Street Food Festival at Dining Room, Park Hyatt

I had a chance to visit the Dining Room at Park Hyatt yet again, but this time sporting a completely new avatar. They were hosting the street food of the world festival and had put together a menu of some of the Asian favorites.

The day we visited, the festival highlighted street food dishes from India (Mumbai & Goa), Tibet, Thai and Indonesia. Unlike my earlier experiences at multiple street food festivals, this one kept the flavors authentic and the food ended up being lip smacking.

I loved the thickness and consistency of the Laksa soup (loaded with chicken and prawns) and the banana roti's (easily joined the league of my favourite banana based desserts with Banoffee pie being its only comparable peer). The Indian street food on the other hand did complete justice and felt as close as their counterparts in Mumbai/Goa.

A Glimpse at the offerings from the Street Food Counters

And, here are the highlights from their regular buffet spread

Their regular buffet spread had a decent spread, but nailed most of the dishes. Here I loved the methi malai murgh, potato au gratin and the narghisi kofta biryani. 

The festival promotional menu was priced at INR 1600 per person excluding taxes. 

Yauatcha - A Vegetarian Experience

One Night In Bangkok, Indira Nagar (3/5)

Been hearing about this place from every foodie I spoke to and decided to visit them for some good Thai  meal and drinks last Friday night. 

Ambience (3.5/5)

What impressed me about the ambience was the effort taken to introduce the Thai theme to the Bar. They have wall paintings of MMA fighters and other art representing Thai. 

However, personally I did not enjoy the ambience enough on three counts:

1. Cramped seating arrangement and limited floor space

2. Dim lighting

3. Jarring loud speakers (sound quality was not the best)

Pricing (3/5)

Their cocktails were priced moderate; however, the starters were relatively more expensive. 

Cocktails (3/5)

Some of the cocktails we ordered were exceptional while some were unique and different. 

What I liked:

- Pattaya Sour

- Muay thai punch

What I was indifferent to

- Mango spice

What I did not like

- Passion Margarita

- Thai Basil Mojito

Food (3/5)

This place functions as a Thai bar and does not really have much of food options except for their starters and thai curry. 

The following veg starters were exceptional and are a must try if you visit:

- fried lotus stem with peanuts

- pad thai wrapped in egg

The thai curry and rice was also pretty good, except that the quantity of curry served was inadequate for the rice and chicken portion. The chicken was cooked well and had a barbecue flavour to it. 

Non veg starters we tried the following and it did not quite agree with our taste preferences:

- stir fried chicken with basil and young peppercorns

- bbq chicken isaan style (similar to the chicken served with thai curry and rice - was better of the two non veg orders)

Service (4/5)

The staff responded well to requests and replaced wrong orders without any complaints. 

On a summary note, the place needs to re-look at their food offering- both in terms of adding dishes and also improvement in the quality of few of their offering.