Punjabi Food Festival at L-14, by Renaissance Lucknow

Hi everyone, hope y'all are doing good. Well, for all my Indian readers, I know guys we are all going through mixed feelings at the moment with the new currency notes issued. But, I really hope the government is able to do what they have pictured for future, for the betterment of everyone!

With that, I'd like to mention that for past few days I've been getting requests to post a full story about the PUNJABI FOOD FESTIVAL that's going on at L-14, Renaissance Lucknow Hotel, on my blog as you'd been seeing pictures from there on my social media. But amidst all the currency affair, I just got delayed. As I collect the energy to write this down today, I thought of just quickly taking you through the entire buffet that I captured the other day on my visit to try some authentic Punjabi food at the restaurant!

You know I tend to eat a lot when it comes to dinners, and Punjabi food has always ignited the foodie in me. I love the cuisine of Punjab, as it has an enormous variety of mouth-watering vegetarian as well as non vegetarian dishes. The spice content ranges from minimal to pleasant to high. Punjabi food is usually relished by people of all communities. In Punjab, home cooking differs from the restaurant cooking style. At the restaurants, the chefs make a liberal use of desi ghee, butter and cream to make the food lip smacking and finger licking. Since I was a kid, my parents were keen on feeding me dishes from the land of five rivers, as they say. And developing a taste so good is always useful because now that I have so many Punjabi friends, I keep getting the flavor love!

So, I recently attended the on-going Punjabi Food Festival at L-14, Renaissance Lucknow and got to taste some authentic but exclusively prepared dishes from the dinner buffet curated by Chef Balvinder and his team. To be honest, they always make me go crazy with their innovative flavors and that's exactly what happened this time again. I chose to try the maximum vegetarian dishes I could, and my friend Azman did all the non vegetarian tasting and we have a complete review for you all below.

Also, the fest is up till 13th November, 2016 so you all can go and enjoy all of it yourself!

That's my plate full of sarso saag (topped with white butter), makka roti (corn bread), rajma, chathkara pyaaz (onion), gud (jaggery), paneer tikka, and corn kebab.

Like always, let's start with the starters first. As I like spicy food, I kind of also keep it subtle, and hence tried the famous Bhutta Kebab that's made of corn and is amazingly crispy and full of Indian flavors, and along with that tried some Paneer Tikka as the starters, beautifully roasted and topped with spice that matched my taste so much! In the non vegetarian section, Azman picked some Lamb Chops and some Amritasari Machhi (fish) and in his words, "I simply loved the mouthwatering lamb blended with flavors of real Punjab, and the fish I've tasted has never been so crisp and on fleek." So first come first rank the starters are always so good at Renaissance.

Bhutta Kebab

Bhatti ka Paneer

Coming to the main course, I'll first tell you about the vegetarian dishes as that's all about my liking. I love paneer more than anything in the main course mostly, and hence I tried the delicious Butter Paneer along with the authentically prepared Sarso Saag, Rajma and Karare Matar that are always the highlight of the Punjabi buffet, as lentils have always been the important ingredients of the cuisine! My three favorites cooked to perfection and I just couldn't resist getting second servings of each!

Butter Paneer

Sarso Saag

Rajma

I'm not sure but do you too feel that Punjabi cuisine has more Non Vegetarian dishes than Vegetarian and I kinda dislike it, because why the difference bro? Well, good for Azman because he got to try so many varieties of lamb and chicken and fish and everything was so appealing and like always he did insist me to try some but I'm just against animal killing (and also eating). But, I'm sure many of you are hard core non-vegetarians and must be drooling looking at all the pictures below. As per Azman's review, he liked every bit of the soft cooked lamb which bursted with Indian flavors leaving the spiciness on the tongue for a log time! The Chicken Wings were so delectable and the Butter Chicken had a distinctive local flavor to it which was irresistible. He also found the Bhuna Gosht and other lamb dishes really toothsome and tasted more than a piece for satisfaction!

Tandoori Kukkad (chicken with Indian spices)

Bhuna Gosht (Lamb with Indian Spices)

Butter Chicken

Chulhe di Champee (Lamb cooked in Traditional Indian Spices)

Asian Style Chicken Wings

Gosht Pulao (Lamb Pilaf)

 Oh, and guys don't forget to taste some Papad. It'll just add to the Punjabi flavor!

Traditional Punjabi thali consists of varied kinds of breads; some are baked in the tandoor such as Tandoori Roti, Lachha Paratha, Naan and Kulcha, while others are dry baked on tava like Chapatti and Jowar ki Roti. There is another fabulous variety of roti called Rumali Roti, which is larger in size as compared to the normal one and is also easily absorbable. Also, there are breads that are shallow fried such as Parantha and deep fried such as Poori and Bhatoora. And we tried so many varieties all together, simply because they looked so inviting and tasted scrumptious!

And it was so sweet of one of the chefs to show us the proper technique he uses to make the best tandoori rotis/kulchas for us!

Variety of Naan and Kulcha we tasted, including Makka Roti, Methi Naan, Pudina Naan, etc.

High on calories maybe but Punjabi dinner cannot end without a serving or two of authentic Indian desserts. You won't just do justice if you forget trying the indigenous Gulab Jamun and Rasmalai with melting-in-mouth tendency. They are two of my favorites in the Indian dessert list, and adding to that my most favorite Mahalabia at L-14, which is always impressible! Along with these, we also tried some other desserts from the counter and I really liked the Strawberry Mousse because it had that soft texture and light sweet flavor that appealed so much!

Gulab Jamun, Rasmalai, Mahalabia 

White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse

Cheese Cake

Baked Yogurt

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I had a wonderful time, enjoying the Punjabi dinner buffet at L-14, Renaissance Lucknow Hotel and I highly recommend you all to visit there and try the specially crafted food for all. Its not something you get in town everyday, and so you shall MAKE RESERVATIONS NOW.

 

Photographed by : Azman Khan

~xoxo~