The Battle of Oranges Food Festival at Italia, The Park Hotel, Bangalore

April 8, 2016 Naveen Suresh

The Battle of the Oranges is an annual festival in the Northern Italian city of Ivrea, which includes a tradition of throwing of oranges between organized groups. It is the largest food fight in Italy. A very first Italian restaurant “Italia” in Park Hotel Bangalore had a Battle of the Oranges Food Festival from 21st to 28th of March 2016. A Chef crafted a special menu by infusing Orange in all the dishes. It was a tribute to the Battle of the Oranges festival.

We were part of the exclusive pre-launch lunch & completely overwhelmed with those Italian dishes. The Chef was sitting right next to us & explained the concept. The Park Hotel is well known for these of festivals from a long time. Italia was perfectly decorated to showcase the festival composition. The restaurant is bright, elegant & beautiful. The restaurant has green themed walls, which added extra beauty to the atmosphere. The Park Hotel use to be one of the happening places for party freaks earlier. However, charm dint loose. It’s a nostalgic place in my case. Since, I have spent so many weekend evenings at iBar in The Park Hotel.

The Service was excellent and they have a deep knowledge about the dishes on what they are serving and folks are polite & humble.

Well, the menu is more of Non Veg stuff. However, Chef was very kind and prepared some additional Veg dishes.

Pomodoro e arancione consommé – Pale orange-tomato cold broth flavored with lemon grass and fresh ginger.
Arancio e mascarpone bruschetta – Orange flavored mascarpone served on a slice of crispy garlic bread.
Insalata di arance speziata – Slices of orange tossed with onion rings, olives and spice mint flavored vinalgrette.
Salmon con salsa di arance e finocchio – Pan seared salmon with orange-fennel sauce.
Petto di pollo alla griglia con salsa di arancla e limone e miele – Grilled chicken breast with orange, lemon and honey reduction.
Coniglio arrosto con arancia e citronella riduzione – Over roasted rabbit with orange and lemongrass reduction sauce.
Arancio aromatizzato tiramisu – Traditional tiramisu infused with orange flavor.

It’s a great experience and opportunity to try these dishes and we were wordless, though it’s a fusion Italian cuisine

There were few orange infused cocktails like Spiced orange berry sangria, Mandarin Madras and Red Rum and these were fabulous and different experience all together.