The Kebabs & Biryani Festival !

Rating – 4/5

We visited the Cinnamon spice on a food tasting invite for their upcoming Kebab and Biryani festival which has started from 18th November and will be up till 11th December 2016.  It was my first time at the Seasons Hotel and they have a variety of restaurants to cover every food palete namely – Melange (rooftop restaurant), Flavors (all day dining), The Cellar (Coffee Shop & bar) and of course their Indian Dining variant Cinnamon Spice.

Ambience & Location – Located slightly off the ITI road in Aundh, the place is conveniently located on a wide street and offers option of Valet Parking in the ever growing Aundh which is definitely relaxing.

The restaurant itself is an open to sky with no shades in place unless it rains so it could get a little chilly in winter but offers a different experience than usually in enclosed space restaurants. There’s also live singing presented by their Singer Mr. Arup Pal and some vintage cars adding layers to the overall atmosphere of the place.

The Food & Drinks – We were presented with a set menu for the day which had loads of Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian Kebabs, Biryanis (again of both variants), Mocktails and desserts. In the rest of the food review I’ll mention the dishes that left an impact either in positive or negative manner, details as below:

Starter Recommendations – Murgh Dohari Kebab – easily the best starter of the evening was a thick patty of diced chicken with a stuffing of cheese and other Indian spices and served fried instead of char-grilled. The other close seconds were Murgh Tikka Kali Mirch, Paneer Siya Mirch Tikka (nice and spicy) and Palak Anardana Tikki (a spinach based tikki with pomogranate stuffing).

Mocktail Recommendations – We found our order for all the three Mocktails pretty decent and depending on your fruit orientation you can go with either of Jack Greens (Pine-apple/Lemon and Mint), Red Blossom (Cranberry juice) and Mango Colada (Mango Juice, Vanilla Ice cream and Coconut syrup). They all went well with the kebabs on offer.

Main Course & Dessert Recommendation – Surprisingly the Paneer Tikka Biryani won the Biryani contest by a fair margin from their meat based counterparts, it had all the things going for it that you would want in a flavorful and spicy Biryani. Among the dessert options I found the Ras Malai to be of decent taste.

Service – Their service during our stay was on the mark and we were lavished with lots and lots of food, we were taken good care by our servers and their Assistant Restaurant Manager Mr. Avinash Hedawoo.

I would recommend folks to visit the Festival and enjoy some sumptuous and innovative kebabs on offer, huge shout out to Ms.Priyanka (their PR and Marketing counterpart) for inviting us to the food tasting.