Date: 13th – 22nd April 2018
Venue: Courtyard by Marriott Gurugram Downtown

Awadh has been one of the richest regions in the Indian subcontinent. The Nawabs of Awadh were sincere patrons of music, art, culture and food. Even after the decline of this dynasty in 1856 C., Awadhi cuisine still inspires us – such is the legacy. Courtyard by Marriott Gurugram Downtown is presently showcasing this aspect of our heritage in a neatly curated Awadhi food festival – Aromas of Awadh. Led by Chef Abdul Haleem, the festival is on from 13th to 22nd April, 2018. It has been a while that we had proper Mughlai food, so we couldn’t wait and visited this event on evening 1 itself.

The spread is huge and well thought out. We liked the fact that the buffet has a fine balance of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Who says Mughlai food is only for carnivores?

Think of Awadhi food and the first item that comes to mind is galouti kebabs. We were day dreaming about galoutis on the drive up to Courtyard, Gurgaon. And the first counter that greets the diner at the dinner area of the Courtyard is the live galouti station. We ordered our heart’s fill of galoutis and parathas here. The kababs were aromatic and melt in the mouth soft. The parathas were slightly sweetened to balance the spice of the kebabs. The good chef had a special selection of vegetarian galoutis as well.

Adjacent to this was a special counter for papad and pickles – it couldn’t have got more Indian than this. Papad they say acts as blotting paper inside the tummy and aids digestion. But we made cocktail snacks out of this and munched some papad with our drinks.

We tried a host of other items as well. To cut a long story short, the food was tasty but not mouth burning spicy and the subtlety makes it a very suitable meal for people who do not have a thing for chillis.

The must trys include dum gosht chawal. It is like biriyani but not quite. Fragrant and mild, this dish goes very well with the chaaps and rogan joshs. They have an interesting take on dal in the menu. The ubiquitous dal makhni is replaced with simple arhar dal sans any cumin/ coriander seasoning. This tastes very homely and provides a welcome break from the heaviness of Mughlai food. From the vegetarian section we recommend the paneer, matar mushroom and mixed vegetables. All these dishes go very well with the rice and the breads that are being served.

To break the heat of Mughlai food, we veered to their oriental food counter and had steamed fish with basil. Again melt in the mouth soft and mildly flavoured with basil, this dish provided a lot of succor to the digestive system.

The desserts are a combination of traditional Awadhi dishes as well as the western cheesecakes, fruit cakes and pudding . Do try the sewaiyan from the Awadhi desserts – it tastes divine. We were surprised to see Bengali Lavang Lata in the Dessert section.

The cherry on the icing was the ghazal arrangement. An excellent team of ghazal singers were rendering soulful numbers from yester years. This added a somewhat cerebral angle to the dining experience. In fact, Courtyard is planning to have weekly live Ghazal sessions every Friday evening, come May.

The Aromas of Awadh costs Rs. 1645 for lunch and Rs. 1945 for dinner (exclusive of taxes).

We thoroughly enjoyed the Awadhi dining on the opening night of this food festival. The great evening weather that we are blessed with at present made the perfect setting for this somewhat heavy cuisine. If you are a Mughlai food fan or someone who wants to experience some good Indian food, Aromas of Awadh at Courtyard Gurugram Downtown is for you.