JOIN USIt was a perfect amalgamation of good food and intent as women in the city participated in ‘Mediterranean Morning with the Master Chef’, a fundraiser event, at Shangri-La Hotel. Organised by the Inner Wheel Club of Bangalore, the programme saw several ladies who turned up for a live demonstration of select exotic dishes by chef Wasim Reja, the sous chef at Shangri-La Hotel.
Explaining the motive behind it, president of the club, Usha Subramanian, said, “We have adopted a Government Primary School at Dasarahalli and intend to build four classrooms and toilet blocks for girls and boys and refurbish the entire structure. The cost will be around Rs 30 lakh and we will organise two to three fundraisers for the same. This is the first of the lot and since the ladies are donating, we wanted them to do so by enjoying a cooking session followed by a delicious lunch.”
Chef Wasim, assisted by executive chef Nishesh Seth, taught three dishes during the interactive session — ‘Caprese salad’, ‘Risotto with mushroom’ and ‘Tiramisu’. “We are not using very technical jargon and have kept the recipes simple and easy to understand. The ingredients are also ones that will be easily available in the city,” said chef Nishesh.
Nirmala Nayak, a counsellor who attended the session, said, “It’s a good initiative as it involves charity along with something to learn. It was a lively and entertaining session and easy to follow.”
Artist Amita Shenoy termed it as a “different experience”. “Learning something new and getting to taste that as well, it couldn’t get better!” she remarked.
Everyone was handed out a booklet with the recipes and a notepad to take notes as well. The demonstration culminated with a lunch at ‘Caprese’, the hotel’s Mediterranean restaurant, with an array of delicacies like ‘Roasted chicken’, ‘ratatouille’, pasta, ‘hummus’, assorted ‘bruschetta’, a variety of cheese and desserts.
ISO of the club, Ashwini Suri, and secretary Tasneem Jiruwala were also present on the occasion.