Windows of the World at Hyatt Regency Chennai was the theme for a very special wedding, it was a culinary journey through seven action stations, showcasing global gastronomic wonders. Indulged in Nordic delights with vodka, relish Sushi bars of Ginza with sake, and savoured Sicilian cuisine paired with Spritz and Aperitivo. Experienced Caribbean flavours with rum-infused Jambalayas and Barbados stews. Delighted in Creole cuisine with Vermouth and Asian-spiced spirits. Explored Indian kebabs, kormas, and curries paired with fine whiskies. Lastly, I enjoyed award-winning cheeses from House of Kase with perfectly paired wines at the Fromagerie.
Scandinavian Splendour
The Nordic delights were a refreshing start to the culinary adventure. The Baltic Salmon, served in multiple textures, paired exquisitely with the crisp, coppery vodka. For vegetarians and omnivores alike, the Crepes Printanier with sautéed kale offered a delightful combination, perfectly capped off with the sweetness of summer berries and Trifle.
Ginza District Delights:
The Sushi bars of Ginza showcased the freshest ingredients and modern twists on classic dishes. From the Simesaba to the Unagi, each sushi was a masterpiece, complemented by inventive pairings like the wasabi lemon curd tart. The Asahi Beer, Yuzu Shandy, and Iwai Whisky added a perfect finishing touch.
Sicilian Sensations:
Fiametta Pereira’s Sicilian specialties brought warmth and tradition to the table. The Involtini Di Melanzane and Risotto First-Aged Carnaroli Rice were standout dishes, while the Cannoli Alla Siciliana provided a sweet, satisfying conclusion. The house special Spritz and Aperitivo elevated the Sicilian experience.
Caribbean Charms:
The vibrancy of the Caribbean cuisine shone through with dishes like Jerk Chicken Legs and Jambalaya. The Malibu Crème Brulé left a lasting impression, perfectly capturing the essence of the islands. Paired with rum-infused delights, this station was a celebration of flavour and culture.
House of Malacca Magic:
From Singapore Pot Stickers to Thai Mango Sticky Rice, the House of Malacca transported diners to the heart of Southeast Asia. Each dish burst with authentic Flavors, enhanced by Vermouth & Macerated Spirits. It was a true homage to the region’s culinary diversity.
Indian Delights:
The Indian Harvest station showcased a plethora of seasonal flavours, from Galouti Kebab to Moradabadi Chicken Biryani. As a lover of Indian cuisine, I found myself drawn to this station, savouring every bite paired with fine whisky.
Fromagerie de Kase:
Cheese lovers rejoiced at the sight of the award-winning cheeses presented by Kase. The Artisanal Cheese Board and Three-Cheese Fondue were indulgent treats, perfectly complemented by a selection of house wines.
Everything Sweet:
No culinary journey is complete without dessert, and the Everything Sweet counter did not disappoint. From Stone Fruits Flambé to Crepe Suzette, each dessert was a delightful finale to an unforgettable experience.
Windows of the World at Hyatt Regency Chennai offered a culinary adventure that transcended borders and awakened taste buds. Each station is an ode to the diversity and richness of global cuisine.
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.
Food from the northern hills of India by the beautiful Miss Shimla runner up Chef Sherry Mehta.
I am a big advocate of the fact the new exotic food is the homestyle regional food.
This time it was from the northern hills of India, by chef Sherry Mehta
What I liked about the food was the richness and simplicity of flavours, each dish had an unique flavours and a story to tell.
This marriage of Punjabi and kashmiri food for me was purely made in heaven. The Dham ( festive food of Himachal Pradesh) curated by chef Sherry had very minimal spices I tasted the real flavour of every ingredient/ produce used and that for me is real good food.
Adraki panje(Lamb ribs with fat, milk, whole spices, and ginger)
Chamba Chukh Chicken Tikka (Tangy spicy Himachali chilli marinated chicken tikkas grilled to perfection in Tandoor)
The soft Matara Kulcha with stuffed tikki gave a run for a sour dough bread, I am sure we discovered sour dough much before anyone did!
Siddu, the traditional fermented stuffed steamed bread was another favourite of mine. This is available with lamb stuffing, vegetable stuffing and sweet ( coconut jaggery) stuffing.
A special mention for the most famous Himalayan trout that was absolutely fresh and cooked to perfection. This sure was a treat for us in Chennai!
Some of my favourite main course dishes were the Chaa Gosht (One of the most popular dishes from Himachal cooked in buttermilk and roasted gram flour based gravy)
Channa Paneer Madra (Chickpeas slow cooked in a yoghurt based gravy along with cottage cheese and nuts, a star of any Himachali dhaam)
Gobi Ka Palda(Cauliflower cooked in yoghurt-based gravy thickened with rice flour)
Seb Aur Bhein Ki Sabji(Local vegetable dish made with apples and lotus stem)
Kale Chane Ki Maahni (Dried raw mangoes from the hills are cooked with black grams to create this unique Himachali dish)
Sepu Wadi(Urad daal fritters cooked in a luscious spinach gravy was once a humble rural dish and now am ambassador of mandiyali dhaam)
The finale is always sweet with the most simple yet rich food and lovely people around! Budane Ka Meetha With Rabri it was! (Any dhaam is incomplete without this sweet dish which kick starts any dhaam experience)
Home food is the new exotic food and we all agree with it! Ghar Ka khana was an initiative that was specially curated by “Soul On A Plate” to bring on the table 8 varities of Indian regional food to the guest at Hyatt Regency Chennai.
For the first time 8 homechefs under one roof over a month, quite a task right, but all the ladies were put to ease with the excellent planning and execution by team Hyatt Regency under the able leadership of the GM Ruban Das. And this could happen only and only because he believed that there sure is so much to offer by homechefs who make home style regional food.
The excitement of the event started with menu curation and photo shoots. Our Homechefs were on the roll, each one encouraging, supporting and motivating each other and that I thought was the happiest part of the event personally for me.
From Malabar to palaghat from Coorg to Bengali from Bihari to gujrati from rajastani to marwari it was India in a plate for people of Chennai. #gharkakhana has definitely made history in Chennai!
This was possible because of many people who worked behind the scenes special mentions to the staff of Hyatt regency.
This vacation has been in the planning for the longest time and finally after 3yrs of short drives, vacations and staycations we had to make this trip to the ever charming Leh Ladakh!
Khardungla pass
We landed on 30th June afternoon with bad weather in Delhi ( transit) risking the terrain of leh airport, It is not an easy terrain to fly. With lots of gratitude to all our pilots who landed us safe.
Our itinerary was made in such a away that we had enough time for acclimatization since this height could give altitude sickness. Soon after we landed the sickness hit me and I was wondering why ever did I choose this location for a vacation. I have seen beautiful pictures and videos of Leh Ladakh but not heard anyone warn about the altitude sickness. I had mild irritating head ache nausea and just too lethargic. I was advised to take rest and drink lot of warm water. When I Still was not feeling good I popped a paracetamol and slept for a while now that made me feel better towards evening.
Our first day pretty much was all about taking care of ourselves. Next day 1st July we had decided again to go slow with minimal activity. So we had breakfast and just strolling around when a good soul suggested we visit the Hall of fame leh. It was a few metres of walk from our place and do we agreed without knowing much what the place had in store for us. And I cannot be more thankful to the person who suggested this place, since this one gave me goose bumps and made me love my country and my jawans even more. This is a war memorial with so many stories.
In the evening we set out to enjoy the city of leh. We did the Shanti stupa, the Leh palace and my most favourite leh market. Loved the colours in the market, the old met the new be is fruits, vegetables, grocery, restaurant, clothes of accessories you could find everything in this market traditional and modern. I picked up some fresh apricots since it is the season for apricots.
The next day was the beautiful Sangam were the indus met zanskar river. Sometimes you wonder how nature is so beautiful by itself the mixing of the 2 colors of the river was serene and peaceful! Did you know that during summer people do rafting here and during winter when the water turns to ice, they ice trek on this same river. So what would you like to do? Our next destination for the day was the cool magnetic hill, so our car was totally switched off and no we were not on a slop, but yet we moved, kinda exciting. The gurudwara pathar sahib is another monument to just find peace. Don’t miss the tea and prashad there it’s yummy!
The most significant day of our trip was doing the worlds highest motorable road the one and only Khardungla pass. We had our own altitude sickness challenges to handle but boy when we reached the peak it was like magic. It was such a proud moment for us to know that our country has the highest motorable road in the damn whole world yay!
After the movie 3 idiots the pangong Lake gained more popularity and why not it is so surreal. Surrounded by mountains it’s hard to say we could find a huge mass of water with shades of color that changes from blue, green, grey, brown to red, it is one of the highest altitude lake in the world with salty water that freezes during winter. Mind blowing right!!!
On our way back from pangong Lake we had to stop by the changa la pass another one of the highest! We stopped by for lunch and had a hot bowl of authentic ladakhi thukpa! We also stopped by a few more random places for some good photo shoots.
Whenever we visit a new place or country the first thing that I look for is Local home cooked food. Before we left to leh I started my search for good home cooked leh traditional food. Since we are non vegetarians I was surprised to know that traditionally people of leh Ladakh eat according to the weather and season. So in winter it’s meat and non vegetarian and in summer it’s mostly vegetarian, from June to September they get to grow vegetables and fruits and get to eat it too. Other time of the year it is cold and snow. So after doing some search on google found gyapthago heritage home. Got speaking to Jimmy and visited his House for a soulful all vegeterian dinner cooked by his mother. We were greeted by butter tea that is made using Fresh cows milk butter from their own farm. This place is more of a farm to table concept since everything that was cooked for dinner came from their farm including wheat and barley. The barley soup with fresh vegetables and leh local peas was warm and had a creamy consistency. The veg momos were made using wheat flour and we had the steamed and fried momos that was served with cold salad. The khamir the local wheat bread with Home made curd sure was a delicacy. The local pasta is made fresh, pasta is made with fresh grounded wheat and turnip sauce. We finished this most amazing meal with the local sweet of apricot soaked in water. Must say that ended my search for Local Leh Ladakh food.
Discovered Namza that serves authentic/ traditional leh Ladakh food and what excited me even more is the farm to table concept. The place has beautiful ambience, outdoor seating will be lovely in the evening. We started our lunch with mutton Za-thuk this is a soup that is made using nettle leaves, dried cheese and local herbs, available in veg, chicken and mutton option, we loved the flavour of nettle leaves and dried cheese with little chunks of mutton. I personally love the flavour of mountain mutton. The chicken momo also known as mok mok was average nothing to write home about. The yarkhadi pulao is a chefs special and I am glad we tried it. The meal come with pulao made of paneer, green peas, Carrots and fried onions loaded with ghee. We were warned it would be heavy, it was but we just loved the flavour, this meal comes with a clear soup and 3 momos or mok mok. Available in veg, chicken and mutton. We opted for the veg option. The most famous home grown fruit of Leh Ladakh is apricot and the season has just started. We enjoyed a tall glass of homemade apricot juice. Like us if you are keen on trying local food, this place is a must visit.
Had a very happy lunch after we descended down the khardungla pass at Dontang. This place has beautiful seating and the most comfort food. The ladhaki thukpa was my favourite. We had fresh lime soda, potato in honey chilli, chicken clear soup and chicken momos / mok mok. The service was polite and every thing we had was made fresh to order. Few vegetables are used from their garden. Definately a try when in leh.
We had hired a private chauffeur driven ertiga for 5days that cost us 25k which I thought was pretty reasonable and we could go around according to our own convenience.
Leh Ladakh is a very beautiful Indian union territory that is a must visit, but with all precautions and understanding the terrain. It could get very warm and dry in summer on few days that’s what we experienced and it is not easy to handle that weather. If you are a person who likes to see greenery around you please don’t expect anything like that around. Winters could be very harsh so please check before you go. You can fly or drive.
yogitauchil 