A Mughlai treat to rejuvenate taste buds

An ongoing food festival offering true Mughlai flavours -- spicy aromatic biryanis with vegetables, fish, chicken and mutton accompaniments -- will leave you craving for more.

Flavors of Mughals, a Mughlai restaurant located in Central Arcade in Gurgaon, is hosting the feast Mock-e-Biryani till May 25. A simple and not-so-elaborate menu has been prepared especially for the festival, offering eight varieties of biryani and seven mocktails to go with it.

Chef Bishan Singh came up with the idea. "Our restaurant offers Mughlai food, but we wanted to do something different, so we came up with the idea of celebrating Mughlai feast with biryani," he said.

"The plan is to give the customers a taste of biryanis from different regions in India," he added.

The prime focus of the festival is quality, and hence, the number of items on the special menu is limited. But you can savour the dishes unlimited.

Food aficionados have enough to choose from eight varieties of biryani -- four each for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Just choose your dish and savour as much as you like of the different flavours that the biryanis have.

"We use local spices like ginger-garlic paste, mace, green cardamom, cloves, desi ghee and refined. The cooking style of the biryanis is almost the same but the flavours differ," Singh said.

What's more -- The meal price is affordable!

My meal started with a Strawberry Colada on bartender Dinesh Kumar's recommendation.

"We make the drink by adding strawberry crush to a mixture of pineapple juice, fresh cream, coconut milk and coconut syrup," he said tempting me into trying it.

"It is one of the top-selling mocktails of the restaurants," he added.

The meal began with Sunehre-e-pyaaz Biryani with Raita. The raita, a good mix of curd and spices, gave a good kick to the taste buds and enhanced the flavour of biryani.

Then I tried the Chicken Biryani, which was served with an interesting ginger-garlic raita. This biryani is prepared by cooking the chicken and rice separately. The chicken is cooked in desi ghee with ginger-garlic paste and other traditional spices. Once cooked, both chicken and rice are mixed together and left for 'dum' cooking.

What was next? I went for the mouth-watering fish biryani, which was served with onion and tomato raita. The fish was spicy and full of flavour, and its tenderness was well-maintained. The rice had its own flavour, and the fish was melt-in-the-mouth variety.

Overall, a thumbs up for the limited, yet tasteful food, which makes you want to eat unlimited. Must visit!

Basics:

Location: Flavor of Mughals, Central Arcade, DLF Phase 2, M.G. Road, Gurgaon

Cost: Meal for two - Rs.1,000 (vegetarian combo); Rs.1,200 (non-vegetarian combo)

Timing: 12 noon- 11:30 p.m.