Farmlore in Bangalore offers a unique dining experience within a farm, embodying the essence of traditions and sustainable gastronomy. Their commitment to farm-to-table practices and sustainability shines through in every aspect of their culinary creations, making it a memorable journey of ingredient-based food.
During my recent visit, Farmlore presented a dining experience themed around the Oscars. Each dish was ingeniously crafted with ingredients hinting at iconic Hollywood movies that received the prestigious award. This creative concept added an extra layer of excitement to the meal.
The ten-course meal commenced with a delightful assortment of bread, cheese, and caviar, cleverly representing the movie “Titanic.” The journey continued with dishes like crispy turkey reminiscent of “Green Book,” succulent shrimp on a bed of okra symbolizing “Forrest Gump,” and Iranian flatbread with an array of dips inspired by “Argo.”
One of the highlights was the inventive presentation of ramdon, featuring pork broth and udon noodles made using methyl dropped into the hot broth with a syringe, a nod to the movie “Parasite.” Each course was not only delicious but also a visual feast, with dishes like tomato sorbet served on charcoal powder, representing “The Artist”
The culinary adventure had treats like jollof rice paired with red mullet, a homage to “12 Years of a Slave,” and tender lamb chops with Fava Beans, reminiscent of “Silence of the Lambs.” Desserts were equally delightful, with Pondicherry chocolate ice cream symbolizing “Life of Pi” and a matcha cake paired with yuzu burning sorbet.
The attention to detail and innovative presentation extended to the final touch—a cute pink meringue bonbon, serving as a clue for the movie “CODA.” Each dish showcased Farmlore’s dedication to not only tantalize the taste buds but also to create a holistic dining experience that celebrates ingredients, creativity and sustainability. The pairing with Sonarys wine added fizz to the evening.
The world’s longest and happiest table at Hanu Reddy Mango farm, also called as Hanu’s table creates history in the culinary world! This 156ft table that is made using the mango trees that were uprooted during the varda cyclone in 2017 is now the talk of the town. The beautiful table can seat 150 happy people making joyful conversations.
10 best chefs of India showcase their regional cuisine on the world’s longest and happiest table in Chennai, India.
20th January 2024 was a very special day and my happiness knew no bounds! I still remember on a sunny day around the last week of June 2023 Nirupama and I drove to the Hanu Reddy mango farm to just sit under the mango trees and discuss what we could possibly do here. My eyes twinkled with excitement as my mind envisioned something very special.
For the last few years my mind body and soul only feels regional food and I said how about chefs from all around India come and showcase their regional food and I remember I told Nirupama for all you know this might go to the Guinness Book of World records!!! To me the only person who could pull this off with all his might was Chef Regi, our next farm visit was with Chef Regi and we walked around the farm to imagine what it would be like to put Chennai on the world culinary map.
And the rest is history, Chef Regi gathered his army of chefs and Team Hanu Reddy gathered their team to get a kitchen constructed and do some massive work in the farm in such a short time.
Walking through the farm after 6 months was like a fairytale with an ” India’s Culinary Odyssey” logo all around, it was a proud moment for me who has made Chennai my home for 25yrs now. The place was beautifully lit up and the reception was warm.
As we entered the farm the huge mango trees were lit up, the music was Indian and it complimented the Indian cocktails that were curated with classic Indian ingredients like tamarind, pepper chillies and more.
Indian ingredients infused cocktails Indian ingredients infused cocktails
As we moved on to the dining area, the table that would seat 106 guests was brimming with colors from the beautiful flowers and Indian elements like the tiffin carriers and dabbas. Nithya along with her friend did a fabulous job with the decor ( well she is a professional)
The 156ft happy table
We got seated and we had our own Ashwin Rajagopal who was the emcee for the evening. The warm welcome speech by Mr. Hanu Reddy and Chef Regi Mathew were building up the excitement.
Amuse Bouche
The amuse bouche was synonymous to the mango farm and that mild sour flavour of the raw mango set the mood for the rest of the evening.
Being a Sindhi Chef Vicky Ratnani decided to showcase the lotus stem which is a Sindhi delicacy. The lotus stem project: tikki chat was a great starter to this magnificent evening.
Lotus stem tikki chat
My goan brother Avinash Martins had his own style to present the goan sea bass with style and vibrance. Sunset kissed recheado delight made using fermented sun-dried tomato recheado, sea bass, kalchi Kodi, kokum, chempde torr and delicate edible flowers was like going back to my childhood days. Especially the chempde torr ( salted raw mango) that we brought from hand carts outside our school in Goa.
Goan seabass recheado
The flavours of Bannuwali cuisine inspired by north west frontier are supposed to be very subtle yet comforting. Chef Vanshika Bhatia presented the Burke waale chole made using tender chickpeas coated in aged mango pickle adored with a delicate layer of moongdal and a tadka of amchur with kapali wheat Paratha. This is an heirloom recipe from her grandmother to her mother and now she is wooing us with this food from her home.
Burke waale chole
There is something about the Koli community and the Koli food in Mumbai the Koli community are the fisherman community and their food is actually the native food of Mumbai. My love for Koli food started when our driver who belonged to the Koli community got his lunch and that invariably became my lunch. I love the flavours of their food and this one was very nostalgic for me. The goda masala is mostly used for vegetarian curries. Chef Varun Tolani from masque Mumbai has blended the masalas seamlessly and presented The Koli masala mud crab, goda masala and onion amti, karandi loncha with those cute little pillowy pav.
Koli mud crab
Blue pea pidi, well I have nothing to say about this dish, like they say silence speaks a thousand words. When you have a golden heart everything you make turns to Amrit. These rice dumplings, cooked in coconut milk and served with ramapuram style chicken curry was definitely Nirvana.
Blue pea pidi
The humble ragi mudde stuffed with karamani with dhantin chutney, uchellu chutney, fried drumstick and served with bottle gourd lentil soup opened my eyes and soul to how something so simple can be simply delicious Chef Mythrayie Iyer namma Chennai ponnu is creating waves in Bangalore at the farmlore.
Ragi mudde
Chef Auroni Mookerjee’s confit patha in a niramish jhol using Bengal goat, notun aloo, radhatilak rice and bonolokki ghee was a dish blessed by Ma. This dish prepared without onion or garlic laced with ghee and hing enhanced the flavour of the meat. Loved the presentation of this dish and I actually had this dish through my eyes even before tasting it. Kudos to this accidental chef who has made his mark in the industry without formal training.
Niramish jhol
Reliving a culinary heritage of what it was to sit around the table and have a family lunch on a Sunday is what Chef Harish Rao recreated for us. From Pushpa’s kitchen to our table Pushpa’s Sunday Shrimp fry and Nei Annam made with tiger prawns, coconut milk rice and gongura crisp from the state of Andhra Pradesh was a delight.
Pushpa’s kitchen special Shrimp fry with Nei Annam Ambur duck biriyani
Ambur Duck Biriyani was Chef Hussain Shahzad’s take on recreating the most loved biriyani in Chennai. The succulent pieces of those marinated duck was for me the highlight of the dish.
Inspired by the flavours of India Chef Vinesh Jhony decided to give us a sweet finale with his two outstanding desserts. Passion fruit and coconut ais kachang with passion fruit and mango sorbet, frozen coconut dots, caramelised salted peanuts and Jasmine tender coconut veil.
Carrot ginger and brunost
Carrot ginger and brunost, carrot halwa veloute, whipped brunost cheese, pineapple ginger ale, brown butter pineapple, salted cashew streusel, carrot paper, ginger icecream and ginger tuile.
Passion fruit & coconut ais kachang
And just when we thought this was fabulous, we had a beautiful return gift that was presented to us. A long bag with Pallanguli or Pallankuli this is a traditional ancient mancala game played in South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Pallanguli holes were beautifully filled with desserts by Vinesh Jhony.
Pallanguli
This event has definitely created history in the culinary world. For how beautiful the venue was and how seamlessly the entire event was conducted there was so much hard work that went behind the scenes.
Gratitude and kudos to my dear friend Nirupama who is an epitome of strength and husband Suresh who is that quiet pillar for support. Chef Regi Mathew for leading the army of chefs with his able leadership. Mr. Hanu Reddy for being a visionary and the entire family for the support. Nithya and Ram for being a huge part of the event from construction to decoration. The service staff for their impeccable service under the guidance of Mirelle. Chef Ram, chef Siddiqui, chef Babu, chef Vignesh, chef Rajesh apologies if i have missed anyone.
The motto of our group is community living and no competition within the group,we only compliment each other.
This year our group Eat Pray and Love that has 300+ people predominantly from the food industry met on a Sunday evening for High tea and early dinner.
My heart felt gratitude to Nirupama from Hanu Reddy residences who always gave us the venue to host our events, she has been doing it for 3yrs now and promised to do so forever!
The evening started with organising the pot luck. Home style food was extra delicious with that main ingredient that goes in abundance “love” everyone who got food for the pot luck was breaming with happiness when they got to know that their food was super special.
We had our round of photo session, networking and a quick few minutes introduction talk by me. I tried my best to talk a little about everyone present at the event and also talked about the food on the table so everyone knew what they were eating.
We had decided zero wastage of food and so organised takeaway containers. Now this was a big hit and everyone decided on their menu for Monday ( the next day) breakfast lunch and dinner, I personally was very happy because wastage is something that makes me very sad.
We also had return gifts by Gud fud box that make sweets and savouries using millets, honey from Ambrosia and biryani by Al safa biriyani.
The food was lavish spread by our group members. Cheese platter with condiments, 3 varieties of biryani of which one was vegan jackfruit biryani, Punjabi samosa, Patti samosa, paneer roll, lemon tart, vegan curd rice ( peanut curd) malida ( Bohri sweet) vegan mysurpa, sabudana khichdi, caramel custard, srilankan sambol and Korean watermelon drink.
The list of food purely talks about the diversity in our group, yet we are all bonded over food.
This post is my heartfelt gratitude to my community without whom Eat Pray and Love does not exist!
I am sure we all have beautiful memories of our summer vacations, be it grandparents or any vacation spot. Besides the location and people, every place on this planet has food that is specific to summer. Growing up, I spent most of my summer vacations in Mumbai and the rest in Goa and Mangalore. We would wait the whole year to relish that summer special food.
India being the most diverse country in terms of food and culture, some of the foods have become a lost treasure and forgotten in the name of fast and fusion food. This summer, the food festival at Novotel Chennai Chamiers Road is bringing out those lost treasures and forgotten food. I am super happy to bring some of those specials from multiple regions of India. This season, five (5) inspiring women, who are passionate about their regional food, besides their career, have curated a menu for us to enjoy this summer cool special.
Special mention to Chef Nitu and team at Novotel chamiers road, without whose incredible support this summer food festival was impossible. How fast the entire team adapted to new recipes, techniques and ingredients was such a pleasure to watch.
Kavitha Bothra, hails from Rajasthan, settled in Chennai, a jewellery designer by profession whose love for food made her a home chef and recipient of many awards such as Super Chef Chennai, Creative Chef award, Jito MasterChef, Home Icon etc. Kavitha runs a cloud kitchen in the name of Blend Town. All her dishes are self-curated, unique and out-of-the box recipes. She makes healthy and creative fusion dishes which are not only appealing to the eye but scrumptious also.
Nithya Franklyn, a doctor by profession with an MBBS, DNB (Paediatrics) and Fellowship (Sleep Medicine) is a MasterChef Tamil Season1 Runner-up. Coming from Southern Tamilnadu she grew up on Pandya Nadu and Nanjil Nadu cuisines which have influences from Sri Lanka and Kerala and this uniqueness was showcased in her dishes.
Smita Premkumar, a German Translator and Teacher, a Goan from Mumbai settled in Chennai has brought in some authentic Goan and Maharashtrian food. Her venture Kokum, blends traditional methods, regional local ingredients and heirloom recipes in every meal.
Hyma Sakhamuri is an Entrepreneur, Educationist turned Chef, her passion for preserving heirloom recipes motivated her to start Andhra Deli, a Cloud Kitchen specialising in Andhra Cuisine. Andhra Deli over the past 3 years has been serving homemade Andhra speciality dishes. Creating fusion recipes with traditional methods are also her speciality.
Harshini Diya, belongs to a family in which food was at the core of everything. She credits her vast culinary knowledge of Kongu food to her upbringing and grandmother, and her grandfather a renowned hotelier from Kovai. Despite majoring in International Business, she joined Le Cordon bleu London, to learn the techniques used in modern day restaurant cooking. With a combination of inherent kongu living and modern-day technique, entered into culinary ventures in Coimbatore, like Corner Kitchen, 10 biryani mandi and Sree Vidya meals room and the legendary Kovai Alankar Vilas.
The menu changes every day but what we had on day 1 From Hyma’s Andhra Deli Kitchen – Perugu Vada (Dahi Vada) and Mamidikaya Royyalu (Prawn mango curry) Special mention about the perugu vada that was so refreshing and had the flavour of mango ginger hit the right note.
From Harshini’s Kongunadu kitchen – Ragi Kali (soft finger millet ball), Keerai Kadasil and Vazhaipoo Vada (banana flower vada). Ragi cools the body and gives the body nutrition required in summer, special mention to the texture and flavour of the kali.
From Nithya’s Tamilnadu Kitchen – Kayalpattinam Kalari Kari, Nungu Sarbath and Palapalam Payasam. Loved loved the Sarbath because it was so cooling with the temperatures so high outside.
From Kavitha’s Rajasthani Kitchen – Rajasthani kadi and Badi ki Sabji the kadi was just how it has to be for a summer afternoon.
From Smita’s Konkan and Maharashtrian Kitchen – Sol kadhi and Raw Jackfruit Dangar. The jackfruit was crisp from outside and soft from inside with the perfect blend of masalas and Sol kadhi is not only a Summer drink but also the most amazing digestive drink.
If you are looking at homestyle food made using heirloom recipes by the home chefs you just need to head to Novotel Chamiers Road, Chennai. The menu changes everyday but you will find at least 10 dishes from the home chefs till 28th May.
yogitauchil 