Italian Food Fest @ Hilton Garden Trivandrum

Thanks to many new food outlets and food groups, now Trivandrum is also getting active in the international food scene …. Hotels are now introducing new cuisines not so popular in the city and trying to tingle taste buds of their customers. As part of this effort Hilton Garden Inn, Trivandrum is hosting a two weeks Italian food fest from March 10th to 26th.

Yesterday evening, we decided to check out the Italian food fest. On reaching the Garden Grille restaurant, Gopinath, Sous Chef explained about the idea behind organizing this food festival while describing the various dishes and the ingredients that goes into their making.

We started with salads for appetizers. Spicy Aubergine with raw mango salsa, Pasta Salad with Spicy cocktail Sauce & Baked fish with Italian Vegetables gave the perfect start. We also had the options of Bruschetta with variety of toppings – of pickles, cherry tomatoes, humus and cheese.

To satisfy taste buds of pizza enthusiasts, the chef has included three varieties: Veg, Seafood and Chicken Pizza Establishment. We tried out seafood and chicken. My favorite was the Seafood Pizza – thin crispy crust with cheese and calamari which was juicy well done and had not lost its flavor.

From the main course, I had a portion of Chicken Florentine - a simple chicken dish with cream sauce and sautéed Bell peppers – and it was really good. Minimal spices – salt, pepper and cream cheese sauce with sweetness of yellow and orange bell pepper. 

Some of the other dishes that I had were - Potate Al Pomodoro - potatoes roasted and sprinkled with the basil, sage, rosemary and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper to taste, drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil on the potatoes, and baked until golden brown and tender – a delight to eyes and tastebuds; Garbanzo Aubergine Parmigiana – Chickpea with Aubergine and Parmesan crust - This classic northern Italian recipe is a great way to serve aubergines. By layering them with Parmesan and tomatoes and then baked - absolutely moreish, scrumptious vegetable dish; and Carote Al sughillo – Stir fried firm carrot chunks, Stuffed Eggplant with Bolognese and melted cream sauce - Stuffed with Bolognese and minced meat and sprinkled parmesan, the sauce, which was made in-house by the chef, spruced up the dish with a tangy taste. Gnocchi Napoletana – traditional dish of homemade gnocchi and the napoletana sauce, with oregano, basil and season of salt & pepper were absolutely comfort food for a splendid dinner.

For desserts I had Chocolate Panforte, Italian Love Cake and Cassata. The best was Cassata a traditional sweet - round sponge cake moistened with fruit juices / liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese and chocolate chips, which just melted in mouth, the best way to compete the dinner. It was an evening well spent.

Simmi