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A Grand Affair

SXVIII – All Day Brasserie, Noida

The Radisson in Noida pops out of nowhere, between the busy streets of this burgeoning city. It does face the famous Mall of India, a prominent location but I stumbled upon it from one of the side entrances. The restaurant décor and design seem to be inspired by baroque architecture. It is a regal spread with gilded candle and lamp stands and pastel columns and curtains. The chairs are also throne like. We sat in a pleasant corner, as I usually do in restaurants, to eat without any disturbance and to people-watch from a distance.

The buffet looked inviting but we went for the lazy option, a la carte. First up was the Tuna Nicoise, a dish I had been meaning to try for a while. It is a salad hero-ing tuna, cooked rare along with potatoes, hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes and beans. It was a refreshing preparation and the tuna blushed pink just how I had seen it on TV.

The menu reflects royalty as well. It has a badge of the restaurant on the first page – SXVIII, which if you haven’t guessed already is S-18 (since it is located in Sector 18, Noida. I took a while to get that reference and the roman numerals. Maths has never been my forte). The badge features a scarlet crown over the letter ‘S’. The commitment to the theme is laudable.

After great deliberation, we decided on comfortable classics – pasta and pizza. We ordered the Penne Pomodoro Con Pollo (pasta with chicken in a tomato sauce), a recommendation by our waiter and their Parma pizza. Parma ham is a thin slice of ham dry-cured in salt to make the meat supple so it was definitely on the salty side. It was loaded with meat and garnished with ricotta and truffle oil.

We ended our meal with an array of little desserts to maximize our sweet consumption including Orange Chiboust, Banana Crumble and Cream Caramel. The restaurant was brimming with people even at 11 in the evening and waiters were zooming past. The newly renovated SXVIII seems to be attracting young and old alike in large numbers, offering them a grand fine dining experience to indulge on.

 

Location: Radisson Blu MBD Hotel, Sector 18, Noida
Meal for two: Rs. 4,000

Anjora cannot resist a good prawn preparation, finds home in Chinese food anywhere in the world but will eat almost anything if it looks appealing. She is a Potter head and has recently discovered pottery as a hobby (excuse the pun).
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Dilli 6 Festival at Level-2 Radisson Blu

Dilli 6 Festival at Level-2 Radisson Blu, Paschim Vihar

By Anubhav Sapra

Being a strong street food freak, I try not to miss any festival that celebrates the Delhi’s rich street food culture. To me, it seems that Dilli 6 is the epitome of street food of Delhi and has also inspired chefs to reinvent the street delicacies to be served in the restaurants.

DSC_0063Level-2 Radisson Blu is hosting a street food festival till 30th August. The lunch buffet is priced at Rs 999 + taxes and Dinner buffet at Rs 1299 + taxes. On offer are the famous street delicacies of Dilli 6- Golgappe,  chaat, Dahi Bhalla , Gol Gappe, Kanji Vada, Bhel Poori, Moonglet, Lassi Kulfi, Chai, Allo Tikki, Panathe, Tawa Chicken,Lassi Kulfi, Moong Daal Ka Halwa, Pineapple Halwa and many more.

The ambience is nicely done with live counters of the dishes. Cutting chai counter, however, is worth mentioning – there was a thela (pushcart) with a tea-vendor making tea. There were also the jars of in-house made fen, rusks, and matthi.

The day I visited, I tried almost all the dishes that were there on the Street Food Menu. The highlight of the visit was Aloo Matar tikki (Potato and green peas patty), Rajbhog and Cutting Chai with fen. The aloo matar tikki was crisp and garnished with yoghurt and spicy coriander mint chutney and sweet saunth chutney. I liked it so much that I couldn’t stop asking for another helping; without any sauce-just the tikki. It was simply delicious. Rajbhog consisted of soft bhallas with raisins, cashews and pepper blended with yoghurt, saunth and green chutney. In the main course, I tried the only non vegetarian dish available in the menu- Tawa Chicken and parantha, which was fairly good.

The only missing link was the lack of options for non-vegetarians. I found the kebabs, kormas and biryani which forms the intrinsic part of Dilli-6 missing. However, one can enjoy the regular non-vegetarian dishes available in the buffet at Level-2.

I ended my Dilli 6 journey with pineapple halwa and two cups of masala chai with crisp and layered fen.

 

Anubhav Sapra
Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.