A relaxing Sunday Brunch at Hilton Garden Inn, Trivandrum

My work schedule these days keeps me so tied up that this festive season, I have not yet got time to bake a cake or do any festive cooking. Realizing this, I wanted to ensure that children don’t miss out on the season’s specialities. 

We had been thinking of checking out the Sunday Brunch at Hilton Garden Inn, Trivandrum, and came to know about their ‘31 Days of Happiness’ promotion. Since Christmas this year is on Sunday, my initial plan was to have Christmas brunch at Hilton, but soon realised that the place would be packed with reservations on that day. Since we wanted a quiet peaceful brunch we went to the Garden Grille restaurant last Sunday to experience their brunch which was recently re-launched as part the promotion.

The whole place was decked up in Christmas colours and mood. A large well decorated Christmas tree greeted us at the reception. The lobby and the restaurant area were decked up with lights and Christmas garnitures while a nicely done ginger bread house took up one end of the lobby which also had a Kids section buffet. Muffins, Donuts, Chicken spring roll, Fish finger, Rice cripes, Pazham nurukku, Cottage cheese pakoda and Lollipops was indeed an attraction for kids. A few colouring books and crayons to keep them busy was a well thought out strategy. 

There were four live stations for Sliders, Dim sums, Chaat and Crepes. There was also a Seafood Grill station which is operational only for the Sunday brunch. We started off with Bhel mix and Dahi Puri chaat. The Bhel mix and the chaat could have been more spicy and tangling, but again realised that Hilton has more international guests and they have to keep that in mind when it comes to spices and maintain Indian flavours. Next were Cantonese style chicken & veg dim sums (dumplings) with sweet sour chilli sauce, steaming hot, light and perfect starter. In wrap and slider section I went for Ceylon paratha wrap filled with minced beef which again turned out to be a good variety - btw, don’t let the wrap get cold, it becomes a bit chewy :)

As we went around the buffet, we were told the Sunday brunch was made up of four cuisines - The Fab4, as they call it - North Indian, Oriental, Western & South Indian. To be very specific, last Sunday it was a selection from, Awadhi, Cantonese, Italian & Travancore cuisines respectively. The specific menu selection changes every Sunday.

For starters, we had Hara bhara tikki (matar ki tikki), Lamb seekh kebab and Awadhi dahi murgh kebab. The perfectly done seekh kebab was absolutely delicious with Pudina (Mint) chutney, Awadi dahi murgh kebab had strong flavour of Fennel – first time for me to have Fennel flavoured kebab, a bit on the drier side. In the grilled seafood collection they offered Fish slices, Calamari (squids) and Tiger prawns on a sizzler tray. The grilled fish and Calamari had more Kerala flavours and were spicy just the way I would have wanted and Tiger Prawns were well done - Crispy, Spicy and Juicy - absolutely fantastic with some red wine!

For the main course, Saffron pulao, Dal mumtaz, Paneer begum bahar, Dum aloo and Lagan ka badshahi gosht made up the Awadhi cuisine. I had a few spoonfuls of the aromatic pulao and paneer which again was very soft, creamy thick gravy. I did not expect much from Dum Aloo, but the dish was presented so well that could not resist trying one, and it was unquestionably ‘must eat’ dish. There are so many ways potato can be cooked and Dum aloo is definitely a must try – but it’s very rare to get good authentic dum aloo. There was only one non veg Item in this section ‘Badshahi Gosht’ dark colour running gravy, with medium size Mutton piece with bones - soft and spicy. In fact it was the best mutton curry I have had in recent times.

The Italian cuisine consisted of Gnocchi tossed with sun dried tomato in pesto butter – very simple plain light dish – which neutralized the spices of Mutton curry. Sicilian parmigiana another yummy vegetarian dish – Eggplant, tomatoes, cheese grilled lovely combination and Farsumagru (beef). Farsumagru is a Sicilian dish - steak stuffed with meats, cheeses, eggs and then rolled to look like a roast with and vegetables- baby corn, potato, broccoli. It’s absolutely beautiful in looking with delicious meat juices drizzling over the slices and fabulous in taste. The Polenta reminded me of our Gujju Dhokhlas but not that soft as Dhokla. Potato caponata was also in the menu.

Pan-fried noodle with hoisin sauce with stir fried Vegetables was children’s favourite. Stir fried vegetable with pickled vegetable, Vegetable fried rice, Wok tossed tofu & pakchoy, and Chicken in sliced green chilli sauce were the dishes in the Cantonese section. I tried the pan-fried noodle and chicken and tofu which again turned out to be nice change in flavour and experience.

The Dessert section was again very elaborate for those with a sweet tooth. For me it was baked Sandesh, Shahi tukda, Rasgulla and a spoonful of hot Doughnut pudding. The rasgulla was so good that I couldn’t resist myself from having a second one. Orange wet cake, Blondies, Linzer tart, White chocolate fudge, Coconut mousse and Mango gateaux were some of the other sweets on offer. We checked out Christmas special bakery section - we had Ginger bread, Minced meat pie and Plum cake which was rich and  delicious.

We spent almost three hours in a very relaxed environment savouring the delicacies. Next to our table there was another group of eight adults who were there for more than three hours – enjoying the food and drink :) I would have loved to spend such relaxed Christmas Sunday and definitely would recommend this place to spend some quality time with family along with great food for Christmas or New Year. Please note that by 3:30 they close the bar and restaurant area for clearing up.

F& B Manager, Sujit Menon; Restaurant Manager, Ribson Geevarghese, and associate Arnabjit Sur, played the perfect hosts and ensured that we had a great time. Sujit suggested winding up the session with some masala tea but we were too full. Will surely try it out the next time.

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