Kathmandu:

Sunny days, clear skies and blooming flowers indicate the arrival of spring, which also ushers in the season of fruits. To welcome the advent of spring, Radisson Hotel has come up with seasonal fruit festival, and the Strawberry Festival is in full swing.

As the festival focuses on “fresh strawberry”, the food prepared throughout the month at the hotel will have garden fresh strawberry available in the local market as one of the main ingredients.

In keeping with the hotel’s idea to mark the year 2007 as a promotional year, it came up with this idea of doing something different with products found easily in the local market. Executive chef at Radisson Pankaj Mehra said, “The Food and Beverage industry has to evolve with time, and we have to keep on doing something new and different from time to time. So we decided to have this festival — to do something unconventional and add strawberry in the main course too.”

The main course consists of Murgh Malai Tikka with strawberry relish and Grilled Fish in strawberry and orange coulis. Malai Tikka Relish has chopped strawberry served along with chopped onion and tomatoes, whereas grilled fish has pureed strawberry topping with a tangy taste.

Even vegetarians need not fret as the festival offers dishes in vegetarian versions too.

Strawberry with whipped cream can melt any heart and break anyone’s diet regimen. But there’s something more the festival has to offer. The menu offers some refreshing mocktails and cocktails that can do wonders after a tired-long day — Strawberry Smoothie, Tender Berry Light, Blue Strawberry or a Strawberry Olive, to name a few. Besides, for those with sweet tooth, the menu also offers some mouth-watering desserts. Chocolate and strawberry terine has the best of both worlds — layer of rich chocolate with strawberry cream that has a creamy and fresh taste.

The Strawberry Festival is on at all the outlets — The Fun Café, Splash, Olive Bar and Pastries Shop.