Burst of Indian flavours

The festival of lights is tomorrow and in true Malaysian style, everyone will join in the festivities with their Indian friends and neighbours, writes TAN BEE HONG

IT will all be aglow for Deepavali, the festival of lights tomorrow. Homes are being spruced up and oil lamps polished to a golden sheen. The word deepavali means “a row of lights”.

The lighting of the oil lamps is thanksgiving to the Hindu gods for the blessings they have received and to pray for a good year ahead. It signifies dispelling of darkness.

Families wake up very early before dawn to scrub clean, take an oil bath and dress in their finery to welcome the day that marks the vanquishing of the demon Narakasura by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.

The local Hindu community celebrate in the Malaysian spirit of open houses, inviting family and friends to join them in a feast. Of particular importance is the tempting spread of sweetmeats like halwa and burfi.

In tune with the celebrations, Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s Melting Pot Cafe is offering a high tea and dinner buffet that includes a long list of colourful sweets like laddu and gulab jamun. But start first with an international menu of appetisers from sushi and Thai salad to gado-gado.

Get the chefs at action stations to dish up asam laksa, pasembur, lok-lok and roti from naan to tosai and murtabak. These will taste great with chicken tikka, all kinds of curries as well as lamb kofta chickpea.

And that’s just the high tea. For dinner, hot dishes include sag gosht, madras fish curry, biryani, mutter pulau and more in addition to appetisers and action stations.

The high tea buffet is priced at RM58++ and the dinner at RM85++. For reservations, call 03-2144 2200.

At The Legend Hotel Kuala Lumpur, the focus is on Indian specialties for the Deepavali Delights high tea and dinner buffet at the Di-Atas Brasserie.

Naturally, all kinds of sweets take centrestage, so you can feast on gulab jamun, kesari, halwa, paklova and pistachio and melon kulfi for both high tea and dinner.

The high tea will have specials like chick pea salad, mulligatawny soup, chicken biryani, fish tikka, masala lamb pizza, tandoori fish, roast lakb skewers and an assortment of Indian breads with accompanying curries.

Dinner will see more power-packed Indian dishes like rogan josh, kolhapuri, butter chicken, prawn vindaloo, Goan fish curry, tamatar pilau in addition to pakoras, spicy lamb lasagna, aloo ghobi, palak paneer and bhindi masala.

For both high tea and dinner, there will also be other local and international dishes.

The high tea buffet is priced at RM45++ and the dinner at RM69++. For reservations, call 03-4042 9888.