In my last post, I was telling you how much I love mangoes and how I love to incorporate them in my cooking and baking. Although I know quite a few dishes where mango is the star ingredient, the list is not all that long. So when I got an invite to try the fares at the " Great mango festival " at Grand Mercure, how could it be a no. It was raining cats and dogs in Bangalore that evening and it was the perfect weather to enjoy a delicious meal. We reached the restaurant on time. For drinks, I ordered a Mango Martini and Mohit went for a Mango Daiquiri. Both the drinks were very refreshing and well balanced and the lovely flavor of mango was standing out.
Breads came along with the drink and we were really hungry , so we started digging into the breads.
I was eagerly waiting for the Mango Fiesta and in no time we got our first starter which was a Mango Hummus and a Lebanese Dip with hung yogurt and mango cubes. The Lebanese dip was a little too sour for my taste, but I loved the concept. While we enjoyed the dips, mango crostinni and oriental mango shrimp salad arrived. The shrimps in the salad were the most flavorful shrimps I have eaten in near times and the crostinni were delicious topped with thinly sliced mangoes and mango salsa which had just the right amount of chili, paired very well with the sweetness of the mangoes. The next starter was a Carpaccio of mango with freshly ground pepper and sea salt and it was served on a bed of thin watermelon slices. Apart from the taste and texture, all the dishes were plated beautifully and that made the experience even more enjoyable.
Soups came next and there was a choice of hot ( Minty Mango and crunchy Ginger Veloutte ) and cold ( Mango Gazpacho ) soup. Both of them tasted good and were very mangoey.
For the main course there were four dishes and each of them had a very prominent mango flavor but the balance was maintained and I loved each of the them. There was ravioli with sweet and sour mangoes, chicken stuffed with mango chutney, prawns with whine wine and butter and mango risotto with herb crusted fillet of salmon.
The dessert platter was pretty impressive with 5 options to choose from. There was a sashimi of mangoes with sweet sticky rice. I am not a big fan of sashimi, so I went ahead with mango gateaux which was a very soft sponge with mango whipped cream and then later I dug into white chocolate mango cheese cake. It was served with a chilled citrus consomme and was the perfect end to a wonderful evening.
The mango menu is available in the restaurant as a special and you can order a dish or two from the menu and go ahead with the regular fare or like us you can have a mango mania and enjoy all the delicacies prepared by the chef. I truly enjoyed the evening and came back with wonderful ideas to add in my list of mango recipes.
The festival is on till may 26th at 12th main restaurant at Grand Mercure, koramangala.
