On December 22, Hanglaatherium welcomed the spirit of the season with a unique spice-mixing ceremony celebrating Kolkata’'s love for the biryani and Christmas. The biryani restaurant chain held the event at its Jodhpur Park branch
Photographs by Soumyajit DeyEight spices like cardamom, cinnamon, clove, mace, nutmeg, white pepper, cumin and rose petals were neatly lined up ready to be mixed
Influencers and patrons joined the mixing ceremony along with team Hanglaatherium
The whole spices were mixed ceremoniously. The restaurant would later dry roast, grind and use it in their biryani
Speaking to My Kolkata on the sidelines of the event, food vlogger Avijit Biswas said: ‘It was delightful to be a part of this one of a kind event. The experience was unique. Thanks to Hanglaatherium’
Another food vlogger Pritha Paul said: ‘Being a food vlogger I have been to various cake-mixing events. But this was the first time, I have been a part of something so different. I am a huge biryani lover. So this was all the more special for me’
(From left) Piyali Banerjee, director, finance; Avijit Majumdar, director, operations and Sunando Banerjee, founder and CEO. On being asked why a ‘spice-mixing ceremony?’ Sunando Banerjee said: ‘Most restaurants and hotels in Kolkata have a cake-mixing ceremony and I wondered as a biryani speciality restaurant what we could do. That’s when our team came up with this idea. It is celebrating the true culture of the city where the spirit of Christmas blends in with the flavours of biryani’
The event concluded with a warm bowl of nihari with naan cosying up a wintry Sunday morning