I am hoping that my flight on Friday will take off after two sumptious buffets in two days.
Yesterday the manager of our India team invited the Hyderabad team and me for a buffet lunch at the Kakatiya Hotel - one where I had great southern and northern Indian food a year ago. The selection of southern Indian food was quite amazing and even by taking small portions (and resisting the temptation to try every single dish) you ended up with massive platefuls.
Tonight we have done the same with the Bangalore team and went out to the buffet at the Taj Residency hotel. Outside sheltered from the monsoon rains by a canopy was a starter buffet. Quite frankly it would have done me as a main course.
There was a vegetarian buffet including some delicate filo pastry shells that were used for serving. This is not a great shot, but when the chefs saw my camera they all lined up without being asked!
Further down the line, there was a hotplate for grilling vegetables. In the right background are a set of bowls with spices, chopped garlic, etc which were heated on the plate. Then a mixture of vegetables was added to the spices. Finally a spoon of the red sauce on the left was added and the mix was stir fried for a short time.
Next was a grill with marinated fish, lamb and chicken. The marinades were spicy but not OTT. The lamb was absolutely tender and must have been younger than the sort we eat in the UK. I did not even try to look at the fourth section as I already had too much on my plate.
Since I was hosting the dinner, I could not spend the evening taking photos for this blog and neglect my guests. Suffice to say there was a huge range of salads, curries and breads for the main course, plus fresh fruit and indian desserts.
It came to Rs 11,000 (£127) for 9 people.
2008-07-02 @ 20:07