Capture the true romance of the season at our venues, a perfect delight for your valentine. Le Meridien Kochi offers Valentine’s Day dinner options on 14th February, 07:00 pm onwards. Treasure Trove Restaurant features a grand buffet dinner topped with a glass of sparkling wine. The buffet and the venue set up would embrace the spirit of love. Lagoon Seafood Restaurant features special set menus at different price points.  The terrace attached to both the venues will be set for the time-honoured tradition of romantic candle lit dinner for two. Valentine’s Day special cake, bouquet of roses and stay vouchers to exotic locations for the lucky couple awaits you this Valentine’s Day.

For more details or for reservation please contact +91 484 2705777, Ext 2611

The 7^th edition of Kerala Travel Mart will be held in Kochi this month end. Tourism will be promoted and given significance at this event. This is one-of-its-kind event in the state. It shall being together all the entrepreneurs and people related to the tourism sector together. They can share their views, ideas and hence work together for bringing up tourism in a better and enhanced manner.

The event was first launched in the year 2000, and has been a huge success ever since its launch.

KTM will be on from the 27^th of September till the 30^th of September 2012. It will be happening at Le Meridian Convention Center in Maradu. Buyers, sellers, media personalities, government bodies will all be a part of this event.

Treasure Trove at Le Méridien Kochi is organizing Dawat – e- Nizam, a traditional hyderabadi food festival from 18 to 27 May 2012 featuring a widespread range of dishes from
the city of Nizams. Hyderabadi food is popular for its harmonious blend of unique flavors and delicacies like Haleem, Dum ka Murgh, Bhagare Baingan, Dalcha Gosht and many more will be featured in the festival.

Chef Azharudin from Hyderabad is specially flown down to deliver the established taste of Hyderabad to our guests. The décor of the restaurant would also embrace the theme to give it a plush Nizami feel and thus generates an authentic and engaging experience. The Biryani is considered to be the highlight of the Hyderabadi cuisine, and continues to be the most popular dish of the festival because of its richness and taste due to the perfect blending and mingling of its ingredients. To end on sweet note one could indulge in desserts like Qubani ka Meetha, Double Ka Meetha and many more.

Taking the festival to an interactive mode, a cooking class for the city ladies will be organized during the festival where Chef Azharuddin will share hyderabadi cooking secrets along with the hotel executive chef Soman Thapasimuthu. This festival is definitely something to look forward to as a great evening with grand food, music and a fun experience with family or friends, fit for the Nizam himself!

Le Meridien witnessed glam and glitz when Hairomax Miss Kerala 2011, Elizabeth Thadikkaran was crowned on 8^th October.  Completing the victory trail, Sruthi Nair bagged the first runner – up and Maria John became the second runner-up.

Elizabeth backed 19 elegant contestants and bagged this most coveted title. She belongs to Cochin. Presently she is doing B.D.S. in M S Ramaiah medical college, Bangalore. Sruthi Nair too hails from Cochin, while Maria is a Pune Malayali.

Team work plays the important role in setting up an event at its excellence. Impresario Event Management India Ltd, being at their organizing best brought the wonderful panel of judges, pageant coaches, hosts and entertainment.

Twenty Miss Kerala 2011 aspirants sizzled competing for the most desirable crown. Walking the ramp down in the costumes designed by Semu and Atit brought their optimum grace. Being trained by eminent pageant coaches like; Ritika Ramtri and Justeen Bhatt helped them showcase their best on the stage.

Without the finest panel of judges including; Neha  Hinge; Miss India International 2010, Poornima Indrajith; actress, Shan Muttathil; international make-up and hair stylist, Asmita Marwa; Indian fashion designer, Arshina Trivedi; Gladrags Mega Model 2010, Roshan Abbas; Bollywood director and Siddhique ; Indian film director, it would have been a real tough job to pick the best.

Inorder to set Hairomax Miss Kerala 2011 stage on fire and to enhance the entertainment quotient of the beauty pageant, some leading performers comprising; Stephen Devassy; Indian Pianist, Dazzlers; the dance troop, George Peter and Neha Nair; singers amused the audience with their brilliance.

Supremacy of the show was held high with the radiant hosts; Ranjini Haridas and A.K. Rahman.  There were other sub title winners too, displaying their individual premier.

Le Meridien keeps treating Kochi to amazing food festivals. After Italian, Thai & Punjabi, we now have the Arabic Food Festival coming our way. If you want to try out some authentic Middle Eastern food and Arabic desserts drop by at Treasure Trove, Le Meridien Kochi. But dont waste time. Aroma of Arabia is on till October 9th 2011.

Anyone with a sandwich fetish would be happy to know that Le Meridien is having a Sandwich Carnival at the Library Lounge, Le Meridien’s 24 hour coffee shop. Check out the carnival with a cup of illy coffee (yes, there are brands of coffee other than Lavazza) and a book. The Sandwich Carnival is running through the month of October.

Le Méridien Kochi is decked up to transform its Treasure Trove Restaurant to recreate the delicacies and the festivities of the land of Punjab. The spicy tangy Punjabi flavors are sure to take the creative guest to encompass the perfect setting of Monsoon. Le Méridien plays host to Punjabi food and Cultural fest from the 1st July to 10th July 2011 between 07:30 pm – 11:00 pm. The fest is not limited to scrumptious Punjabi food but an array of cultural programs like Bhangra and Punjabi music.

A food connoisseur can begin the journey with the traditional beverages like Aam Ka Panna and Jal Jeera. To continue the food sojourn, indulge in Punjabi dishes like Kadi Pakodi- a traditional Punjabi dish, the Rara Gosht – a mutton dish steeped in a gravy of spicy mince and soaked with rare spices, Murgh Makhanwala- chicken cooked in soft and melting butter, Sarsson da Saag – a Punjabi treat made of Mustard leaves & spices, the Baingan Bhurtha – brinjals cooked with a simple combination of spices and herbs. For those having a sweet tooth, relish varieties like Phaldhari Ras malai, Dakke Wali Kulfi etc.

Taking the festival to an interactive mode, Punjabi  recipe handouts are circulated to the guests who would like to try the recipes back home. Chef would also share some handy tips on the preparation of Punjabi cuisine.

If you are a die hard cricket fan and you are wondering where to watch the matches from, head to Le Meridien and watch the matches with happy hours. Remember to place your last order before the match is over. Offer is valid only during the game.

The Chef

We had the delight to experience the Thai Fest that is going on at Le Meridien. Having experienced the Italian Food Fest a couple of months ago, we had similar expectations. And we sure weren’t disappointed. On entering the Treasure Trove restaurant we were lead to our seat and we met with the Thai chef who was specially flown down to personally manage the fest. He explained the whole array of foods and his selection of the night’s menu. Thai food can be quite sublime and straight up at the same time. But he had a selection of Indian food to suit his Indian and international patrons as not all will be able to appreciate the Thai flavors.

The Tenderloin

But it takes just a little ‘trying out new things’ to actually enjoy things like this. We started off with the Tom Yum Soup, it was looking too clear from what we were used to from the local Chinese restaurants. We had our first spoon with an aura of doubt, but when the first spoon crossed our lips, the blend of flavors that hit my tongue was excellent! There was a live Som Tam counter, which btw is a spicy blend of a salad made from Papaya, but we diverted paths seeing the pieces of Tenderloin being cooked.
The main course seemed more appealing. Most of the people being unfamiliar with Thai cuisine or atleast the terminologies, the staff had nicely placed their English description underneath each dish tag. It was very helpful in identifying each food item. Starting off the main course, the Pla Sam Rod was very nice, deep fried fish, tasted like fish fritters with a nice subtle sauce splashed all around it. Fish was a commonplace on the menu, but the next dish, was the highlight. Beautifully grilled Tenderloins or Paneang Neu with Panang sauce, which melts in your mouth, the meat was so soft and you could bite through it like butter. We even stayed to watch the next set being grilled. Poetry in motion, hats off to the chefs for this masterful creation! Other notable dishes was the Kai Pad Med Ma Meung, stir fried chicken with cashewnuts, black mushrooms, huge and juicy. Even the Tofu was nice; it was mushy and had a well balanced flavor. To go with these dishes were a choice of Thai fried rice, stir fried noodles and a mix of breads. And there was live grill section which had a Thai version of our chilli chutney with grilled prawns…a must try.
This was not the end of the dinner, the desserts looked similarly impressive. Although their descriptions sort of confused us, a Mr Arun Stepfen was very patient and helpful in getting us the names of various dishes and their literal translations. The king of the desserts was the humble Thai custard, made with wheat flour and duck eggs. Sublime, mellow and wholesome, it tastes just about right; the perfect end to a good meal. Other desserts like the Pisang Goreng or banana pancakes tasted fruity, the Thong Yip a mango mousse was a contrast of sweet and milky tastes.

Thai Desserts are a innovative

The fest is running till the 13th of Feb and it will set you back 850 bucks excl taxes. But if you want to try some real nice Thai cuisine, definitely head to Le Meridien for a different experience!

Food lovers in Kochi has been having a lot of interesting things to do (or rather eat) around the city lately. We just came to know that Chef Chang, a Rock Star in the chef circuit, is on a tour of India and is in Kochi now. He is at Le Meridien, Kochi from Feb 7th to 13th and his creations can be tasted at Treasure Trove for the dinner buffets. Here is your chance to get closest to Thailand without actually going there. We even heard that the staff at the restaurant have one of those oriental beards to give it an authentic feel. . We have a review coming up real soon guys.

Contact 0484-2705777 for reservations.