Sundowners Go Local
Marriott Hyderabad’s USP which goes quite often unsung, is its eighth floor pub Altitude, with a stunningly beautiful, ringside view of the Hussainsagar Lake. To understand what I am trying to say, visit sometime close to sunset and see the sun go down over the majestic Buddha statue over the sparkling, rippling lake, with the yatchs coming back to the shores.
Evening View from the eighth-floor Altitude..Photo credit: Marriott Hyderabad
The mood one evening not too long ago was even more upbeat with the showcasing of Locally Sourced, an unique cocktails promotion, incorporating local ingredients typical to Andhra and Telegana. Jomy Abraham, the F&B director of Marriott, Hyderabad and Leo Fernandez, the bar tender at Marriott who does a mean gig behind the bar, got behind the counter with some great action of shaking, stirring and muddling, besides decoding the herbs and other fine stuff. Chef Yogi, as executive chef marriott Yogender Pal is fondly known as, sent out some brilliantly innovative short eats to be paired with the drinks.
We started off with an Orgasmic Jasmin, comprising of jasmine infused vodka, orange infused vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup, the aftertaste of which was just divine thanks to the subtle aroma of the jasmine. Accompanying it as a short bite was a bowl of crisply fried curry leaf spiked cashew nuts, which were deliciously addictive!
Orgasmic Jasmin with curry leaf tossed cashew nuts
Angel’s Bae followed, a honey dew melon infused Chenin Blanc, with orange infused vodka, now how does that sound? This was paired with some tangy raw mango pickle on an ajwaini paratha…which was delicious!
Ajwaini Paratha with Mango pickle was delish 🙂
Since there were 15 such drinks to be sampled, I will now talk about the other notable drinks, personally speaking. I loved the Cocktail Jar, I suspect as much for its pretty looks as its contents. Jamun infused vodka, pineapple infused rum, cucumber infused gin, orange infused vodka, jalapeno infused tequila, pineappl\cranberry\lime juice and simple syrup. (will add the recipes soon, stay tuned). Cocktail jar was paired with crudites with caramel mustard.
The Lovely Cocktail Jar
“Our team sourced all these local ingredients from Monda Market in Secunderabad as we needed them to be fresh and hand-picked, so that the drinks reflected the local tastes, at the same time using the best of global liquor brands, ” shares Jomy Abraham, the F&B director of Marriott Hyderabad.
Fruitini with Green Apple Thyme also struck the right notes with its tangy, refreshing aftertaste and it was also paired with an exciting Mango Leather Parcel with Crabmeat, again superbly plated by chef Yogi.
Angel’s Bae was made of musk melon and Chenin Blanc, divine!
Mango Parcel with Crabmeat
Heavenly Slice was also another drink which I liked, jamun\orange infused vodka, lime juice and so,ple syryp. It also made for a heavenly pictiure:
Leo Fernandes, the mixologist at Marriott at work on Heavenly Slice, jamun infused vodka and the works..
There was yet another quirkily called Change of Love, which was cinnaon infused whisky and egg white and this was on quite another level. Unfortunately, no pictures to share of this one, but suffice to say it was one helluva premium palate drink!
It would be worth mentioning here that the short eats by Chef Yogender were a lesson in global melding of cuisines. One of the snacks which stood out for me was the mini sized Paniyarams with gramflour crisp and smoked chilli dip. A south Indian popular ‘tiffin item’ plated with an European style crisp of gramflour, again a very essentially Indian ingredient and paired with a Mexican type dip.
In the end, it was an evening which was not just spirited and fun, but an eye opener to the creativity of F&B professionals, in this case both the mixologists and the chef.
(The promotion is on at Altitude until month end)….
