At The Claridges, Delhi, you can have everything from exotic grills to risotto Milanese prepared live

God rested on Sunday, but I have had no such luck. Almost every hotel is into Sunday brunches these days, and I have had to attend a few of those. This, of course, is the season for brunches — as winter makes its presence felt with a slight chill in the air and a warm, mellow sun.

But a brunch is no more a simple breakfast-cum-lunch. The hotels, I realise, have to make their brunches appetising enough for people to get up from their beds with some degree of enthusiasm on a Sunday after some hectic partying the night before. I know that feeling. I had to drag myself out of bed when I went for my first brunch this season at The Park in Delhi. I went grumbling, but came home pretty much happy, sated on grills, cold cuts and pasta.

And that is why I didn’t crib much when The Claridges extended a brunch invite a few Sundays later. Clearly, Sunday brunches are the flavour of the season. Both The Claridges and Zen at The Park in Calcutta started their Sunday brunches on November 16.

At The Metropolitan Hotel in New Delhi, brunches are going great guns at its Japanese restaurant, Sakura, and the coffee shop, Patio. At the Taj Bengal, Executive Chef Sujan Mukherjee is rustling up some exotic baby octopus and squid preparations for brunches. And The Hyatt in Calcutta is busy with its Italian special for Sunday afternoons.

Hotels are doing innovative things to woo clients in these difficult times. Some of the brunches are held by pool sides, or in the open. The Park brunch in Delhi came along with a flea market, and some of the hotels earmark a kiddies’ corner so that parents can drink their bubbly with nary a thought while their offspring are otherwise busy. The menu, of course, is elaborate — and consists of almost everything that you can think of.

Chef Mukherjee, for instance, presents an ice bed with ingredients such as Canadian lobsters, baby octopuses and squids. The octopus in oyster sauce is lightly grilled, and the Canadian lobster is parboiled and grilled.

Executive Chef Ravi Saxena of The Claridges points out that his brunch has no chafing dishes, and everything is prepared live. Even your choice of cold cuts — Parma ham, Pancetta or salami Verona — is sliced in front of you.

The speciality restaurants showcase the best of their cuisine. La Cucina at the Calcutta Hyatt, with Chef Thomas Marchi at the helm, offers everything from smoked salmon, octopus carpaccio and grilled squids to spaghetti with Parma ham and a rocket salad with mushroom and caramel balsamic.

La Cucina at Hyatt Regency is dishing out Italian specials like the spaghetti

At the Sakura, where Chef Nariyoshi Nakamura and his team cook Japanese dishes with ingredients flown in from Japan, you can have your fill of sushi and sashimi. And at Zen, a team of four chefs presents Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisine in a cooking theatre in the restaurant.

I got a couple of recipes from my friends — executive chef Bakshish Dean of the Park in Delhi and Chef Saxena. Chef Dean, who cooks a mean smoked duck with papaya and stuffed leg of lamb, has given us the recipe for a saucy piladine . And Chef Saxena, whose duck rolled in crêpes and risotto were excellent, tells us what to do for a plate of hot risotto Milanese.

You can have your fill of sushi (in picture) and sashimi at Sakura, The Metropolitan Hotel, Delhi

To serve four, take 250gm risotto rice, 150gm chopped onion, 150gm chopped garlic, a few strands of saffron soaked in milk, 50gm butter, 100ml olive oil, 120gm Parmesan cheese, 90ml white wine, stock for cooking and salt and pepper to taste.

Now heat the oil in a heavy-bottom pan, and fry onion and garlic. When the onion turns transparent, add the rice, salt and pepper and sauté for a while. Add the wine and mix well. Add hot stock to just cover the rice. When the stock gets absorbed, add some more — and continue till the rice is al dente. Add the saffron with the milk. When it is done add butter and Parmesan. Mix well and serve hot.

A Sunday brunch is not a bad idea at all. Most of the buffets offer unlimited wine and hard liquor, and some, like Taj Bengal, have pink champagne on a special menu. A good brunch can be several meals rolled into one. Forego breakfast, and if you can do justice to the enormous fare in front of you, you can forget about dinner as well. Just don’t forget the antacid.

Piladine

Ingredients

• 750gm pizza dough • 450gm grated mozzarella • 200gm tomato sauce • Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle • 150gm iceberg lettuce • 150gm rocket • 50gm olives • 30gm sundried tomatoes • 20gm lemon juice • Salt and pepper, to taste • 50gm Parmesan flakes for final sprinkling

Method

Roll out the pizza dough in an oblong shape of 12-inches diameter. Spread the sauce on top, leaving the border. Spread cheese on top. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 250° C. Drizzle with olive oil, and heap up the salad to serve.