AWADHI DINING AT LAVANA, HYATT REGENCY, GURGAON

LAVANA- AN AWADHI THEMED RESTAURANT AT HYATT GURGAON

When you are tired of the city life and do not have time to plan a getaway, LAVANA should be your destination. A thematically curated restaurant in Awadhi style to tingle your taste buds with royal savories prepared with love by none other than The Master chef Jaynandan Bhaskar. 

Luxuriant architecture, live fusion music taking you into the calm route while you have already forgotten the world outside because of the mouth watering delicacies, LAVANA, has become my next favorite dining places on weekends.Open only two days in a week- Friday and Saturday for dinner, it is sure shot a lavish dining hall.

Located near Manesar, in Sector 83, Gurgaon, Lavana, Hyatt Regency Hotel, is a newly built restaurant in the five-star property which boasts of huge land and exquisite architecture, which you will surely won’t deny of, once you visit them.

Recently, I went to experience the most talked about themed restaurant and came back home with a happy dining experience provided by the courteous and well-informed staff. Chef Jaynandan Bhaskar has exclusively designed the menu with his over the time, tried and tested recipes.

Known for its combination of ingredients and spices and the dum style of preparation, the recipes from the province of Awadh are rich in flavors, aromas, and varieties.

About Awadhi Cuisine- The cuisine of the Nawabs of Awadh, centered around the city of Lucknow is not lesser known for its dum style of cooking or the art of cooking over a slow fire, with elaborate dishes like kebabs, kormas, biryani, kaliya, nahari-kulchas, sheermal, roomali rotis, and warqi parathas. And as it told by Awadhis, the richness of Awadhi cuisine lies not only in the variety of cuisine but also in the ingredients used like mutton, paneer, and rich spices including cardamom and saffron.

Coming back to my experience at Lavana, I would like to tell you that I am a Vegetarian and did not taste any of the Non-vegetarian dishes but people sitting around me were served Non-Vegetarian and none of them complained about it to be true.

To start with we were offered “GUAVA JUICE”, which was being referred to us as “AMROOD KA SHARBAT”. It was heavenly. If I had to only survive on that, I seriously would have. It was refreshing and a stimulating drink and very different than the ones I had in last few days. If you visit the restaurant, DO ASK FOR IT.

Starters before starters were served immediately after the juice with the Gelauti Kebab and Aloo papadi chat made with gram flour crispies served with sweet yogurt and tamarind sauce, on our plate. It did not take us much time to finish the plate and leave it clean.

With the appetizers making their way on our table comes in vegetable platter which had the Itimad ka khaas tikka which is a classical Awadhi paneer tikka from clay oven with a touch of garlic and pepper.What stands out here is its smoky taste and the wonderful quality of the paneer, which the hotel makes itself.Along with it was offered, Jimikand ki galouti; mouth melting yam kebab cooked with selected Indian spiced smoked with clove and Gawalmandi ki bharwaan aloo; potatoes stuffed with crispy vegetables, beetroot, plums and crispy vegetablesTHIS PLATTER HAD EVERY DISH MADE IN PERFECTION and these will make you crave for more but we had to save some space for the Main Course.

After we were done with very palatable starters, we were offered a huge awadhi thali which was very beautifully set with Cheenna kofta zaiq-e- daar (Dumpling of cottage cheese and stuffed with grape in spicy gravy), Dal Makhani,  Paneer -e- shahi (Stuffed paneer fingers simmered in velvety cashewnuts and tomato gravy), Awadhi Curry and Raita along with the breads. I wanted to finish the whole thali just in case you were not well stuffed with the starters offered before. Dal makhani was one of the best I have ever tasted.

For desserts, there was a choice of Munkka phirni made with ground rice cooked in milk, this traditional sweet on the occasion of Eid and Chhena-e- zam zam (cottage cheese dumpling dipped in mango rabri with nuts), to be really honest I loved both but my brother had his tongue salivating over the phirni. For a sweet tooth I have, these desserts made my day.

Lavana is the only one of its kind in Gurgaon, and one of the few such restaurants in Delhi NCR that serve authentic Awadhi food. If you want to enjoy the peaceful ambiance and delicacies of Awadh, don’t hesitate to drive down to Hyatt Regency, Gurgaon.

The distance should never stop you from enjoying the nummy food.