This is the season of festivities where people like to try the traditional dishes which are popularly prepared from different regions.  There is always an enthusiasm among people to try food from a specific cuisine rather than having a mix of all.  And also the expectation is even bigger where people expect the taste and flavours.  This surely is quite a bit of challenge when it comes to doing festivals from a region.  To be able to get through all of the points mentioned above, there needs to be someone preparing food from a region, who belongs to the region.  This is exactly what ‘Asia Alive Restaurant @Double Tree by Hilton’ has done.  They have come up with a ‘North Indian Food Festival’ running for nearly a week for which the head Chef is from North India.  I was invited recently for a tasting session and will be sharing my thoughts on the food tasting experience.

This is a property that I have not visiting since the time it has come.  Well, I wonder how coz the place is brilliant.

Another sitting section appears next to the private dining section which can seat nearly 20-25 guests.

The place is really good and I would encourage all reading this to go and try it out.

The hotel is inside a Mantri Property, so it is critical to know the direction.  If you start from Maratahalli, drive along until you take the flyover that has Bangalore Central to the right side.  Drive along and then keep to left side, enter the service road instead of taking the flyover.  As you take left, you will see entrance to Mantri Property inside which is the hotel.  There is a need to take U-turn and come before entering the Mantri Property.

Then as you enter Mantri Property, Double Tree by Hilton appears to the right side. As you enter inside the hotel, you will need to take right to go to ‘Asia Alive Restaurant’.

There is specific expectation when it comes to having North Indian food coz I love North Indian cuisine.  I would share my experience of having food at this place.

There are 2 choices of soup and both were vegetarian soups.

A well prepared tomato shorba which tasted quite good.  The taste was nice with the bread and butter as well.

This is more like the Hot & Sour soup but here we need the add the ingredients like – spring onions, nuts and wafers/papads if needed. The taste was pretty good and may be slightly tastier than that.  But equally both soups were good.

For vegetarians there are quite a few options to eat.  Some of the dishes that are there in the buffet spread includes – Dhaba Dal, Maa Ki Dal, Chowk Wongun, Khumb Matar hara pyaaz, Nadru Korma, Bhindi Kurkure, Paneer badani Pasanda, Dum Aloo Banarasi, Navaratan Pulao and Steamed Rice.

Among of the items, some of the my favourite dishes includes – Dhaba Dal, Khumb Matar hara pyaaz, Paneer badani Pasanda and Dum Alook Banarasi.  I enjoyed the dishes along with Naan and Paratha that I had asked them to get.

Paneer Paratha – There is also option for being able to order for any vegetarian paratha.  And I immediately jumped and order for Paneer Paratha.  The same was served with some nice chutney and some butter.  The taste was quite good and I very much enjoyed the same.

Peas Paratha – My friend who was there with me, ended up ordering Peas Paratha.

Salad Bar – There is a huge salad bar for being able to pick up veggies and add dressings.  This section also has quite a few of the boiled vegetables with masalas.

Rice Section – There are various type of options to go along with rice – Pulao, Raita – mixed and boondi, Curd-rice.

Apart from the Veg items, there are a few main-course items in non-veg as well – Tamatar Wali Macchi, Murgh Ku kurchan, Meat Saagwla, Murgh Makhni and Awadhi Gosht Biryani.

This for is one of the good sections in a buffet place.  There are plenty of options top pick from including – Gulab Jamun, Phirni, Moong Dal Halwa, Peda, Chocolate Barfi, Motichoor Ladoo, Cut Fruits, Kalakand and Kala Jamun Cheese Cake.

Among these I ended up taking first 3 items like – Gulab Jamun, Phirni and Moong Daal Halwa.

The buffet is quite large and one person can’t try out all the items in the buffet.  To be able to do it, customer has to come to the place multiple times.

It was a great experience eating North Indian food from Chef.  The flavours and taste in the dishes were good.  But yes, the preparation has been done keeping foreign guests in mind.  The dishes were well spread out and the staff were helping out in every possible way, by serving few dishes at our seats.  This is fest that will at least bring ‘Double Tree by Hilton’ into limelight coz until now it’s been known as a hotel having restaurants, that catered to guests living inside.  Now, they have opened it for public.  I am glad they did coz it gave an opportunity to taste some wonderful food.  I would rate this place as 4.0/5.

My rating in other departments.

More details on the event is mentioned below.