Being an ardent fan of the Food Safari program, the very first time when I got an invite for the “Kitchen Safari” at Vivanta by Taj, Yeshwantpur, Bangalore. I was very excited to see what is going to happen and what all the secret recipes of Taj is getting revealed. It was on last Saturday around 3 p.m, took time to travel for almost 1 hour 30 mins, but the safari was damn good, and informative.
Kitchen Safari – Kitchen Safari at Vivanta by Taj is the brain child of Chef. Agnimitra Sharma (Executive Chef of Vivanta by Taj, Yeshwantpur). Kitchen Safari means the safari through their kitchens, as they had 4 restaurants, we bloggers were allowed to explore all their restaurants kitchen, also they demonstrated few recipes and we all had a chance to try over there. The beautiful and the memorable part over here is my son (6 yrs), made a ravioli following the chef’s instruction was totally cherishable moment for me.
Restaurants and about our Kitchen Safari – Our Kitchen safari was Culinary journery, from the rustic essence of Punjab, to the Mediterrean simplicity of Italy, through their 4 restaurants – Shimmer, Paranda, Azure and Caramel with their Executive chef, Chef Agnimitra Sharma and his team.
Our journey started from SHIMMER, where we were served with Pera allo zafferano grigliata can insalata di mascarpone, it was saffron grilled pear served with mascarpone cheese, candied walnut and honey rosemary dressing.
Next, we led to PARANDA, here starts our kitchen safari – We were served with a welcome drink – Masala Chaas and then started our journey towards their kitchen and bloggers were allowed to prepare the food with the instructions of the chef. There were two dishes prepared at the kitchen – Karare Chatpate Khumb (deep fried mushroom filled with bell pepper, cheese and black pepper) and Murgh Chapli Kebab (crushed black pepper, coriander, cumin and minced chicken escalape – shallow fried). After the preparation, we got to taste the dish prepared by us with few more – Hare pyaz ka bharwan paneer tikka (spring onion stuffed marinated cottage cheese, cooked in tandoor), Lahsooni Jheenga (garlic, yogurt, cream marinated tiger prawns cooked in tandoor) and Kesarwali Lassi (Yogurt shakes flavored with sugar and saffron).
Thirdly, we led to AZURE, once we entered the kitchen we found the dough ready for pizza, there Chef revealed us the secrets of making ravioli, tortellini and Pizza, which are awaiting officially launch on August 4th with their new menu, give a try guys. Azure made my day more memorable, that I could cherish all over my lifetime. My son prepared a ravioli at their kitchen, already I knew his passion towards food and this time it was awesome, also he was longing to prepare pizza. Also, here the chef revealed us the secret of spreading the pizza dough, also the pizza, ravioli we made were yum. Later we had to taste the pizza – Pizza Ortaianoa (grilled vegetables, tomato sauce and mozzarella), foccassia bread, double wafer pizza (minced chicken, basil pesto, olive), Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (potato dumpling tossed with tomato, fresh mozzarella and parmesan), Tortellini di pollo (filled with smoked chicken, pest cream, sundried tomatoes and pine nuts).
Last but not least, as this will be everyone’s love – Dessert session at CARAMAL. There were such a beautiful collection of desserts from macaroons, pastries, chocolates to tiramisu, baklava. Had to taste the Éclair with red velvet, white chocolate and definitely the Tiramisu.
On whole Kitchen Safari was a lovely, fantastic, wonderful and an informative safari. Thanks, Vivanta by Taj, Yeshwantpur, Bangalore for this wonderful opportunity and informative session.
Madraasi - a tamilian tales 