Ring in the Asian harvest
Come April, and people across India ring in the harvest season, and regional New Years including Kerala’s Vishu, Baisakhi in Punjab or Bohag Bihu in Assam, to name a few. With our neighbouring countries celebrating their annual harvest season too, a number of restaurants in Bengaluru are commemorating this with flavours from Burma, Sri Lanka and even Nepal.
We bring you a roundup of what’s being planned this year.
Enjoy the Burmese New Year with a limited edition festive menu. This week, Thingyan, also known as the water festival, will be celebrated at Burma Burma. The highlight is Village Set (₹1,850), a sharing meal for two that comprises an assortment of small plates comprising pumpkin and broad bean curry, roselle and mushroom stir fry, and more. Dessert includes the traditional Thingyan.
April 11 to May 19 at outlets across the city
@ Bamey’s @ Burma Burma
This Nepalese restaurant will ring in the country’s New Year with a vegetarian and nonvegetarian thaali. Dishes include dal bhat, probioticrich gundruk, tarkari, accompanied by desserts such as sel roti and khir; and beverages chaang and chiya.
₹1,270 per person. On April 14 from 2 pm to 7 pm at Bamey’s Gastro Bar, Koramangala. 9606919108 @ Yo Colombo Ring in the Sri Lankan New Year at this restaurant helmed by Chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar with a range of kiribhath offerings. It is during the New Year when new rice from the harvest is cooked with coconut milk, to make the festive dish, making it an important ritual of the auspicious day.
The rice is then spread on a banana leaf and smoothed down with another banana leaf, and then cut into square or diamond shapes and eaten at room temperature with
sambols, coconut, jaggery or ripe bananas. At the restaurant, guests can savour the kiribhath cooked using indigenous rice varieties such as
gobindo bhog, Burma black from Karnataka. The milk rice cakes — topped with an array of sambols — will come in cane baskets.
Yo Colombo is at Stage 3, Indiranagar. To order, call 88678 25223
@ The Oberoi
At Lapis, the allday diner, a Sunday brunch that brings together harvest treats from across the country awaits diners. For instance, millet dishes for Ugadi (Karnataka), appams and stew for Vishu (Kerala), chole bhature for Baisakhi (Punjab), chingri malai curry for Nobo Borsho (Bengal) and masor tenga (fish curry) for Bihu (Assam).
April 14, 1 pm onwards. ₹3,550 + tax for the nonalcoholic meal, ₹4,500 + plus tax, with alcohol