Poila Boishakh Celebrations at ITC Sonar, Kolkata

Poila Boishakh or Bengali New Year is celebrated on the 15th April with a lot of fervor and is the perfect excuse to dig into some traditional and scrumptious food. Having brought up in Kolkata, I have many a times jumped onto marriage invitations only to indulge my taste buds to some authentic Bengali food. When ITC Sonar extended their warm invitation to Kolkata Food Bloggers, I readily joined in to have the opportunity to feast on their delectable spread and thus join in the festive celebration. Our lovely hostess Arundhuti introduced us to Chef Gaurav Lavania Sr. Sous Chef at the hotel who has specially designed a grand menu for Poila Boishakh celebrations.

We were greeted with a very innovative and refreshing drink called Gondhoraj Lassi where the rind of a special lemon called Gondhoraj is used in the traditional lassi which is basically a yogurt based drink. All of us loved the much needed cooling drink perfect for a humid weather.

For starters we were served a very pretty terracotta plate with banana leaf adorned with delicacies like Bhetki Paturi (Fish steamed with mustard steamed in banana leaves), Triguna Chingri Bhaja (crispy fried prawn) and Jhuri Aloo Bhaja. The prawn was certainly a new dish for me as it had an amazing crispy coating of three seeds-posto, til and kalaunji. The Bhetki Paturi has a lovely strong mustard flavour to it and is usually a dish served as a main course which goes well with boiled rice. 

The main course was truly very extensive with dishes pouring on our tables served on beautiful and traditional terracotta plates and bowls laced with banana leaves.

We were served Aam Khejurer Chutney (Raw mango and Dates chutney) with Papad.

The vegetarian dishes served were
Aloo Posto (Potato with poppy seeds), Narkel Diye Cholar Daal, Mochar Ghonto(Banana blossom curry) and Thor (Banana stem curry).

The non-vegetarian spread was
Chingri Malai Curry (Prawns cooked in coconut milk) Rui Kalia (Rohu fish in a onion gravy) and Kosha Mangsho (Spicy lamb curry).

I personally loved the narkel diye cholar dal with the puffed up luchi and the kosha mangsho which had very tender meat.

The dessert section was very impressive with delectables like Nolen Gurer payesh ( Date palm jaggery rice pudding), Rajbhog and Chhanar Jilipi ( sweet made of cottage cheese).
I loved everything on the plate with my obvious sweet tooth but my favourite was the payesh.

Team KFB with Chef Gaurav Lavania

This amazing spread is available at Eden Pavilion-ITC Sonar from the 11th to 19th April 2014 (dinner buffet) and on 15th April for both lunch and dinner buffet. 

The grand buffet is priced at Rs 2000/- plus applicable taxes with soft beverages and Rs 2750/- plus taxes for unlimited premium brands of select alcohol.  

Timings : 12:30-2:45 pm and 7:30-11:45 pm

For reservations call : 033-323454545

Amrita

Disclaimer: The views and opinions shared here are my own and have not been compensated or influenced in any other way. 

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