We try Naga dishes and learn that they are an acquired taste!

One can say, with astute confidence that there aren't scores of Chennaiites who rave about the Naga cuisine. People here are rarely exposed to the authentic dishes of Nagaland unless they travel to the state and try it with confidence. To change this very reality and to give people here a taste of his home food, Chef Alistair Lethorn has come up with a food festival named Naga Culinary Trails at Lotus.

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First up the chef placed in front of us four chutneys. They are not the regular chutneys we are used to and the first among those that we tried was the Charred Tomato and King Chilli which we mistook for fish, due to the way it smelled. Then there were Dried Buff, Dried Fish (Bombay Duck) and Fermented Fish. These also tasted different and set the tone for what was awaiting us.

For appetisers, we tried the Portobello Mushrooms, a dish that served as a palate cleanser. The dish was colourful, the plating was perfect and it tasted very well too. While the mushroom was soft and succulent, the orange provided the acidic kick, which was very much welcome after the chutneys we tried before it.

The next dish to be served to us was the Chicken in Mango Ginger that made us smile. It can be best described as comfort food and the meat was rather tasty and juicy. The Ginger Buff though was a rather spicy dish and it is for those who can handle the heat. Try it only if you have high tolerance for spice!

For the mains, we tried the Drief Buff in yam and the Naga Pork with black sticky rice. The pork was done well, and the rice complemented it rather well. But the Dried Buff was bitter and we would give it a pass. It did come with bamboo shoot and yam, but the bitterness made it very hard to like the dish.

Chef Alistair, who currently is based out of Goa, had brought with him the pork used in the dishes and he also brought his own smoker to Chennai. Talk about dedication! However, the spices have been sourced from the city for they were available.

And finally, we come to the highlight of the menu, the dessert. Called the Forbidden Black Sticky Rice, it was absolutely wonderful. Although it was not too sweet, the way it was presented, the stickiness of the rice, the nuts and fruit added on top of it, made it a classy dish and one worth dying for.

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From the dishes we tried, it became evident that Chef Alistair has let the ingredients speak for themselves, for none of the dishes were doused in curry that will take all of the focus away from the components used to make the dish. It is indeed a rather simple way to cook, but proved to be effective nonetheless. As for how the dishes were, they looked simply brilliant, but we think one would come to like them with time, by tasting them more than once.

Veg - INR 1,999. Non-veg - INR 2,199. Lunch and dinner. On till November 26. At The Park Chennai.