Food connoisseurs get to dine with royals

New Delhi, Oct. 24: In a unique opportunity, food connoisseurs will get to taste royal food at its authentic best, as 20 royal families from across the country are getting ready to dish out their regal platters.

A new initiative — ‘Dining with the Royalty’ brings to fore the much guarded erstwhile royal culinary heritage of India. “The idea was to promote Indian cuisine and see that it gets the respect it deserves, given the depth and diversity of the Indian cuisine,” Sonal Saxena, founder, Dine Royalty, said.

Beginning on October 26, the gastronomical affair, spread over three days, will give Delhiites an opportunity not just relish the royal flavours, but also dine with the members of the royal families as they share insights into the culinary traditions they followed in the past.

“Each royal house will not only extend the hospitality through food, but the members of that royal family will play host to the party of guests,” Mr Saxena said. with

To get the right mix of royals who could “showcase the strength and diversity of the cuisine”, she said, she and her team travelled across the country. “It was a selection based on research and understanding of the regional cuisines India,” she said.

The cuisines on offer will be an amalgamation of dishes from 12 Indian states and the menus have been limited strictly to “what the maharajas ate in the palaces”.

“We don’t have ‘Lal Maas’ on the menu even though there are six families from Rajasthan. We have curated menus, which are authentic historically and not available otherwise,” Mr Saxena said. The participants in the event include the erstwhile royal families of of Aaron and Myana, Amarkot, Awadh, Badnore, Limbdi, Balasinor, Bhainsrorgarh, Bedla, Bhopal, Bolangir, Deolia, Kalan, Jhabua, Jhalamand, Jodhpur, Kangra, Kanota, Kishangarh, Kotwara, Loharu, Mahmudabad, Nimaj, Patiala, Raghogarh, Sandur, Rampur, and Santrampur.

Six luxury tents would be set up to create the royal look, and each tent will serve 35 guests at one point of time. Two meals will be served daily (lunch and dinner) by different royal families.

— PTI A car caught fire in front of police headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. Two fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. The incident resulted in a traffic congestion on the road connecting ITO to east Delhi.