Kayastha Food Festival @ Ssence, Suryaa Hotel, Delhi

Anoothi Vishal, has been curating food festivals for long. I have missed the opportunities by a whisker to visit my friend’s events but this time I am determined to attend. Along with Suryaa hotel at new Friends Colony, she is curating a Kayastha food festival that will be running for three months, every Saturday at their restaurant Ssence. This one is special as Anoothi is Kayastha herself and has good domain knowledge.

Kayastha food is rare in Delhi. My only knowledge about Kayastha food comes from eating as a kid at my dad’s friend’s place, whom we lovingly called ‘Saxena uncle’. As I mentioned, the opportunity to try this myriad cuisine with influence of Muslim cuisine which is nowhere available in any commercial kitchen (IMHO), I could hardly let go of the chance.

Anoothi and her aunt, Meenu Rishi, worked along with Chef Sanjay Bahl to bring out the feast for all guests. Seated with my friends Chef Sabyasachi Gorai and food critique Osama Jalali, our journey began with Moong Dal Pakodi with aam panna concentrate. Moong dal pakodi gelled beautifully with aam panna concentrate, while the aam panna drink served was equally refreshing. In most aam panna grounded mango is used, but this one had lots of raw mango chunks.

Amongst the starters that were beautifully presented, I enjoyed kalmi bade. Aloo kulle lacked the tanginess and punch that I relished as a kid and still remember the flavours. Shami kebab had big chunks of onion instead of small mince and the bite made it different from the shami kebabs that most North Indians relate to the typical Awadhi influence.

In mains my favourite was the bhuna chicken and bharwan bhindi. Chicken is unique in character and takes flavours of the marination. This one was completely bhunoed and still retained its juiciness. The creamy boondi ka raita and poori worked like wonder for me…someone who is starved for good home cooked food while I keep going out for restaurant reviews. Moong dal with palak was homely, while I had this type of papad ki sabji for the first time. Normally papad ki sabji is served in Rajasthan. The kayastha version has thick papad that is chopped, fried and put in gravy.

Take Paise is gate ki sabji; it was soft and nice. Yakhni pulao was made without any star anise or over dose of masalas, still the flavours was overwhelming. I just wish the rice had retained its length in the process. I did my quick little research on Kayastha cuisine and I browsed through Marryam Reshi post which she had written when she visited Anoothi’s house for a meal sometime ago. Anoothi mentions in that post that mutton is the most popular meat in Kayastha cuisine followed by fish and lastly chicken. To quote: “All Kayasths are avowed meat eaters. That too, mutton is their preferred meat, with fish being a second and chicken relegated to an extremely unfavourable position in the echelon”. However, in this menu fish was conspicuous by its absence.

The post will be incomplete if I do not mention about the various home-made achaars. They were out of the world. We ended the meal with makhane ki kheer that needed a little more time to thicken, and lauki ki lauj which is a lauki ki barfi. Even the lauki averse will fall in love with this well-made dessert.

 

Kayastha food festival is an excellent attempt to recreate the homely cuisine in a commercial kitchen and they have succeeded doing it. Even if you are not too sure, visit Ssence at Suryaa on any Saturday. Pankaj Mathur, GM, dispels the first timer fear: “The normal is any way set up along with Kayastha cuisine that included variety of north Indian dishes and desserts for those who fear to wander in unknown territories”

Note: Kayastha festival is on every Saturday till 30^th Aug’14 and cost Rs1750 per person.