Mumbai, India
The holy month of Shravan, the Paryushan for the Jains and Mumbai’s favourite god Ganesha for the religious is about, will power, sacrifice and faith. Start September these festivities are in the air and for food lovers like me , these occasions are more about food, food and more food. I still remember the few nights that I spent in Srinathji, Nathdwara, the trip agenda was food.
Westin Mumbai has captured the essence of the season perfectly as they bring to you the food from temples and the temple vicinity, they call the promotion ‘Holy Kitchens’ and it is on till 30th September. Salasar; Rajasthan, Amritsar; Punjab, Varanasi, UP and Shirdi; Maharashtra are the holy destinations where the menu items are picked from. The hotel also has gone to the extent of cleansing the Kangan Kitchen and is serving only vegetarian food for the period; they took the ‘meat-ban’ quite seriously. I started with a Banarasi Kachori Chaat, Sabudana vada, Mathura ke Bhune Khulley aloo and paneer palak ki seekh. And for the mains came a humongous thali with Navratan kofta, Govind Gatte ki Sabji , Bharleli Vangi , Paneer Kadai and Arhar ki Dal served with Amritsari Kulcha, the Classic Kangan Masala roti and Aloo Gobhi ki Tehri a Pulao like rice preparation.
Rahul Dhavale the young Executive Chef of the hotel ensured that he disseminated information on the food whilst we discussed more from Tirupati, Gurvayoor and certainly Nathdwara. We ended our meal with Shirdiche ladoo and Benarasi Ras Madhuri. It was good simple food with limited options, I have been to Shirdi but I certainly need to plan a food trip to these destinations just like I did for Nathdwara. Just leave you with a thought this festive season, as someone has said ‘The food that enters the mind must be watched as closely as the food that enters the body.’
P.S: Do ensure you treat yourself to an array of laddus and Pinni at the entrance
Indian Gourmand 
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