 People
around the world are celebrating the Chinese New Year,
which began on January 24, 2001. The Chinese
new year heralds a new beginning in the lives of Chinese.
It brings them joy filled with hope, happiness and zest.
Celebrating the Chinese new year with much fanfare and
style is Ohri's Cuisine Court in Basheerbagh.
The onset of the new year gave this plush restaurant an
opportunity to display the Chinese ambience. The Ming's
Court in Ohri's is ornately decorated with Chinese
gods and snakes. Snakes...? "Yes, snakes! Because in
Chinese calendar this year is considered as a 'Snake Year'.
So, we decorated our restaurant with snakes to create
the right ambience," says SR Ahmed, General
Manager, Ohri's cuisine court. Adding to this festivity
in Ohri's are the ever delectable Chinese dishes which
have established an endearing bond with the food connoisseurs
of the twin cities.
The menu card which has Chinese dragons inscribed on it
reads Memories from the Great wall- authentic oriental
food from the far east.
"We have prepared a menu from various far east countries
such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and China," says
Ahmed describing about the menu. The cuisine served includes
oriental soups, vegetables, sea food, lamb specialities,
and noodles and rice. The dishes to look out for are three
treasure pepper salt - consisting of baby corn, mushroom
and asparagus, stir fried with spices and crushed pepper;
drums of heaven- tender chicken wings marinated
in red chilly and fried in butter; crackling spinach-
deep fried spinach, topped with crushed chilly, salt and
sesame seeds.
If you are an ardent lover of soups you can go in for
oriental soups like Hunai soup, a spicy thick broth
with minced veg or non-veg topped with capscico sauce.
The oriental chicken specialities has chicken oriental
sauce, dragon chicken, chang mai chicken. One can
also taste prawn ginger cellery, crab in pepper and
garlic. And vegetarians have their own favourites
in the form of crispy potato with green pepper and hakka
vegetables. Along with it there are rice and noodles.
And when you finish it, don't forget to taste oriental
desserts.
 On
seeing the very good response from the public Ohri's has
extended the Chinese new year celebration till 7th of
February. But why do we need to celebrate the Chinese
new year? Says Ahmed "People like the Chinese dishes
very much. Respecting their taste and to move away form
the monotony and to create an atmosphere something different
from the regular we are celebrating the new year."
Do Hyderabadis know about Chinese new year and the importance
associated with it? "Awareness about Chinese festivals
and Chinese new year among the people is increasing and
the response to our festival proves this", says Ahmed.
To the people who don't know much about Chinese new year
here is a little description about it. Also called as
the Spring Festival, the traditional Chinese New Year
celebrates the beginning of a new season. It is a time
of renewed hope for a prosperous future. The snake, the
sixth of twelve animals associated with the Chinese lunar
calendar, is a symbol of wisdom and charm. Known for excellent
manners, people born in the Year of the Snake are said
to be intelligent, philosophical, elegant, and romantic.
 Year
of the snake is a Leap Year. Unlike the western calendar,
where one extra day is added in February, one whole leap
month is added in a Chinese Leap Year. The Year of the
Snake ends on Feb. 11, 2002.
Address: Ohri's Cuisine Court, 5-9-30/16-20,
Opp. Gandhi Medical College, Basheer Bagh, Hyderabad.
Phone: 329 8811, 329 8822, 323 6504. Fax:
323 5990. |
