Chilean Wine and Food Festival 2013, Delhi

DSC03486As always I reach in time for the event. Only that this time I am shocked and surprised. The Delhi crowd that can come up with various excuses on the fly to be late are all gathered at grand ball room at Lalit Hotel in time for a Chilean wine and food event organised by Chile government. Perhaps, advance circulation of the exotic menu and mentioning that hors d’oeuvre will be served at 7.30pm while mains would begin at 8.30pm has helped.

Chef Sabyasachi GoraiThe highlight of the evening is some of the best meats flown especially from Chile for this event, including salmon, pork and scallops. I find myself amongst friends including Subhash Arora (President, Delhi Wine Club), Sourish Bhattacharya, Reva Singh, Magandeep Singh and Chef Sabyasachi Gorai. While sipping on wine from one of the various stalls put up by the Chile wine producers, Sabyasachi mentions about his recent participation at the Master Chef Junior finale and his new show soon coming up at Zee Khana Khazaana. The concept is nice and I wish him all the best.

salmon cevicheI am still to eat better scallops in India. The salmon ceviche is outstanding and keeps us glued near the table where it is kept. Jerk marinated lamb empanada is equally interesting but calamari is a disappointment with its tough and chewy texture. The pan seared Chilean scallops are kept near the mains but do not miss my sharp eyes. It is again a treat with its soft and melt-in-the-mouth texture with crispy fried and ginger pickle providing a bite.

bbq baby prk chopsA buffet is never a delight for anyone but if it can still manage to set a benchmark for many of the dishes, it must be exemplary. And this buffet just manages to do so. The queue on the mains is long. Luckily I meet a friend, Sharad, who tells me about the concept – Buffet Shark. As per Urban Dictionary, a buffet shark is a term used when at a buffet, using the tongs in your hand to steal food either a) already on someone else’s plate, or b) out of another person’s tongs. However, Sharad’s definition is different. He says start from the place which has the smallest queue. Without waiting for him to finish I move on to the small queue counter that serves baby bbq pork ribs, ravioli and grilled pork. The bbq pork even though is falling off the bone still retains its bite. Outstanding! However the star dish is the grilled salmon. Perfect crust on outside while flaky and juicy inside. Undoubtedly it is the quality of the fresh fish that is doing the magic.

grilled salmonThere are many other lovely dishes on offer and amazing people to meet over the evening which surprisingly gets over by 10.30pm, really early at Delhi’s standard. I love Chilean mussels which are conspicuous by its absence, I appreciate Chile government’s initiative to get together food and wine companies to showcase their best ingredients and make them popular in India. I go back with hope that soon they would be available fresh at a restaurant which is closer to my place.

pawansoni

Food Critic and a Marketing Wizz who had a high profile career with leading MNC’s like HSBC, GE Capital etc, Pawan Soni comes across as a quintessential corporate employee. He left behind his successful career as the Vice President of an MNC... all for his love for food. He a WSET Level II wine connoisseur and a foodie who loves to eat anything under the sun. Besides being a food and travel writer for various food forums and magazines, he is the Founder and CEO of Indian Food Freak. As one of the initial bloggers who started his blog over a decade ago, his website www.indianfoodfreak.com is currently one of the biggest food and travel blogs in the country. Pawan also conducts highly successful restaurant awards and recently concluded the 9th edition of The Big F restaurant awards. He has also won the best influencer awards in India by BBC Food Food Awards in 2018

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