From rustic Italian soups to Britain’s favourite beer battered fish and chips, The Missing Bite, the European food festival at On The Go, the city's Indian restaurant promises your taste-buds a European 'food trail' closer home. Curated by Chef Sneha Narula, the eight-day festival features dishes from the streets of Italy to the fancy resto cafes of Spain, France and London. “The concept is to introduce European cuisine to the food scenes of Coimbatore as it is something the city is steadily getting accustomed to. Since I'm trained in classical French cooking, I have also tried to bring in a lot of European cooking techniques such as braising, blending and such,” says Sneha who is a graduate from Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts, Australia.
Beyond Basics
The festival menu is varied at the same time basic as it includes European delicacies such as lamb pot pies, fish with beans, ratatouille and lamb chops, lamb ragout and polenta, mushy peas and vegetables, mushrooms and leeks, vegetable fritters etc. “We have been conducting food festivals here often but this the first time we are featuring the European cuisine.With The Missing Bite, we are bringing the kind of food that is not easily available in Coimbatore, hence the name,” says Ranjana Singhal, founder and owner of On The Go.
Go local
Heading a festival such as this for the first time, Sneha has her apprehensions but is hopeful that the city’s food lovers will enjoy it. “I'm very confident of the menu though it is the first time that I'm writing one. We have tried and tested the dishes a lot of times and the feedback has been positive. Then again, it's a matter of people being ready to experiment a little to try out dishes that are not very spicy but flavoursome,” Sneha shared while admitting that though 95 per cent of the food is authentic European, she had to include some local ingredients such as chilly in certain dishes. “Though people like the food here, people get bored of the menu after a while. Therefore, there is a need to come up with creative ideas other than revamping the menu. With festivals such as this, we are offering our customers something new,” says Ranjana who reveals that a couple of the most popular dishes might get added to the regular menu. Apart from the culinary delights, visual treats such as Irish tap dance, hip-hop and Matador dance performances will be held as part of the festival.
22 to 30 July
Average price for two: `1000
Noon onwards
Details: 0422-4520116/7