Essence of Bengal @ M-Cafe Marriott, Whitefield

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There is a bit of BENGAL in ‘BENGAL”URU, a wonderful theme to start with a Bengali Fest in one of the premium hotels in Bangalore, Marriott at Whitefield. The Dussehra and Durga Pooja festivities might just have got over but then ‘Essence of Bengal’ can never be lost. It is being kept alive by this event which is spread across during this entire week (17-22Oct’16). It’s a time to indulge and experience the rich heritage of West Bengal. The Chefs have worked tirelessly to come up a set of items which will let you relish authentic Bengali Delicacies in one platter.

Background

There have been plenty of festivities happening right from August time-frame. There have been festivals that have happened back to back. And we all know that the 2^nd half of the year is usually filled with plenty of festivals. This time around the Dussehra festivities just over, before which there was Onam and next comes the Diwali. There is very little time in which our special Bengali friends needed to be made happier by preparing some of the delicacies.

Chef Mahesh and his team of chefs have done a great job in pulling the menu in record time. And also it is not just about the food, it is the presentation and the ambiance that has been setup which makes it all the more appealing. I am glad to have been part of the event yesterday.

Ambiance

The M-Café at the Marriott is a wonderful restaurant which has a huge sitting space inside. And equally there is a huge place in the open air, which is wonderful. To be able to bring the essence of Bengal, the interiors have setup very well.
There are these wonderful colour chalk pieces’ sketch of the historical places in Bengal that is present.
Dishes have been spread in a wonderful manner segregating various course of food in separate sections. There are sections of salads, main course, deserts and also some for the delicacies.
A video showing some of the historical places was coming up on the wall which was pretty good.
Music surely is one of the things that Bengali’s love, and to keep up with the spirit, Bengali songs were being played.
There were traditional earthen pottery pieces that were kept for décor.
To depict a bit of the fish market theme, there were fishes and also the crude weighing machine used in the market. The instruments where you put a weight and other sides balances out.
The folks at the restaurant across counter were wearing traditional Bengali outfits.
Just outside the M-Café, there was a wonderful Rangoli made.
A long table can also be setup if a group of 20 people want to dine in at the same time.

The setup looks wonderful and surely hard to describe in words. It’s a must visit place during the next few days the festival is on.

Food

There is so much of information regarding the ambiance. It is very critical that the Bengali dishes are also as good. Let me share some of my experience being a vegetarian and also share some updates I received from my other friends.

Sharbats

The start of a meal should be something to cool off. And what better than taking sharbats, a fruit juice that usually served chilled.

There are 2 options – Gandharaj jhol and Aam panna. Among the two Aam panna was quite tasty and I enjoyed it. Infact, taking a mango drink off season always feels good.

Starters

A section that actually sets the precedence of a meal. Among the choices of starters, there were a lot of options for non-veg lovers and a few for vegetarian.

I tried the ‘Potol Bhaja’ which is the Bengali version of ‘Tondekai Palya’ in kannada. The dish is a dry-item and prepared very differently. Taste of preparation was quite good.

Lucchi and Cholar dal– which basically means the Puri and Chola curry combination. The preparation was quite good and I just relished every bit of the food that I had.

Other starts for non-vegetarians includes – Fowl cutlet, Mutton chop and Iilish bhaja.

Main Course

They had quite a bit of items and among the vegetarian items included – Thor Kumro, Begun basanti, Basanti pulao and Aloo potol posto.

The taste of each and every item was good. But I especially loved the ‘Begun basanti’ as it seemed to have good amount of gravy and brinjol seems to have been cooked quite well. It is important to gets things right in terms of flavors, as people from Bengal will also come for dining in. The other main dishes and the Basanti pulao were also pretty good.

Non-vegetarians had a feast which included – Macher Jhol, Mutton biryani, Kuchi pathar paturi and Daab chingri.

Along with the me, 4 other Blogger friends who are from Kolkata came in. They were mentioning that main course dishes were well done.

Deserts

The most important part in a meal is also the deserts. There were 3 varieties which are most famous in Bengal are being served. Some of the sweets included – Rossogulla, Pati shapta and Sondesh.

Roosogulla for sure is the tastiest and I could not resist myself and ended up taking 2 servings.

Sondesh which is again quite famous from Bengal side was also quite good and I relished the flavours.

Apart from the above 2 items I mentioned, there as ‘Pati shapta’ which is basically a dosa. Inside the dosa they add a mixture of coconuts, sugar and other ingredients.

The paste is then added inside the dosa and rolled. The taste is superb and I enjoyed it very well. Others also very much enjoyed all the items.

That was not all for the desert section coz there were also few other items like – Mala-Pua, Misty Dahi (sweet curds) and few other Indian burfi sweets that were part of the buffet.

It is hard to pin point and say if some dish served needs to be modified. All of them were quite good and I very much relished very item.

Overall Experience

It was a great experience of tasting some wonderful Bengali food. The ambiance for sure will attract people to come and visit the place. But the food is what will make people go out happy. Taste and flavours of every dish seemed quite authentic. I think the main reason for this to happen is the head-chef who would have given enough guidance during the entire preparation.