Latest news with #Portuguese-Goan
Business Standard
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Standard
Goa Monsoon Feast - Select Taj and Vivanta's Finest Dining Destinations in Goa Come Together for a Limited Time Culinary Showcase
VMPL New Delhi [India], July 4: This July, the rains don't just bring romance to Goa -- they bring varied flavours, warmth and they bring an invitation unlike any other. Celebrate the Goa Monsoon Feast with seasonal delicacies, comforting curries, and soul-warming flavours -- all served with a side of magical rains. Only at the select specialty restaurants of Taj and Vivanta in Goa, where timeless elegance meets once-in-a-season indulgence. For the very first time, seven of Goa's iconic speciality restaurants across Taj and Vivanta unite to offer an exclusive, prix fixe monsoon menu experience -- curated with care, designed for the season, and priced to welcome all. This is a celebration of taste without compromise. Whether it's a long, lingering lunch with a view of the rain-soaked Arabian Sea or an intimate dinner tucked into a colonial courtyard -- this initiative offers you the chance to explore some of the most loved dining experiences at a value never seen before. Each participating restaurant will offer 2, 3, and 4 course menus, each a complete journey in itself. No a la carte confusion, no add-ons -- just finely balanced and thoughtfully plated indulgence. Participating Restaurants - Tamari, Vivanta Goa, Panaji - East Asian excellence in an urban chic setting - Alfama, Taj Cidade de Goa - Dona Paula - Intimate, Portuguese-Goan slow food haven - C2C & DPB, Taj Cidade de Goa - Seaside elegance with a bold coastal soul - Banyan Tree, Taj Holiday Village, Candolim - Thai mastery beneath a 300-year-old tree - Paper Moon, Taj Fort Aguada, Sinquerim - Honest Italian Cuisine - Miguel Arcanjo, Taj Exotica, Benaulim - Paying ode to Goan heritage From 1st to 31st July 2025, this month-long celebration lays the foundation for what could become Goa's most awaited annual food festival -- and this is your chance to be part of its debut. Mr. Ranjit Phillipose, Senior Vice President - IHCL Goa, shares his vision behind this first-of-its-kind initiative: "Across Goa hotels, we have always believed that luxury should feel personal, inclusive and rooted in the spirit of the place. This monsoon, we are delighted to invite our guests to experience our signature restaurants like never before -- with menus designed for the season, served with warmth, and offered at exceptional value. It's a celebration of Goa monsoons, its cuisine and IHCL's legendary hospitality" Expect exclusive menus, limited seatings, and surprise inclusions across venues. Reservations are highly recommended. Because Moments Like These Don't Come Twice. The clink of glasses as raindrops tap the windows. A warm Thai curry served as waves crash below. The Whispers of Dona Paula - our rooftop bar's signature cocktail. This is affordable indulgence at its finest, with a commitment to offer culinary spaces more accessible -- without ever compromising on craft. So whether you're a Goa local, a weekend wanderer, or simply someone who believes every season deserves its own story -- let this be your monsoon memory. This July, discover how Goa dines in the rain. Book your table. Bring your appetite. Leave with a story.
Mint
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
10 years of Serendipity: The arts festival hosts a mini edition in Birmingham
At the Bradshaw Hall—Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, you can see black-and-white photographs of Ustad Zakir Hussain lining the exhibition space. These hail from Dayanita Singh's Zakir Hussain Maquette and form a tribute to the late maestro, who passed away last year. This show also looks at the artist's early engagement with the form of the book and the ways in which she extended it to a handmade maquette 1986 onwards. The exhibition features exquisite candid images of Hussain alongside enlarged pages of handwritten interviews. The Zakir Hussain Maquette is part of a micro edition being organised by the Serendipity Arts Festival in the city of Birmingham, UK, till 26 May. This showcase kickstarts the 10-year anniversary celebration of the interdisciplinary festival, which will unfold across ten cities globally in the course of the year. At Birmingham, music seems to form the core of the micro edition with exhibitions, talks, performances and film screenings offering a nuanced understanding of different forms and styles such as the fado, Jazz from both India and Americas, folk music, ghazals and Hindi film music. Especially interesting is a showcase of Portuguese-Goan music by Zubin Balaporia and Nadia Rebelo, and Thumri in the Chamber, a reimagined presentation of the classical Indian vocal form. 'It invites audiences to experience thumri not only as a musical form, but as a cultural prism—one through which diverse artistic, historical, and social dimensions are refracted and revealed, offering a fresh and immersive perspective on one of Hindustani music's most cherished traditions,' states the curatorial note. This is being reflected through discussions and artistic interventions across the festival. There is also a pop-up library on the history of Indian instruments curated by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Hussain's genius is being celebrated not just through Singh's photographs but through film and interactions as well. According to Smriti Rajgarhia, director, Serendipity Arts Foundation and Festival, Remembering Zakir Hussain is a two-part tribute to the maestro. It includes a special screening of the film, The Speaking Hand, followed by a conversation between director Sumantra Ghosal and Dharmesh Rajput of Birmingham City University, which is the partner for the mini edition. The film traces the rise from the bylanes of Mumbai to global fame. The tribute also includes participatory workshops like the Art of Taal, presenting a confluence of drum and tabla, and Scoring to Picture that delves into the art of composing music for a film. Pop-up exhibitions around the history of Indian music instruments One wonders about the choice of Birmingham to start the milestone celebrations for the festival. According to Rajgarhia, the city represented a confluence of vibrant communities, a dynamic public culture, and a thriving creative ecosystem. 'Birmingham is bustling with annual festivals of jazz, comedy, poetry, film, and literature. It is also home to a notable artistic legacy — from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Royal Shakespeare Company and iconic cultural venues like the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Symphony Hall, to the region's great galleries like the Barber Institute, the Ikon Gallery, and the New Art Gallery Walsall,' she elaborates. Further, the city has come into the pop culture spotlight with shows like Peaky Blinders. This ever-evolving creative landscape made it conducive to host the first mini edition of Serendipity Arts Festival there. She feels that Birmingham, with its large South Asian diasporic community, provides a blueprint for experimentation with the idea of taking the arts across borders. For years now, the annual Serendipity Arts Festival, held across Panjim, has been rooted in the architecture and culture of the city. With every city having its own cultural fabric, how does the team plan to replicate that element going forward this year? 'Now that we kickstart with SAF's Mini Edition in Birmingham, we hope that the community here will respond to a living tapestry of art, music, and cultural narratives that bridge the East to the West,' says Rajgarhia. 'As in Goa, where we activate public spaces with our Festival, in Birmingham too we have iconic venues like the Symphony Hall and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to encourage the public's engagement with art.'
