Foodlovers await the grand feast, Kolkata Durga Puja

Sulagna Sengupta KOLKATA, Oct. 2: Durga Puja is not just about spending time with friends or relatives, pandal-hopping and breaking up life’s routines. For gourmands (food-lovers) this is the time to taste lip-smacking dishes. City-based hotels and restaurants are preparing delicious recipes as part of the festive season. Apart from introducing new entrees, hotels will prepare traditional Bengali food as a part of the buffet lunch. Mr Samir Pandita, food and beverage manager of ITC Sonar Bangla said: “We will serve mouthwatering Bengali delicacies as a part of our buffet lunch from Sashti to Dashami. We are also planning to cook some popular dishes of various states just to give food-lovers a change.” The traditional spread starts with pulao, mug dal / mushur dal, panch rakamer bhaja, followed by vegetarian delicacies like mochar ghonto, potoler dolma, chhanar dalna, dhokar dhalna, enchorer dalna, and finally the non-vegetarian dishes like posto machh, eilish maachher paturi, bhapa illish, daab chingri, tel koi, macher jhal, kachhi pathar jhol and lastly amer chatni, roso malai / mishti doi. Other hotels have chosen a different theme for visitors. Mrs Anjana Bharat, director of Kenilworth Hotel said: “We have organised a food festival which will serve Pujor Bhog Thali, Punjabi Bhog Thali, Nitya Anna Dhanam, and Maharashtrian Bhog Thali. Everyone has different tastes, and by offering different kinds of thalis, we hope we can meet individual requirements.”For Bengalis, the festival is incomplete without gorging on traditional food. The Park Hotel is hosting a special buffet called Pujo Maha Bhoj this Ashtami and Nabami, where the traditional favourites like aloo dum, dhokar dalna, kosha mangso and chingri malai curry will entice the crowds. Their Indian restaurant Saffron is hosting a chingri and mishti festival where patrons can enjoy special chingri and sweet desserts. While elaborating on their special delicacies that will be prepared during the four days of the puja, Mr Debasish Ghosh, senior business development manager of Mainland China said: “We simply concentrate on Chinese delicacies and we will try to introduce various items to suit the needs of diverse people.” However, Mr Tapas Sengupta, manager of Marco Polo Restaurant said: “Although we have not yet decided what extra dishes we will prepare to cater to the huge rush of customers, we are planning to introduce Indian and continental dishes at our Park Street restaurant.” source: the statesman