Barbeque Nation – it’s all in the name. Nobody can have any dismissive experience here, especially at their fests where they come up with amazing themes that spellbind the foodies completely. Theme for this season is ‘Treasures of the Sea’. This seafood festival promises to heighten your love for fish and prawns. The vegetarians need not be disappointed at all. There is also a very wide range of vegetarian dishes served as a part of this food fest.
Just as we entered the restaurant, I spotted a live seafood counter where fresh fish was being cooked. It also had squid in hoi sin sauce and stir fried baby octopus in schezwan sauce! Ambiance reflected a deep blue sea with light blue colored fish nets covering the entire ceiling that gave an underwater feel to the diners. Walls and doors of the room bore picturesque of the sea kingdom. Energetic staff in pirate costumes multiplied the beauty of its ambiance.
To start with we placed an order of drinks. The chocolate monk was popular during the course as I saw the waiter with a tray full of just this beverage. I ordered a glass of lemon iced tea and it was decent.
The spread of vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters is why I prefer Barbeque Nation. Crispy Fried Anchovies were served first in a fish shaped glass bowl. It was followed by grilled chicken, chicken drumsticks, crumb fried squids, Mai Tai Prawns, a mutton starter, Peri Peri Basa fish and Crab Cakes. Even being a diehard non-vegetarian fan, the vegetarian starters also impressed me. Paneer jehangiri tikka, rajma and anjeer tikki, crispy fried bhindi and fried corn kernels are a few to mention. Perfectly spiced up cajun fried potatoes and the yummy innovation lychee surprise – seedless lychees stuffed with cottage cheese and olives just stole the show. Soya chap and grilled mushroom on the skewers tasted good.
The buffet was set to serve Thai, Chinese and north-Indian cuisines from the sea world. On the vegetarian platter there was water chestnut soup, veg sushi, green salads, paneer pudhina tikka masala, thai green curry,bharwan shimla mirch, dahi baingan(which I saw for the first time), sechuan noodles,aloo til moongfali ka korma, kashmiri pulao and steamed rice.
On the non-veg side I thoroughly enjoyed the prawn biriyani with raitha. Combination of manglorean crab curry – fresh crab spiced with a zing of coconut based gravy with steamed rice incorporated a special flavor of the coastal cuisines. Other dishes to mention are nasi goreng – Indonesian seafood fried rice topped with a fried egg, mutton vindaloo,bhuna kukkad masala and meen moilly with idiappam.
The creative arrangement at the salad table just caught my eye and kept me clicking more and more pictures of it.
The seafood menu has even been extended to desserts with innovations such as the blue sea cheese cake – a blue curacao flavored cold dessert. I was quite convinced on seeing it, especially the color. I guess it was to keep the seafood theme in line, to have the blue color. I tried out their tender coconut payasam which was supposed to be their signature for the festival. They also had chocolate pastry, anjeer ice cream and chocolate strawberry tart. Customized kulfi counter was a new experience with a wide variety of toppings to choose from.
It was not just our tummies, there was a feast to our eyes too! As an entertainment surprise, waiters dressed like Goan dancers danced to famous Marathi and Konkani beats.
Visit any of Barbeque Nation’s 7 outlets in Bangalore (Indirangar, Kormangala, JP Nagar, Lido Mall, Whitefield Road, Kammanahalli and Electronic City) between January 23rd and February 8th to explore the most delectable choice of seafood from across the globe.
Make sure you set yourself aboard the Barbeque Nation ship before 8th February. Ahoy!