Taste of Lebanon Food Festival, one of a kind food festival that’s probably never been done before in Bangalore.  To make it completely authentic, the inhouse Chef JP Singh and roped in special guest Chefs – Chef Jameela & Chef Hystam Zakey.  The mother son duo have done multiple food festival across the country and are accompanied by another talented Chef Zakey.

It was wonderful to taste some of the delicacies from Lebanese cuisine.  The dishes prepared as part of the food festival are made from recipes used at home.

Food Options

There were plenty of dishes prepared as part of the food festival.

Mezze Bar

Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Fava, Lebaneh, Tzatziki, Hayadri, Beetroot with Tahini Dip, Peas with Tahini Dip, Pita Bread

This was one of the best mezze platters I have had, and every dish served was tasty.  Hummus was perfectly made as it was creamy and full of flavors.  The Tahini in the Hummus and finely grinded chickpeas was perfect combination with Pita bread.

My other favorite was the Lebaneh, unstrained yogurt dip that tasted amazing.  It was so tasty that I could not resist myself from having few bites with the breads.

The other dishes part of Mezze was also made and had the authentic touch.  I need to make a special mention of the Beetroot & Peas Tahini dip.  The dips had green & violet color induced by vegetables & no additional colors were added.

Salads

Vegetarian – Fattoush was the specially made salad with fresh veggies and mild spices that was tasty & appetizing.

NonVeg – Salatath Samak, Salatath Bathak, Salatath Dijaj were 3 different varieties of salads.  Individually each of the salads contained fresh veggies mixed with Fish, Duck & Chicken.

Starters

Tandoori Chicken, Samak Mishwi (Fish), Dijaj Mishwi (Chicken) & Falafel (Veg)

There were plenty of options in Starters but I could not take a bite as I got busy eating the main-course.

Main Course

Egg Plant with Zattar Spices, Kuska Cooked with Zucchini Flavored with Olive Dust, Arabic Beans cooked with Tahina, Kabzar (Chicken based Biryani)

I loved the Eggplant dish as it had amazing and every bite gave abundant flavors.  Another unique dish was the Kuska that was made with broken wheat.  I could feel the creaminess coming from Wheat, flavors of Zucchini & after taste of pepper.  Also, interesting was the dish made with Arabic bean that had light spices and very tasty.

Desserts

Baklava, Umali

A dessert of layered filo pastry filled with nuts and steeped in attar syrup.  Though the dessert is known to many but it’s hard to get it right. This was one of the best last courses of the Lebanese food festival.

Lebanese Tea

Megli Tea is a spicy tea thats famous is Lebanon.  Chef Jameela specially made this tea so that we could taste it post the dinner.

Finals Thoughts

This was one of the most educating and enjoyable food festivals I have attended.  It was very nice to share the table with Chef Jameela & Zakey who shared a lot of info about Lebanese food, Traditions, Flavors, Ingredients, their journey & alot more.

Details of Food Festival

Location – The Feast Restaurant, Sheraton Grande Whitefield
Timeline – Until 21st September 2019
Lunch 12pm-3pm | Dinner 7pm-11pm
INR 1499++ (Food) | INR 599 AI (Beverages)

Thank to Sheraton team for inviting me to be part of the special evening.  Looking forward to attending many more unique food festivals at Sheraton.