On a rainy, dark, gloomy afternoon one can choose to cuddle up in bed under a blanket or indulge in warm, delicious, exotic food. Well an invitation to the Mid autumn festival at The Lantern at the swanky and ritzy Ritz Carlton, was reason enough to choose the latter.

This hotel has the distinction of being Ritz Carlton’s first hotel in India and it is the epitome of luxury.

The Lantern is one of its 7 restaurants. Serving Chinese cuisine, this fine dining space is spread across 3 levels and is designed in the shape of a lantern, though unfortunately that aspect was not visible to me from any of the angles that I could access. But of course I took their word for it 😀

Designed by the internationally acclaimed Super Potato, it is done up in vivid colors with much usage of glass and ceramics  in the form of decorative bottles and pottery lining most of the walls. Some of the walls are lined with fabric in vibrant hues and there is even a portion that is made up entirely of large books that are processed and glued together … a true epi’Tome of innovation 😀

A recipient of Vir Sanghvi’s Vir’s Choice awards, this place is also quite a favorite among the Indian cricket team. Speaking of which, the team was currently in town and staying at the hotel and where I happened to sit was apparently Virat Kohli’s special seat. Well he was not around to shoo me away with his bat, so I stayed put 🙂

One can opt to dine al fresco or indoors at the individual tables or the more private, segregated seating options.  There is also a Private Dining Room near the bar, where guests can dine ensconced by wine bottle laden racks.

The Mooncake or Harvest moon festival is also known as the Mid autumn festival because it falls during Fall 😀 The round Mooncakes symbolize family unity and completeness.

These cakes are typically made of thick pasty fillings of bean or lotus seed and encased in a covering made from glutinous rice or plain flour. Though traditionally baked with a salted duck egg at it core, the modern day cakes come in both baked and Snow skin (no bake) variants and ones without the egg are also available. These cakes are offered as a sacrifice to the moon.

The Lantern brings the festival to us with Master Chef David Chan’s handcrafted mooncakes that are also available at Ganache the lobby level retail promenade of the hotel.

The special festive selection also has an assortment of traditional items to choose from, that include soups, dimsums and stir fries, as a part of the celebratory meal.

Chef Tenzin guided us through our meal with some of their choicest items and we had a delicious start with a snowy white, crab and asparagus soup with egg white foam.

An array of dimsums followed, with the Steamed broccoli and zucchini dumpling and steamed Pumpkin dumplings with carrot and lotus root … a delightfully textured mix of smoothness and crunch.The non vegetarian had the Mixed seafood dumpling with its exotic hue attained from edible charcoal powder, the Chicken and duck fungor, Steamed fish ball and the Steamed chicken dumpling with ginger spring onion sauce, garnished with super fine threads of fried ginger. All the dimsums were exquisite with their sheer skins and flavorful fillings.

Melt in the mouth Sauteed taro cake and gorgeous sesame encrusted deep fried prawns completed the main meal.

Of course I had to be Taro’blesome and insist on the chef unearthing a nice big taro from the kitchen, so that I could shoot it. But then I have always believed in getting to the Root of the matter  😀

Dessert obviously were the mooncakes which we were eagerly awaiting. The chef displayed the classic wooden mould that is used in shaping the cakes as he explained the process.

We tasted the cold cakes in 4 flavors with Dragon fruit mung bean paste, Black sesame lotus seed paste, Green tea lotus seed paste and Red bean lotus seed paste. Of these the Black sesame was my favorite with its intense color and nutty texture.

Baked versions came in Red bean paste, Green tea lotus seed paste and Creamy custard flavors. It was hard to pick favorites but the custard was the best.

The restaurant is classy, the food uses authentic ingredients imported from their source and the meal is worth indulging in.

The mooncakes are priced between Rs 175 and Rs 350 each and the other items can be ordered from the a la carte menu. They also have a set menu at Rs 3250 which has an assortment of dimsum, soups, stir fries, main course and dessert.

The festival is on from Sep 25th-Oct 7th.

For more pictures see My Facebook – Ritz Carlton-Mooncake festival at The Lantern

Sep 27th, 2017