Art brunch at Paprika Café

Paprika Café at Courtyard by Marriott was the venue of the Sunday Art Brunch where art and food occupy parallel worlds. From the artist's palette, there's a series of paintings on diverse subjects; the chef expressed his art through food that tempted the palate. A bond had been created, one that filled our senses and tastes with flavour, pleasure for the eye and food for the soul. Symbiosis?

Paintings by Pradeep L Mishra, Madhu Venugopal, K Sudeesh and PP Pradeep were displayed around the lobby and café. My knowledge of art is zilch but Curator Jitha Karthikeyan told me that like food, art was open to interpretation.

Pradeep Mishra and "Living High Hope"

Living High Hope - Pradeep Mishra

Motherland - Pradeep Mishra

Pradeep Mishra explained that the stem of the rose he painted was composed of several layers till the texture and colour was just right, signifying the struggle we go through every day just to survive.

Departure from the Land - K Sudeesh

Boatman
Island Cherala series - K Sudeesh

Still Life - PP Pradeep

An Antique Piece of Love - Madhu Venugopal 

Ajay with his brews; charcoal burgers

Art appreciation is serious work but Ajay's bartending skills knew how to keep us engaged. He's got some interesting infusions and his version of the Asian gin and tonic with green tea and spices was fab.

Chef Sanjeev Ranjan

Rosemary and cornflake biscuit with mango sphere

Executive Chef Sanjeev Ranjan's food art was one that I could understand much better - innovative salads, cheeses, a stall with black food and the cheong fun stall with fusion fillings was designed to add colour and texture to the palate. The chef was a busy man, giving instructions to his team, putting deft touches to plates and interacting with the guests.

Salads

Cheese wheel for pasta; black food

Ceviche!

There were some unusual salads and salad pairings. The mascarpone cheese with olive dust that I shared with a friend was mind blowing. Pops of colour from a beautifully cured ceviche presented in mussel shells was definitely what a summer salad is all about - light and zesty.

Spectacular pork belly roast glazed with maple syrup added a subtle sweetness though the crackling didn't quite crackle

Sushi with wasabi discs and black soy caviar

Cheong fun

Chef Paritush's cheong fun stall made paper thin steamed pancakes; stuffings included chicken, prawn, cabbage and mushroom. They're really yummy especially when topped with soya sauce caviar!
 

Starters and bisque

Paprika's famous cheesy thin crust pizza

Some of the starters were served at the table. Thai salad could have been more piquant but the prawn bisque was phenomenal. Many kitchens tend to overcook the shells leaving a faintly bitter aftertaste but here, it had been beautifully done, imparting a wonderful depth of flavour.

Did you know bamboo biryani originated in the Araku valley?

Art on a plate - main course 

The main course was a neatly frenched lamb chop with glazed carrot, olive dust and black rice. The meat was pink in the middle and super tender. You can have bamboo biryani at the biryani 'shed' and even watch it being removed from the cylinder with a few practiced thumps. However, the Hyderabad biryani won hands down - meaty, flavoursome, and absolutely yummy!

Desserts 

Mango mousse baskets; lemon pie

There's so much more that we just couldn't get around to - pastas, squid ink risotto, wraps, pad Thai and the entire Indian section. That was only because the dessert table was calling out to us. It was laden with mousses, cakes, tarts and pies. The mango mousse in a white chocolate shell was deliciously inviting and the unusually presented lemon pie was awesome. You could confidently take a selfie beside the three-tiered chandelier cake knowing that it would not fall on your head.

Art Brunch at Paprika Café is on for the next 3 Sundays, the last one will be on May 13. The spread is vast and except that a couple of dishes were salty, everything else was remarkable in terms of quality and novelty. Impressive indeed.

Art Brunch is from 12.30 - 4 pm and costs 1699++ and 2299++ per head for the non-alcoholic and alcoholic brunch respectively.