Lucknow, the City of Nawabs. Hyderabad, the City of Nizams. What better way to fete the others rich cultural heritage and gastronomic delights than by hosting a Shahi Dashtarkhwan at Firdaus, Taj Krishna Hyderabad.

Visiting Masterchef Mohammed Nizam has brought to town the very best of Awadhi cuisine from Lucknow. There’s a scrumptious repertoire of kebabs – right from Kakori and Galouti kebabs, to more herbivorous options like the Dahi Ke Kebabs, Subz Galawat and Hara Tawa Kebabs. Special mention of the excellent Gobhi Musallam, baked whole with saffron in cashew nut gravy.

No Awadhi menu is complete without popular meat treats like the Nihari Gosht, Raan Musallam, Barrah Kebabs and murgh tikkas which were cooked to perfection. There’s an interesting variety of rotis on the menu. Specially liked the Ulte Tawa parathas and sheermal.

Desserts like the shahi tukda, firni and sewain are so close yet so far away from the Hyderabadi versions. You’ll have to taste them to decide who wins.

A generous use of saffron, cashews, yoghurt, rich and aromatic spices and the technique of dum and charcoal smoked with cloves give Awadhi cuisine its unique and distinct flavours. Once you’ve sampled them, they linger on and expose your taste buds to a whole new high. So go ahead and channel the royalty in you and dine like a Nawab! The festival is on till Wednesday (5 November 2014).