A special buffet for the festive season with paneer tikkas and keema kebabs

A special buffet for the festive season with butterfly pea fried rice, tikkas and keema kebabs

There’s a festive buzz in the air as you step into Urban Bar-B-Que on a Sunday afternoon. While an Easter bunny stares out of a watermelon carving, a live one in a costume distributes colourful Easter eggs to children, smiling ear to ear. As we settle down, it’s a platter of colourful, juicy and delicious kebabs, arranged in a live skewer at the table that grabs our attention.

While meat lovers dive into grilled fish, prawns in gochujang sauce, and mutton keema kebabs, vegetarians relish succulent mushroom chimichurri and basil paneer tikka that is crisp and has flavours of fresh basil. A live counter doles out fluffy appam and stew and there is also roasted chicken with accompaniments like mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce to ring in the festive cheer. “Most of our festive buffets feature as many as 60 items. It is multi-cuisine starting with a welcome drink and served course by course. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters are served at the table. Buffet begins with two soups, salads, main course, and gravies,” explains A Swaminathan, F & B Manager. At the dessert counter, there are chocolate fountain and ice golas, and silky elaneer payasam, a big draw among children.

Be it Halloween, thanksgiving, Tamil New Year or Holi, the restaurant whips up a festive buffet spread with preparations now underway for the upcoming mango mania.

“As mangoes are in season, we want to offer mango treats to our diners. There will be a line up of mango cham cham, mango sandwiches, and traditional Malabar mango curry and more,” says Swaminathan adding that there’s a festive menu every two months as we being our meal with the spicy mutton bone soup that is light on the tummy.

Sous chef P Chandrahasan talks fondly of chicken cafreal. Chicken is marinated in a green cafreal masala that is aromatic, spicy, delicious and tangy all at once. “It’s a Goan dish and fresh coriander leaves give it a special edge. Our Kentucky fried egg is a play on devilled eggs,” he says as we try the beautifully-coloured butterfly pea fried rice. “We distil blue pea flowers and use the water to boil the rice to get the colour,” says Chandrahasan adding that his signature dishes are biryani varieties including the flavourful jackfruit biryani that is on the menu. While paneer nawabi is rich and creamy, the saiva kolaurundai kuzhambu is lip-smakcing curry that goes well with white rice.

While the Anglo-Indian beef curry and rose rasamalai flavoured with distilled rose petals are added particularly to the festive menu, the regular buffet menu has a limited number of items. However, kebabs are a constant. Also, the amchur pudina and grilled pineapple dips. Chef Jayakumar Bhuyan, barbecue in-charge, talks of the mutton sheek and chapli kebabs, his speciality.

“Made with beaten ground mutton, this simple and easy to make kebab tastes like it’s from an Afghani restaurant,” says Bhuyan, smiling as he talks of his another speciality, the juicy cilantro chicken. “We use a variety of sauces including barbecue, Cajun, oyster, and the Korean gochujang sauce to bring in the flavours. We source our meat fresh which gives the dish an edge,” explains Bhuyan. The chicken drumstick with peri peri sauce, is a case in point when it comes to packing a punch. So is honey-glazed pineapple.