It was raining fine food and beverages…

July 18, 2016

The rain gods have been kind to Pune in the last week setting just the right mood for the monsoon edition of Karen Anand’s Pune Farmers’ Market. Now called Pune Market, the day-long fest of gourmet food, beverages and assorted accompaniments last Sunday played host to a large number of Puneites.

The event which took place on the lawns of Westin featured local awardwinning restaurants, dozens of avid home bakers and chefs, wineries and organic food producers. A regular visitor of the Farmers’ Market, Carina Dhunjibhoy says, “It’s always nice to be back here, the variety and exceptional produce one finds here makes me want to come back. This time it has been well-panned keeping the monsoons in mind as the entire place has been covered up.”

At this edition of the Pune Market curated by the food guru and Pune365 columnist, visitors could look out for some of their old favourites such as Pride of Cows unadulterated cow milk and cheese, Green Tokri fruit and veggies, Callow delicious smoothies, Keya spices and condiments, cold-pressed juices by Jus Up and Raw Pressery. Coffee by the Indian Bean and homemade pancake mixes by Yellow Crumb. Bliscent, Shuddhi Therapy and Waterline for natural wellness products. “This time’s Pune Market has been organised much better, the management has been so helpful in setting up the stalls and the crowd has been great as well,” says Natasha Asnani, owner of Callow.

The line-up of restaurants included some of the most popular eateries of the city complemented by the Kingfisher beer bar including wines from Indian wineries – Sula, Pause, Rhythm and Rio. Plus innovative cocktails. The evening was welcomed in with an acoustic set by Prateek Bhaduri and for the first time a full band with retro and rock by the Chris and Mike collective which kept the crowd on their toes quite literally. Aarish Bhathena, a student who was seen swaying to the beats, talking about the Pune Market said: “Good food, good music and good beer made it a great evening.” The newcomers in terms of food stalls included Global Punjab with kebabs and biryanis, Syrakko with modern fusion Indian and Shizusan with Japanese and Thai.