Marriott’s Luxury Dining Series is Celebrating Forgotten Flavours and Ingredients

It’s a small mustard seed. Dark, rich with promise and full of flavour. This jhakiya (wild mustard) is known for providing an earthy heat. It brings a subtle intensity to a wild mustard and pomelo salad. In another dish, the faintly nutty and also dark Meghalaya black rice adds flavour to a foxtail khichdi.

Additionally, the fragrant aromas of the turmeric leaf, harvested in the monsoon, gently envelop a cod fillet. These ingredients—wild mustard, millets, turmeric leaves—are the stars of a seven-course feast at Aaleshaan, the signature Indian restaurant at the JW Marriott Bengaluru Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa. It was no ordinary meal. The feast was part of Luxury Dining Series, a multi-city gastronomic extravaganza by Marriott International.

Last year, the Luxury Group by Marriott International curated a Luxury Dining Series, a gastronomical journey spanning several cities, with a simple aim: to showcase the culinary and mixology talent at Marriott properties across the world. In India, the 2025 edition unfolded across the expansive JW Marriott Bengaluru Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa, against the backdrop of Nandi Hills. The theme of this edition was Forgotten Flavours.

It was a weekend of feasting, and fittingly, ingredients like jhakiya, banana flower, foxtail millets, jackfruit, pumpkin flower, seasonal greens and more stole the show. Indian chefs brought out dishes that didn’t just showcase their talent, but also a deep knowledge of Indian produce and cooking techniques.

Masterchef Riyaz Ahmed’s Indian daawat (feast) kicked off the celebrations with a menu that celebrated India’s culinary heritage. “The meal had Dakhs Kabargah (lamb ribs), a delicacy often overlooked. Jackfruit Haleem offers a vegetarian take on a classic, rich in texture and flavour. The Nadar ki Shaami Kebab, made with lotus stem, revives a traditional ingredient with a modern twist.” The star was definitely the nalli, which Ahmed slow-cooked overnight for 8-10 hours over charcoal. “Storytelling is essential in today’s culinary world; it connects diners to the heritage, culture, and craft behind each dish. In the nihari, I wanted to bring alive the legacy of Lucknow.”

Storytelling was a key component of the JW Garden-Inspired Soirée, a candle-lit dinner at one of the resort’s gardens. Earlier in the day, a visit to one of the resort’s farms—spread across 40 acres—showcased ingredients that would be used in the meal. Think raw mango, banana flower, allspice, basil and lemon leaves. Chef Neeraj Rawoot, Director of Culinary, wove these into an eight-course meal highlighting techniques like parchment paper cooking and steaming in turmeric leaf, for a feast where avocado and raw mango did a salsa together in a salad, Kashmiri morel and black garlic brought umami, and jeera samba rice offered fragrant accompaniment to mutton. “Each of the ingredients used in my meals tells a story of regional connection, of time-tested taste, and of luxury redefined—not through extravagance, but through cultural richness and reverence,” says Rawoot.

“Storytelling in food is more important than ever. It gives the food its soul. When people know the ‘why’ behind what's on their plate, where an ingredient comes from, how it was used, or why it's paired the way it is, the meal becomes an experience leading to long lasting memory,” says Rawoot.

The Five Elements Dinner took storytelling to a different level, with five chefs interpreting the five elements of earth, fire, wind, water and air. The meal’s courses were woven around different, unused spaces of the hotel, including the spa’s terrace, kiddie pool, and even the golf course. There was live music, a small light show, balloons released in the air, and food that was surprised and delighted—jackfruit haleem, lobster ghee roast, torched scallop nigiri, salmon with yuzu, and a Champaran mutton cornette.

The other feasts that were part of the Luxury Dining Series included the Lazy Lakeside Brunch—a Korean-Japanese-Cantonese menu by resident Chef Saiful Agam, and Chef Vu Van Thien (Jackie) of The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, and a relaxed The Great Getaway Brunch. Apropos of the recently held 50 Best Bars awards night, there was a cocktail collaboration between Simone Ciambrone of The Bvlgari Bar, Tokyo (on the World’s 50 Best Bars Discovery List) and Beverage Manager, Kuldeep Rawat, at Vista Bar. A highlight was a banana-forward Johnny, which married mezcal with the subtle sweet notes of banana for a smooth and strong drink.

The biggest surprise of the event was the launch of the resort’s bar/ lounge, The Wknd.

The three-day event drove home the fact that luxury isn’t just about expensive meals, but showcasing seasonal, forgotten ingredients and fresh harvests, and weaving them together into plates of food that tell a story. “It is important to maintain the integrity and simplicity of the meals—where produce is the hero, and the plate is the canvas.