As we entered the dining room of the Novotel Hotel in Hyderabad where the Thai festival was being held, we were greeted by a beautiful young girl in full Thai regalia, who gave out an exotic flower to each of us and led us to our tables. In the dining area, there was a Thai dancer, but I am not sure what art form she was performing. I had heard that Thai dances are generally dramas, that each dance tells a story. But the dancer in Novotel was swaying gracefully to the music being played (live) and looked wonderful, but I don’t think there was a story involved. It was nice to watch, though.
Nixing cocktails and mocktails in favour of going straight to the buffet, we went to take a look at the many dishes served. That’s when I got my first shock of the evening; there were Moong Dal Halwa and Rasmalai being served at the dessert section! There was a medley of exotic looking fruit, cheese, ice cream, éclairs etc, but none of them looked like Thai sweets! Where were the Khanom and the sweet coconut custard? I saw some look choob, but they looked singularly unappetizing. If I am talking about desserts first, it is because that is how the buffet was laid out, don’t ask me why.
As I moved towards the salad bar, the shock was intensified by the completely continental salad, consisting shredded carrots, capers, pickled cucumbers, rosemary potatoes etc. There was also a mushroom salad and a tofu salad, that just about gave the salad bar a Thai look, but conspicuous by their absence were Thai salads such as the Thai green papaya salad (my favourite), Pineapple salad, Shrimp Salad, Cucumber Salad, etc.
There were two soups being served – a Tom Yum vegetarian soup and some non-vegetarian soup, which unfortunately I did not pay attention to, since I am a vegetarian. Grateful for the Tom Yum soup, I ladled some into a bowl. Served with the soup was Italian bread (!) and papad (!!). The soup was liberally spiked with hot sauce and I was able to down only about 3-4 spoons and then I gave up.
Main course included decidedly non-Thai entrees such as curd rice (I kid you not), Dahi Vada, Dal and Vegetable Biryani. But they did make an allowance to the fact that it was a Thai festival by providing dishes like Thai Red and Green Curry (with chicken or vegetables), Chicken Satay, Thai fried rice, and some assorted vegetables in a tangy garlicky sauce. Along with the main course, there were some spring rolls. I don’t know why they were not with the appetizers.
Where were the dim sum, the pad thai, the pad king, pad kao, pad pak, etc???
For the princely sum of Rs 800 (+tax + tip) per person, we were royally cheated. This was definitely not a Thai festival; you can go to any Thai restaurant and get more range for a lot less. The bar was laid out wrong, there were only a few Thai dishes, and the dance did not seem genuine either. The serving staff was over-zealous; at some point they folded all our napkins while we were still in the middle of the meal!
Miss this one.
