Wedding Food and Fun

Catered food gets a bad rap. Anytime I'm eating food at a big event, I have lowered expectations for some reason. Maybe it's because I'm eating too fast to notice the taste. Or maybe it's because I have no control over what I order. But mainly, I have it stuck in my mind that food shouldn't taste good if it's mass produced.

General Tso and I recently attended my cousin's wedding at the Downtown Marriott in Philadelphia. Yeah the bride and groom were great, and the wedding was beautiful, yada yada yada...but who cares, let's talk about the food! The cocktail hour and reception were both catered by Bukhara Grill in NYC, which was exciting because I'm not too impressed by any of the options for Indian food here in Philly.

The appetizers at the cocktail hour consisted of classic Indian street food with a twist. At one table, cooks were making mini tacos to order. The tacos were composed of a choice of filling (chicken, lamb, or paneer), onions and cilantro (straight from a taqueria!), and mint chutney. I loved the Mexican influence on the Indian ingredients. Genius! (Although, they did steal my idea for our wedding. By the way, I think General just pissed himself on hearing the words "our wedding.") The tacos were well balanced, with the saltiness of the chicken and spiciness the chutney. I think General and I ate 15 of them between the two of us. General's note: Napoleon ate 14, I ate 1.

At other tables, chefs were putting together more traditional street food like samosas, papdi chat (fried wafers, potatoes, and chickpeas with a yogurt and tamarind chutney sauce), chana masala (chick peas in curry sauce), and pakoras (fried vegetables). All the dishes won me over because they were just so flavorful. To top off the cocktail hour, waiters were passing out adorable hors d'oeurves. All of them were delicious, from spring rolls to chicken wings to mini quiches. I really felt this accentuated the traditional-meets-modern India theme (and my buzz). As you can tell, I was really impressed with the cocktail hour menu. And I felt the colorful food really matched well with the beautiful colors of an Indian wedding. Next time I'm in NYC, I'm definitely checking out Bukhara Grill.

Bottom Right: Amazing Indian Tacos

Clockwise from top right: Mini Quiche, Papdi Chat, Parkoras, Chana Masala, and Samosa

I complimented one of the chefs on the appetizers, and he replied, "Wait until you see what we have in store for dinner." I'd love to share with you how the reception buffet was, but unfortunately I can't remember due to the open bar. And I was also too busy dancing with General Tso and my family that I forgot about battlefooding. Oops! I'm sure you'll forgive me. Hope you guys are enjoying all the recent posts! Don't forget to leave comments. Here's a question for everyone: do you think catered food should be held to a lower standard than a regular meal at a nice restaurant?