Feature | International Womens Day…. lunch hosted at Casablanca, Double Tree by Hilton, Gurgaon

“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights”
Gloria Steinem

International Womens Day. A day to celebrate everything good about being a woman … a manager, an organiser, a mother, a home maker, a breadwinner, a worker … and sometimes all of these. A juggler at the best of times, someone to depend on, someone to turn to. The list is endless.

International Women’s Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year.[1] In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc.

This world has produced some amazing women, role models we look up to. They might not necessarily be poster women. It could be the woman next door, the 70+ woman labourer who works non stop for 8 hours and still tends to her grandchild patiently, with love at the same time. She says that she will work by her husband until her hands and legs can support her. She smiled at me all day, not a single complaint, and even invited me to her village in Rajasthan. For me, a day like IWD celebrates a spirit like hers. I am fortunate to have met her.

To celebrate IWD, earlier today Double Tree by Hilton in Gurgaon invited about a 100 women from different walks of life to lunch at Casablanca, a Moroccan specialty restaurant. Inspired by Mediterranean style cooking, it exposes food lovers to a new dimension of flavors and aromas.

The hostess is an old friend Monisha Dewan, the General Manager of the hotel, a lady who is a celebration of everything woman. Beautiful, smart, intelligent, warm, pleasant, efficient and a wonderful host! By her side was Executive Chef Rajat Tuli, who I have had the pleasure of meeting earlier at the Garden Hilton. We were in good hands all afternoon, spoiled by their constant attention and made to feel extra special.

Rachid Choukki the Chef de Cuisine of Casablanca was in attendance as well. A Moroccan national, he set us of of a culinary adventure, lavishing us with amazing starters. Briouats, pastillas, preserved meat, also absolutely delicious vegetarian beet shots! The unanimous drink of choice was the Cosmo Martini … a beautiful blushing pink vodka with cranberry juice. That pink followed us women all afternoon!!Lunch was a buffet but we got the royal treatment and Chef Rajat set a personal table for us. The food streamed in, one good dish after another. Moroccan cuisine comes with interesting dips and sauces on the side – a mild red harissa {just the colour fiery but the taste very pleasing}, a yum hummus and baba ghanoush, a lentil dip too.

Petite pitas, chicken and lamb skewers, the best chicken shawarma in town was on offer. We ate … and ate! Food is such a ‘connector’… good food a revelation! Parul, Avanti, Mukta and I chatted away non stop, joined ever so often by Monisha, Chef Rajat and Chef Rachid.

Time for tangines. I found the vegetarian one really interesting with fresh and light flavours teasing the palette. The others loved both the non vegetarian ones on offer, the quail tangine and the rabbit tangine. I am not fond of quail, and rabbit I don’t like to eat {after ‘meeting’ a rabbit pie in Moscow many years ago!!}. Neither held up to my favourite lamb tangine I had a while ago, one that I find difficult to forget!

Dessert was flowery! A fruit salad strongly flavoured with orange blossom which was really nice if you are fruitily oriented {I’m not}. The second option was an orange sorbet. That was really nice, creamy and full of flavour.

The meal was wrapped up with traditional mint tea, a most welcome cuppa after such heavy duty indulgence. It tasted even better as Chef Rachid personally poured each of us a serving!

That was something I enjoyed about the hotel. Impeccable staff, friendly, attentive, efficient. It’s things like this that make a difference, and Double Tree have certainly got it right! Thank you Monisha for having us over!

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India