if seafood is your thing, though honestly, I think vegetarians will enjoy it as much as well.
Hilton, Embassy Golf Links Business Park, Off Intermediate Ring Road I Bangalore 560071 I India
Valet Parking available
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