In its short span of about a year and half of being in operation, Fortune Miramar is already
creating the right kind of buzz. Although the property, for now, has only one
café that also functions as a bar and restaurant, the F&B team has kept
things in the kitchen busy by hosting regular food festivals that experiment
with various cuisines. The burger festival held last year, featuring buns
sporting rich hues of Red and Black, was a runaway hit and the popularity it
earned naturally tempted the management to dish up a sequel this year. The best
part of the festival was that one could play with the meats, cheese, sauces and
toppings of choice and totally customise the burger to one’s liking. The
version 2.0 of ‘Miramar Burger’ that is currently underway, retains this
feature, and although there are a few carry-overs of other elements from last
year, the 2018 edition of the festival has a lot that’s new.
First up, the colour palette for the bun
of choice now has a new shade in Purple, in addition to Red and Black. The Red
bun gets its colour from beetroot, and dehydrated purple grapes lend their
colour to the Purple bun. The Black bun, however, used to be made out of Onion
ash until last year. Now, the team has replaced it with coconut shell ash that
gives the bun its pitch dark colour. All the flavours are supremely mild and
are added to the dough primarily for aesthetic purposes.
Being an ITC property, Fortune Miramar does not serve beef, in
accordance with its nationwide policy. One could choose their patty options
from going veg, or opting for meats such as chicken, fish, turkey, mutton,
pulled pork, and soft shell crab that makes its debut this year. Having never
tried the soft shell crab in a burger form, I naturally opted for it and was
left impressed. The soft shell crab, garlic butter, yellow cheddar fondue and
caramelised bourbon onion all come together to make a yummy combination; and
perhaps this was the first time ever that I completely ignored the sides while
relishing a burger.
The third new element at the festival is the introduction of the
‘Umami’ flavour that has taken the global culinary scene by storm. For the
uninitiated, most of us have been exposed to mostly four tastes – sweet, sour,
salty and bitter. But one of the most important and most glorious flavours we
experience daily – the one that makes brothy soups so heart-warming – has long
been ignored, despite the fact that we taste it almost every single day. That
flavour is what is now widely referred to as Umami.
We
felt that the burgers have been priced really competitively – a veg burger will
set you back by Rs 300 and a non veg variant will cost you Rs 350, exclusive of
taxes and add ons. The festival has been on from July 4 and akin to last year,
where the management was encouraged to keep the festival going for over a month
as opposed to its initial planned span of two weeks owing to public demand,
this year too, the festival is likely to go on for over a month. With the rain
gods ‘showering’ their generosity on Goa, the weather is just fine for a hot
meaty burger. So, we suggest, go try it!
