08/09/2026
One of the highlights of the Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival each year is the Awadhi home cooked food festival. In 2026, this grand Sunday lunch was held in the outdoors space at Raja Rampal Singh park, giving guests the opportunity to enjoy gourmet food in the winter sun.
Home cooks dished out heirloom recipes. There were over 60 dishes to choose from. These included Awadhi non vegetarian delicacies such as mutton qorma, aloo gosht, nihari, kababs, yakhni pulao and dum biryani. There was lal mirch ka keema which has become a signature dish of the festival over the years, always the first to run out. There were regional vegetarian thaalis such as the Kaayastha, Marwari, Bundelkhandi, and Punjabi thaalis.
Since Raabta Lucknow Calcutta Ka was the theme of MSLF 2026, there were also some Bengali specialities too such as mustard fish curry. Dessert options included chane ki dal ka halwa, kaali gajar ka halwa, phirni and sondesh.
Everything is prepared by home cooks in their kitchens. Nothing is wasted. All the spread is over by the end of the day. On a rough estimate, over 2,000 guests have lunch at the Sunday food festival each year. The curators of the festival say their intention is that guests “have a dastarkhan kind of experience”, a meal celebrating shared tables and kinship.
Do visit the Sunday home cooked food festival at MSLF 2027!
