As Hyatt Regency Guam marks its 25th year by offering different cuisines from all over the world, foodies and gourmands are in for a real treat. For the month of April, Cafe Kitchen is the place to be if you want to explore Indian cuisine, a spicy break from your daily dose of local fiesta plate and American fast food.
For the adventurous palate, this is your chance to try authentic Indian dishes — whether something a bit close to your taste or something a bit too exotic.
Chef Susanta Biswal said his kitchen offers popular Indian dishes that may be familiar to seasoned travelers. But with India’s thousand kinds of spices, Biswal said, Indian food provides different experience from each infusion of different flavors and seasonings.
The burst of Kashmir chili, cardamon, ginger garlic, cumin, masala, tamarind sauce abound the Hyatt kitchen for a great-tasting tandoori chicken, chicken tika and the famous butter chicken.
Before ordering your entrée, you must check out the appetizer called bhel puri-chat which you can find at the starter buffet. It is made of puffed rice, topped with vegetables and tamarind sauce. Scoop it in a spoonful or eat it with flat-bread, this low-fat delicious snack can be a complete meal by itself.
During lunch with friends, we tried chicken tikka, tandoori fish tikka and a butter chicken. (“Tikka” means “grilled.”) We had fish and chicken tikka marinated with chaat masala, grilled with onions and red bell pepper and flavored with a sauce made from yogurt and spices. Tikka is great with basmati rice but it can be enjoyed with naan bread as well.
My friend Leah was avoiding carbohydrates and was happy to get her cauliflower rice, especially made for her by the chef. The cauliflower rice, also known in India as aldogubi, is great to pair up with butter chicken.
She was gushing over the butter chicken, prompting me to ask the chef how to make it. Chef Susanta not only shared his recipe but even offered extra tips on how to achieve the perfect taste.
He said spices can be found in a local Indian store and that preparations are not difficult. It was an understatement. Cooking butter chicken takes patience. Rather than risk buying the wrong spices and messing up the recipe, I decided I’d just plan my next Cafe K
itchen trip for my butter chicken fix.
In the meantime, I went ahead for my dessert.
To seal my Indian food exploration, I took a serving of gulab jamun, a sweet dough made of milk powder, sugar syrup and saffron. Before you mistake gulab jamun for the title of a Bollywood movie, go grab some of these berry-sized sweets, add a range to your palate and find the other meaning of namaste at Café Kitchen.
There’s an unmistakable quality to the hospitality offered by Cafe Kitchen, a dedication to personalized service, a high staff-to-guest ratio, and a profound commitment to extra ordinary dining experience to their diners.
Chef Susanta Biswal with
satisfied diner Leah Del Mundo.
Photo by Gina T. Reilly