It's all aboutNorth Karnataka at Shangri La’s b Cafe this weekend, particularly the cuisine of Hampi - as everyone knows, once a mighty kingdom and today a recognised UNESCO world heritage site.

Hampi’s cuisine - due to its close proximity with Maharashtra - sees a lot of influence from Marathi food culture. Breads form an integral part of the food with joladda rotis (jowar/sorghum rotis) usually one of the staples along with rice rotis (akki rotis). A lot of lentils are also used as well as a lot of podis (spicy chutney powders made with peanuts or sesames). Vegetables like aubergine, banana flowers and ladies finger are common as are non-vegetarian dishes with chicken and fish (in the coastal areas).

Anurudh Khanna, Executive Chef at the Shangri-la has said that care has been taken to ensure the recipes are as authentic as possible. A home-cook from Hampi, Vijayalakshmi will be assisting the chefs to make the dishes, who will be following her traditional recipes. "This cuisine has been largely unexplored and you don't find rustic cuisine like this in buffets at hotels to often," he says. The buffet will have two non vegetarian dishes, four-five vegetarian dishes, rice and the traditional breads typical to North Karnataka cuisine among other items.

Some of the dishes that will be part of the buffet include Dal Chutni Pudi (a spiced lentil powder served as a condiment with either hot steamed rice, idli or dosa), which is dish traditionally prepared with urad dal, chana dal, toor dal, grated coconut, dried red chillies and some curry leaves, Bale Moti Palle (a banana flower stir-fry, this dish is typically prepared using banana flower, coconut, red chili, jaggery, tamarind, salt, mustard, coriander seeds and cumin seeds), which serves as the perfect accompaniment for rice, as a dry side dish, Shenga Holige (this peanuts poli is a flatbread that tastes sweet and stuffed with peanuts and jaggery), Yenne Badanekayi (stuffed brinjal which is mainly served with jowar roti or chapati) and the must-have Godi Payasa (broken wheat kheer/payasam that is prepared with coconut milk and jaggery).

Among the non-vegetarian dishes, Vijayalakshmi has a special fish fry, as well as a semi-dry chicken masala.

And so you can get your dose of Hampi culture, b Cafe will feature dance performances including Veshagare, Tiger Dance, Leather Puppetry and live demonstration of crafts by local artisans.

Where– b Café

When– 9th& 10thSeptember, 2017

Time– 12:00 hrs to 15:30 hrs | 19:00 hrs – 23:00 hrs

Price -Lunch - INR 1250 + Plus taxes | Dinner - INR 1600 + Plus taxes