Karavalli food festival at Sonargaon, Taj Bengal

Karavalli food comprises of the south-western region of India and it’s primarily a non-vegetarian cuisine. Meat along with seafood rules there. And, just like Bukhara is an epitome of north-Indian cuisine, Karavalli in Taj Gateway Bangalore is considered as the Mecca of south Indian, or rather Karavalli cuisine in India. Chef Naren Thimmaiah (executive chef of Taj Gateway) heads the restaurant and a gem of a person. Under the restaurant exchange program, Sonargaon, Taj Bengal Kolkata has got him and his team from Bangalore and thus launched the Karavalli Food festival in Kolkata.

Chef has got a clear philosophy. He’ll get the highest moving curries done once for every meal and will finish and reheat the same to feed the guests. Thus the uniform quality is ensured for every portion. Secondly, if any item is over, it’s not recooked, guests are told that it’s over and it seems guests appreciate that. So, off we set to explore the cuisine and our journey started.

First and foremost, I’d love to talk about the set thalis here. At 2450/-, the non-veg set thali is what I’d recommend first. It’s having a fixed portion of all the gems in the menu and an unlimited supply of appams and malabari parota. The vegetarian counterpart also didn’t lag behind. Among the starters, probably the best of the lot was the King Prawn Sukka. Giant prawns were stir fried with Curry-leaf and black peeper infused masala and was brilliant. And, though I am a hardcore non-vegetarian food lover, Mavinkai Mensukkai stole my heart. It was a raw mango based spicy curry and went brilliantly with plain steamed rice. We didn’t have much space left for the dessert, however, I must admit, the dodol that I tasted here, is one of the best.

Non-veg set thali

Veg set thali

King Prawn sukka

Appam and malabari Parota

Mavinkai Mensukkai

I am sorry to publish this post when the festival is over, but I hope to see these types of exchange programs more often to taste the best of this hospitality group.

Bon apetit !!!

Comments and critics welcome

I can be reached at 9903528225 / indrajit.lahiri@ymail.com