The Zuri, Whitefield is an upmarket Hotel, strategically located amidst the busy IT corridor of the City. The hotel houses some of the best fine dine restaurants – Karibu, Infinity, Sake, Incanto and Bling each having its own unique way of tantalizing your taste buds. I had been to Bling (their premium Lounge) a couple of weeks back and was so impressed by the quality of cocktails and finger foods served that my expectations from Sake regarding this Thai Food Festival increased two folds from the day I got to know about it.

Songkran is a grand festival celebrated in Thailand which marks the beginning of the new year. The word ‘Songkran’ is analogous to ‘Makar Sankranti’, a festival celebrated to indicate the arrival of spring. Sake @Zuri specializes in Pan-Asian cuisine and it was pretty evident that this festival would be celebrated in this fashion, and this is what guided us FBAB folks to dive into the culinary ecstasies offered. A bunch of enthusiastic bloggers had to accommodate our Friday evening plans to make it up for the meet, and the experience was definitely worth it.

LOCATION – When travelling from Phoenix to ITPL, you can find The Zuri on your right. The place is approximately 1 km away from Hoodi circle. The building looks unique at night time probably because of the purple-bluish haze spread all over it, stands tall and is very difficult to miss.

AMBIANCE – Sake is a roof top lounge which makes up for a nice quiet meal. There are few tables overall but adequately spaced from each other, this is good as one can enjoy their private space. There is an open bar counter at the center overlooking the entire floor. The lighting is subtle and puts you in relax mode. Everything here feels five star!

There was a separate menu specially curated for the Songkran food festival and we were served a part of it which included interesting bits right from mocktail to desserts. It was a proper five course meal.

Beverage section was a thoughtful inclusion in the menu, two variants each of cocktail and mocktail was offered.

Siam Sunrays – Vodka based drink with lemon grass, coconut liqueur, kefir lime leaves and young ginger.

Thaijito – White rum mixed with basil leaf, lemon grass, demerara sugar and lemon juice.

Jasmine Lemon Grass Iced Tea – A neat mocktail which had Jasmine tea, lemon grass and mint leaves.

Cuco Cooler – Tender coconut water, cucumber juice, mint leaves.

We started off with soups- Kaeng Jued Woonsen Pag (veg) and Tom Kha Gai (non veg). Former being a clear soup with vegetables and glass noodles and later a refreshing coconut milk soup with chicken. The chicken broth had intense chicken flavors, was a great way to start our meal.

Next up was the salads, the ones served scored full marks for presentation and taste. Uniqueness associated is that Thai salads usually do not have raw vegetables and fruits as primary ingredients, instead they contain noodles and minced meat. We had:

Yum Kai – Chicken salad with Mint leaves.

Neva Phad Naam Man Hoi – Sliced tenderloin in oyster sauce.

Yum Woonsen – Spicy Salad with glass noodles and vegetables.

Pag Phad Bai Gaparow – Stir fried crunchy vegetables with chili and hot basil sauce.

We were then treated with appetizers, the options here looked tempting. They arrived on huge platters with large portions, all heavily garnished and looked inviting. The quantity was massive!

Gai Pad Nam Prik Pao – Crispy Chicken stir fried in roasted chili paste.

Pe Pad Namprik Pow – Crispy fried lamb tossed with roasted chili paste.

Po Poa Thod Pag – Thai vegetables spring rolls with glass noodles.

Hed Yang – Marinated grilled button mushroom with chef’s secret recipe.

For main course we had three fancy looking curries accompanied by Jasmine and steamed rice. The curries had nice aromas which made it sumptuous. My take, the chicken curry (Kaeng Phet) was the best.

Kaeng Khiao Wan – Prawns with Thai green curry and pea brinjal.

Kaeng Phet – Chicken in Thai red curry and bamboo shoots.

Kaeang Phanaeng – Thai style Phanaeng curry with peanuts and cumin.

The journey till here was tremendous, the variety of dishes served were still lingering on our taste buds, that’s when we all decided to give a small break and started off with a fun session of group photo shoot where half the time was spent in arranging who stands where 😛

The dessert tray came in and as specified we were served Tab Tim Krob, it is a famous Thai preparation which is made of water chestnuts in coconut milk. This one had a slight hints of red at the bottom which the chef confirmed was Rooh Afza.

All in all, it was my first attempt at devouring authentic Thai cuisine and I must say I loved the overall experience. It is good to see that Sake has taken this initiative to celebrate Thailand’s new year. You too can be part of this food festival which will be ending on 24th April. For more details about the restaurant please click on Sake’s Zomato link below.