Delicious perfumes at the Souk

April 8, 2014: Yesterday evening I went to The Taj Bengal for a sit down dinner at the Souk.

It was a dinner with unusual food pairings of various food fragrances. It was the first time I had such a dinner and an exotic experience where the fine dining menu was inspired by various delicious food fragrances and flavourants.

This was also my initiation into the enchanted world of delicious perfumes which come from various edible sources like caramels, vegetables, herbs, leaves, woods, fruits, nuts, wine breads, edible oils and many other intriguing raw materials from the animal and mineral world.

It is a world within the world of fine dining, an elevated art form that never ceases to mesmerize.

The concept was brought by Master Perfumer, Nicolas De Barry, Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, Paris. He has blended the food with various frangrances like bergamot, sandal, and jasmine, while pairing them with a four-course menu featuring a host of aromatic delicacies and subtle wines to set up a culinary experience that I had never had before.

A former diplomat, Nicolas earned a reputation in the past ten years creating personal fragrances for the royal families and celebrities throughout Europe, Asia, United States and the Middle East.

In the afternoon, Mita Kapur gave a live demo of two salads (spinach salad and Persian melon salad) and murg irani which impressed the guests at Jhaal Farezi where Mita’s cooking skills were displayed at the Recipe Rendezvous series of events which I am organising.

Today evening I have back to back appointments and the nikah of my colleague’s daughter to attend.

ess bee