Feel the festival of Baisakhi in a lively fair-like ambience at the Ssence, The Suryaa hotel. The Punjabi New Year celebration here begin with the welcome drink - the delicious chaach. We were invited to relish the Baisakhi cuisine recently at this Indian restaurant. The festival is celebrated as the Punjabi New Year  as it marks the harvest of the rabi crops with lot of joy, enthusiasm and of course a variety of  mouthwatering dishes that are special to the occasion. The celebration has a religious significance as it also marks the founding of the Khalsa Panth.

Chef Vikas Pant, culinary director explained the flavours beginning with  bhatti ka murg, fish Amritsari, dhaba murg, Patiala chicken, Amritsari dal, adrak ki champe, kukard patiyala shahi, handi gosht among many others like the chole, chicken makhani among many other festival yummies. Interestingly they were light and not that heavy to the tummy as it is usually with many of the Indian festival food. "We have kept it light as most customers want the dishes to be tasty yet not feel the heaviness after a hearty meal," said the chef.

We found the pickle shelf very interesting which included the kathal and karela pickles on the earthern jars. "They are all made in the hotel," explained the chef. The restaurant makes for a happy family time dinner especially if you have little children who love the charpais with colourful paper and flower decoration. A nice Punjabi music in the background added to the entire ambience. The festival is on the 29th of April, be sure to visit if you love Indian food with the Punjabi tadka. It's open for dinner.

Spicy chole

Amritsari machi

Handi ghost

Patiala murg

sarson machhi tikka