Street Food Festival at Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield

Street Food holds a special place in our hearts (at least in mine it does and a big one too). Be it the piping hot aloo tikki which one struggles to cut into to reach that melt in the mouth mushy potatoes inside or be it the India famous “water balls” (yes yes I read that somewhere recently) or pani puri aka gol gappa aka puchka, the star of Indian street food. Whether it is steamed momos from the east with that super spicy chutney, a near entrant to the street food market but something that has taken country by a storm, or be it the pav bhaji and kheema pav of the west. The chaat with cold curd balancing the sprinkle of red chilli powder on the top of a papdi chaat, the bhelpuri with its perfect harmony sweet, sour and spicy.  The soya overloaded “Chowmien” or the famous kababs from lucknow. Street food always makes me nostalgic and happy.

So when sometime ago I got an invite from Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield regarding their ongoing “Street Food Festival”  which happens every Wednesday as part of the dinner buffet at M-Cafe, it was too exciting to say no. The first thing that hits you when you enter the courtyard is that how well they have managed to recreate the ambience. Everything is upmarket, with some jazzy stuff here and there but at the same time manages to the feel of street food alive, the cart, the cycle, the kettles used as decor complete the picture.

Through the evening we sampled many things, vodka soaked rasgullas, aloo tikki chaat, papdi chaat, momos, noodles, galouti kabab, kala khatta and more. Almost everything we tasted was good but somewhere lacked the final punch and after a few dishes I realised what was it, the final hit of spice. All dishes were toned down a bit which is understandable since the weekday crowd of Marriott is essentially the inhouse traveller most majority of which are foreigners. In my opinion the festival is a good way to introduce them to the street food safely, as for us we can always spice it up.

All in all I recommend it as a welcome change to the regular 5-star stuff and a good mid week break if you are looking for one. Below are some pictures from that day