Hotels are tempting guests with exotica - from delicacies like toxic Japanese fish to exorbitantly priced white truffles. And, yes, flowers that bloom in your tea.High-end hotels are going to great lengths these days. And they are matching excellent with exotic to bring in the customers who matter - from the scions of some of the top industrial houses of the country to the self made man who carries the recommendations of his friends to every Friday night dinner. The dishes - and the ingredients used in them - are often so extraordinary that they can sometimes even be labeled bizarre. For instance, The Lalit Ashok in Bangalore prepares the 'char fired lobster with 24-carat gold' for its guests on special order. The dish consists of lobster coated with melted slivers of gold and sugar, and is priced at a whopping Rs 25,000. "Recently, we served this during a three-course dinner for a couple ," says Nimish Bhatia, executive chef of the hotel. In fact, seafood throws up quite a few colourful dishes. Like fugu - a Japanese puffer fish known for its toxicity. If not prepared properly, it can kill the eater within minutes. For those adventurous enough to try it, Mumbai's Four Seasons has a licensed chef - one of the few outside Japan who can prepare it. Saikat Ghosh, who has sampled fugu, compares the experience to an adrenaline rush. "It is a great high to eat something like this. How many people can say that they have flirted with poison?" The thrill of savouring something unique often prompts many to try out dishes that most of us may not have even heard about. And hotels are ready to oblige. For a price, of course. At Delhi's Taj Mahal hotel, truffles - one of the most expensive edible fungus in the world - are served to guests whipped up with eggs in the 'truffle and mushroom omelette' . The hotel's chef says that they can also serve the extremely rare white truffle - whose price at Rs 48,000 per kg matches its exclusivity. That's not all. Sevruga, one of the most exquisite varieties of caviar is available to the discerning connoisseur at Rs 9,000 per 100 gms. And there is no dearth of takers. Manish Mittal, a businessman who heard about it from a chef friend, has sampled it quite a few times and can now point out the subtle differences in taste. "If the caviar comes from older fish, it is much more tastier," he says.
Another favourite of fish lovers is the Big Eye Tuna. Used as an ingredient to prepare an interesting dish called Tuna Toro, it is priced at Rs 7,600 per kg. The 'otoro' - the belly part of a heavy 200 kg tuna, is another unusual ingredient, used in an assorted sashimi platter and priced at an astronomical Rs 20,000 per kg. In India, Bangalore's ITC Gardenia serves it only on request. It has had a few takers, among them Chennai-based entrepreneur Naveen Dass, who flies down to Bangalore whenever he feels "the yearning for it." Explore here restaurants in hsr layout. The exotica label applies to not just foreign delicacies, it can also extend to desi dishes - especially when they get a fusion tadka. In the kitchens of The Oberoi Gurgaon, foie gras or fattened goose liver-a delicacy since Roman times - has got a new twist. Amaranta, the hotel's coastal restaurant, serves masala foie gras marinated and cooked with curry leaf and pepper and served wrapped in banana leaf. Another unique plate gives you a fusion of olives with a traditional Malayalee dish. Christened 'Olive and Basel Paniyaram' , it is served with jalapeno and mango salsa. "You will find the original dish only in few of the houses down south," says head chef Saneesh Varghese. After the fusion makeover, guests are lapping it up as an exotic cocktail snack. For health freaks, a bevy of ingredients bursting with antioxidants and phytonutrients - beneficial compounds derived from plants - are the order of the day. Known as superfoods, typical dishes served in hotels like The Westin, Gurgaon, include granola and berry muesli or pineapple juice mixed with spirulina - a species of micro-algae , which is an excellent source of essential minerals. And this out of the ordinary stuff also applies to beverages, notably flavoured teas. "We serve rare teas like the Jing tea, which is seldom seen outside its country of origin," says Sanjay Sharma, complex general manager, The Westin Gurgaon. View here complete list of Gurgaon Restaurants Flavours on offer are Jasmine Chun Hao, Jing Earl Grey and Flowering Jasmine. "More than the taste, it's the look that enamors you," says Smriti, a regular at the hotel. "The way the tea leaves open up in a cup of hot water is, well, unbelievable."
Source "TOI"
Another favourite of fish lovers is the Big Eye Tuna. Used as an ingredient to prepare an interesting dish called Tuna Toro, it is priced at Rs 7,600 per kg. The 'otoro' - the belly part of a heavy 200 kg tuna, is another unusual ingredient, used in an assorted sashimi platter and priced at an astronomical Rs 20,000 per kg. In India, Bangalore's ITC Gardenia serves it only on request. It has had a few takers, among them Chennai-based entrepreneur Naveen Dass, who flies down to Bangalore whenever he feels "the yearning for it." Explore here restaurants in hsr layout. The exotica label applies to not just foreign delicacies, it can also extend to desi dishes - especially when they get a fusion tadka. In the kitchens of The Oberoi Gurgaon, foie gras or fattened goose liver-a delicacy since Roman times - has got a new twist. Amaranta, the hotel's coastal restaurant, serves masala foie gras marinated and cooked with curry leaf and pepper and served wrapped in banana leaf. Another unique plate gives you a fusion of olives with a traditional Malayalee dish. Christened 'Olive and Basel Paniyaram' , it is served with jalapeno and mango salsa. "You will find the original dish only in few of the houses down south," says head chef Saneesh Varghese. After the fusion makeover, guests are lapping it up as an exotic cocktail snack. For health freaks, a bevy of ingredients bursting with antioxidants and phytonutrients - beneficial compounds derived from plants - are the order of the day. Known as superfoods, typical dishes served in hotels like The Westin, Gurgaon, include granola and berry muesli or pineapple juice mixed with spirulina - a species of micro-algae , which is an excellent source of essential minerals. And this out of the ordinary stuff also applies to beverages, notably flavoured teas. "We serve rare teas like the Jing tea, which is seldom seen outside its country of origin," says Sanjay Sharma, complex general manager, The Westin Gurgaon. View here complete list of Gurgaon Restaurants Flavours on offer are Jasmine Chun Hao, Jing Earl Grey and Flowering Jasmine. "More than the taste, it's the look that enamors you," says Smriti, a regular at the hotel. "The way the tea leaves open up in a cup of hot water is, well, unbelievable."
Source "TOI"
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