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| Iftaar Menu at Lalit Great Eastern |
Of course, you might be wondering why am I so late with this particular post, when Eid is already over? Well, to tell you the truth, I have been extremely busy the last few days, travelling a lot for work, and well, you can see the result. Anyway, let me tell you about a day when a rain-soaked city was ignored in favor of an Iftaar spread at The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata.
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| Moroccan beef salad |
And there were huge platters of freshly rolled cucumbers, featuring a stunning Moroccan Beef Salad. The crunch of the vegetables, the soft meat, and the tangy dressing, was a refreshing thing.
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| lamb hors d’oeuvre |
And there were cucumbers encasing slices of lamb kebabs, topped with a squiggle of creamy dressing on top to cut down the spice quotient.
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| fried stuff – egg chops and mutton chops |
An assortment of bread was present on one side. I picked one made of gram flour – quite fluffy. The bread here is allowed to rise for a considerable period of time. I was inching towards the other kinds, but then, I got distracted by the Haleem.
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| sheermal at Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata |
The Sheermal is flavored with saffron – harder than what I would like, but quite dunkable in the soft haleem it was served with.
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| mutton ghugni |
And then there was an excellent ghugni counter.
“Mutton Keema Ghugni? Why yes, I will have some, I believe!”
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| Khichda at Lalit Great Eastern |
For our mains, we had Khichda, but this was like no khichda I have had – it was quite pulao-like, with Bengal grams and mince – Nice, but not really my thing. I prefer the pasty, soupy thing which takes me back to my childhood and eating my weight in it with my father.
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| Meatballs in tomato sauce |
I rather preferred the chicken meatballs in a mild tomato gravy. I would have liked some plain pasta with this though, instead of the rice I was served.
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| mutton nihari |
The Nihari was also quite good. The dish, usually served as breakfast, is one of my favorite things to consume at any given point of time, and the meat here was fall apart tender, if slightly underseasoned, which was totally taken care of with the aid of a squeeze of lime, a sprinkle of birista, and a dash of chopped cilantro and chillies.
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| Haleem |
But I forget – the star of the show – the Haleem. This was a thick paste of meat, spices, wheat, made Lucknow style, and it was extremely rich – something you would fill up on even if you have had a spoonful. Nevertheless, this was worth its weight in gold, and both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions were absolutely amazing.
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| kheema pao kolkata |
I like kheema in every form, and ordered some of the kheema pao. Mild, soft, and glorious when piled on top of a piece of pao and topped with a ring of onion and a tiny squeeze of lime, this made M moan.
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| Buffet at Lalit Great Eastern |
After a rather heavy meal, I really wanted to grab a pillow, but then, the chef insisted on us seeing the dessert counter. Before reaching, I poured myself a glass of Rooh-Afza, to counter the protein overdose with a large dash of sugar. I justified this by thinking that the sugar would also act as a good start to the plate filled with sugar rush I was about to consume.
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| Dessert galore – Clockwise from 12 o’clock – Chocolate Macaron, Baklava, Nut tart, Cheese cake, firni, rooh afza |
And then there was baklava. Not too sweet, though. These had a faint smell of rosewater and a generous helping of nuts. The Firni was nice, and the nut tart extremely heavy, but I fell for the cheesecake. Again.
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| Baklava |
The iftaar menu was available at Lalit Great Eastern on every Friday, during the holy month of Ramzan, and it was stunning. At 1550/-, the buffet consisted of a huge assortment of amazing vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes, and is definitely worth trying.
Disclaimer: Poorna Banerjee dined at The Lalit Great Eastern at the kind request of the management.
