If
you want to discover a food festival in the true sense of the word, then going
for one organized by the Leela Ambience Gurgaon is an unbeatable experience for
it’s not just one jaded ‘buffet’ in a section of the coffee shop, but much more
than that!!
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| The Chefs Team from Fullerton Hotel Singapore |
Celebrating everything from the festival’s cuisine ingredients to
creative new presentations, cooking lessons, live counters at the coffee shop, wine
dinners , a charity dinner and more this hotel boasts both a strong traditional
food culture and a plethora of activities that make the food festival feel like
a real food festival!! (I still can’t forget the Latin Food Festival they had
last year….miss you Chef Ramon Salto, Pablo Morales)
Just
back from my London trip, the hubby took me to the Ambience mall for two of my favorite things shopping and eating and just as we were browsing a few stores
on the ground level, I thought I saw a familiar face, I went up closer and it
was my friend Chef Richard from the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore…LA!! And soon,
I noticed many more familiar faces including talented Chef Neeraj Rawoot the
brand new Executive Chef at the Leela , Chef Amit Wadhera and the team…I couldn’t
resist and waited on to check out the making of the ‘Rojak’ and some other exciting
Singapore dishes.
Singapore food and the country have always fascinated and for
those who do not know, a visit to Singapore is incomplete without visiting the
Hawker Centre as there can be no better way to sample authentic local favorites without forking out too much moolah….so through this mall activity I
could relive trying some of those ‘hawker’ style dishes.
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| Cooking lessons ..Chef Bakshish Dean & Chef Richard |
And
luckily for us, we got an invitation the next day for a wine dinner curated
gorgeously by the charming Magandeep Singh and Karina Aggarwal duo. Chef
Richard and Neeraj’s team did a fantastic job with the food which was
superlative.
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| Star Dish |
The star dish for me was the ‘Hainese Chicken Rice’ which Richard
did an exciting take on , the braised chicken leg was presented beautifully
with fragrant rice in it and the chilli, black bean soy and ginger accompanied
in a unique way, paired with a Corvina from Italy…simply stellar! Needless to
add that the wine dinner was a glorious affair and the Leela Ambience Gurgaon
team knows how to do it right!!
I
was sharing the table with the extremely hospitable and charming General manager
Michel Koopman, Nidhi Verma, Rajiv Kehr and his son Aditya, Sourish
Bhattacharya who’s always a pleasure to discuss food & travel with, the CEO
of Air Vistara and Chef Bakshish Dean of course!
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| Super duper Chef Richard & the charming host Michel Koopman |
To be honest we blended in so
well, that our conversations were not just getting over….till the time Michel (I
soooo admire his great sense of humor) said ‘Good Night guys have fun, I am
leaving and the hotel is sold out’ …and the table was in splits!! ( and then we split..:) )
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| The Fun Table ...pic courtesy Sourish Bhattacharya |
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