Date: On till 13th Feb
Venue: Ambience Mall, Gurugram

If you have ever visited Andhra Pradesh, you would know how spicy and unique the cuisine is as compared to North India. Before we visited Vijaywada in Andhra for a Social Media Summit and Awards ceremony our reference for Andhra food was the vegetarian thali we get at Andhra Bhawan Canteen. Suckers to the core for all things Indian, we said yes to the first opportunity we received to have a sneak peak of Andhra to Telangana food festival at Zambar, Ambience Mall, Gurgaon. From pure vegetarian fare at Sadhya to relishing rawa fish and sookha mutton at Southern Spices food festival we have been big fans of their food. In fact we have even seen Zambar’s decor and menu changing theme and look over the years. Needless to say, we were excited about the Andhra To Telangana food festival.

The 20-day food fiesta is on till February 13th and they have roped in Chef Sarita Mulakala to offer her delectable handcrafted cuisines from these two states. The starters included fried fish and mutton, mirchi bhajji and chicken 65.

The spices have been toned down for north Indian palette and to be frank we could really enjoy the dinner thanks to moderate mirchi. Mutton and fish were super delicious and standalone dishes on their own. Mirchi Bhajji  was a South Indian take on Rajasthani mirchi pakora, only better looking, and definitely Instagram worthy. It went well with buttermilk.

For main course we tried small samples of Andhra chicken curry, mutton iguru, prawn iguru, potato fry along with chapati, plain and tamarind rice. Special mention to Dappalam – a sweet and tangy vegetarian stew which we are told is a rare recipe. This was so delicious that we kept one chapati aside just to have with this dish. It’s simple, easy on digestion, healthy and very Indian. If the chef is around she can help you understand what goes in Dappalam and it’s uber cute when she corrects your pronunciation of Da-pp-a-la-m…. While we were at our main course we also tried their chutneys – Kundru pachadi, Tomato mirchi pachadi and cabbage pachadi along with all time favorite Podi. The thali was a riot of Indian colors and flavors.

We finished off the dinner with sweet potato payasam which was soft, creamy and just right on sweetness.

The menu is a mixed bag of some simple comforting home style dishes and some with a restaurant feel to it.

**We should also mention that apart from one or two dishes here or there, the menu is primarily for non-vegetarians. However vegetarians can order dishes from the regular menu which is replete with vegetarian options.

Andhra to Telangana food festival at Zambar is packed with yumminess and local flavors of these Southern states.

**The Menu is available till February 13, 2019, between 12 noon- 5 pm.