Maharashtrian Food Festival At The Earth Plate, Sahara Star | Food Festival Review

Batatyacha Rasaa, Methi Che Alan, Chinchecha Saar, Chitroni, Gavar Chi Bhaji...

If you think I have just started speaking some alien language, you have got to land up here for the Maharashtrian Food Festival and get acquainted with a glimpse of rich Indian traditions and food history :) Walk in to Sahara Star, land down to 00 level, walk into a colorful spacious decor studded with staff decked up in delightfully traditional attire. There are smiles all around, impeccable service bringing a very positive vibe in the air and a vast spread of food that has everything to please even the most hard to please foodies. For this particular festival, the spread mostly has authentic Maharashtrian delights but global cuisine lovers can also indulge in pizzas, pastas, salads and ofcourse the impossibly large desserts sections!

One of my best friends is Marathi and she always told me about the generous use of coconuts, ground-nuts, red chillies, onions, garlic and many other spices in their village food and I was fortunate enough to try out some dishes at her home too. I remembered all those days while trying out the dishes here. Very rustic, down to earth food with solid flavors is what you will get here. Start with crispy Batata and wholesome Moong Dal bhajiya, simple veg cutlet, Pudyachi Vada, crunchy kanda bhajiyas, move on to variety of cheese, pickles and papads! Then there is the main course galore with Batatyacha Rasaa (beautiful potato gravy dish) that goes amazingly well with puris, very tangy-sour Methi Che Alan, fresh-mildly spicy Veg Kolhapuri, very soft and lovely Khade Masale ke Paneer, tangy-sweet and light Chinchecha Saar (tamarind soup), Veg Rice Chitroni (rice with groundnuts, shredded coconut, simple yet flavorful), Varan bhaat, tangy Kolhapuri Amti that goes best with puran poli, very healthy and homely Gavar Chi Bhaji, and all this with Bhakri, Chapati and such traditional breads. 

 
If this much is not enough to whet your appetite, go for an assortment of salads such as Tandoori Guava and Kachumber, Spicy Corn, Refreshing Beans with Waterchestnut, Sticky Noodles and Mushrooms in Thai Chilly, Pasta and Broccoli with Parsely Oil, Marinated Asparagus and Tomato, Roasted Tofu and Cherry Tomato with Sweet Chilly..and much much more! Use Kokum and Sol Kadhi to help digest all this feast :D 

 

We also tried White Sauce Penne Pasta which is frankly one of the best we ever had, simple but oh so cheesy, I am salivating just thinking about it :D 

  

All this is followed by a HUGE dessert spread with ice cream, waffles, brownies, pastries and and addition of loads of delicious fusion as well as traditional sweets such as shrikhand, til che laddoo, chikki, sandesh, basundi, gulab jamun, rasmalai, seviyaan, dudhi ka halwa, panacotta with gulab jamun, motichur ladoo, kharwas, boondi cheesecake, in fact this dessert spread can be marketed as a buffet of its own (but then who is complaining :D)

While this food festival is pretty perfect in all aspects, it has also made me curious to try out the regular buffet at The Earth Plate, I am sure it will be fantastic too :) Bravo I say.