All-new Georgia reopens in style

The Georgia Restaurant situated opposite the Bahrain School in Juffair has reopened its doors to the island's residents.

Under the management of Marshall Consultant, which took over the operation more than 12 months ago, the eating out destination has had a makeover and crafted a new menu serving both Indian and Chinese cuisine.

Xavier John, general manager, said: "Although we do have a dining area, many of our customers enjoy ordering take away food. We get customers from all cultures and so try and adjust our spice levels according to their tastes."

The restaurant is a particular favourite with hungry sailors and workers from the nearby US Navy base. Engineer Joseph Hogan, 38, for example, said: "The food is fresh and has no artificial flavouring. The best thing about Georgia is that they taught me how to eat with my hands - I bring my friends over and they just stare at me eating!"

Mr Hogan is also impressed by the quantity in each helping and champions the restaurant's 'Singapore noodles' for particular praise with its full flavoured meat and spices.

Stirring up the feasts at Georgia are six cooks headed by head chef Jinesh Chacko who has been with the restaurant for nine months.

Chef Jinesh, 23, arrived in Bahrain with four years of culinary expertise and belongs to a family of farmers and has always appreciated that fresh is best.

He chose a career in hotel management to fulfill his love of food. He said: "I have completed my hotel management course from Calicut in Kerala, India, and first joined the business class hotel Hyson Heritage for six months.

"I then worked with the White Fort Hotel in Ernakulam for six months before returning to Calicut to join the Malabar Palace where I worked for one year. I then moved to the Kadavu Resorts and the Malabar Gate Restaurant before coming to Bahrain."

It was during his spell at the renowned Kadavu Resorts that Chef Jinesh was approached by Mr John who invited him to join the Georgia Restaurant enterprise.

Chef Jinesh now lives in Hoora and said: "It was my dream while studying in India to be able to come to the Middle East and work."

Although Chef Jinesh enjoys managing the entire kitchen's operations he specialises in Indian and tandoori dishes. The rest of the kitchen team includes cooks from different parts of India as well as the Philippines.

Here Chef Jinesh shares the recipe of one of the restaurant's favourite dishes - Punjabi chicken, one of his very own creations.

Punjabi chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken 250gm

1. Onion 1/2 kg

2. Capsicum 1/2 kg

3. Red chili powder 1 tsp

4. Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) one pinch

5. Garam masala 1 tsp

6. Turmeric powder 1 tsp

7. Cashew nut paste

8. Coriander leaves

9. Cream

Butter

Oil

Salt and salt to taste.

Onion gravy:

Chop onions, boil it and then grind to paste.

Procedure:

First, ingredients from one to nine are mixed together and fried in oil before adding the chicken.

The onion gravy is then added and the mixture is stirred. The cream, butter and sugar are then added.

Once the chicken is cooked, the preparation can be served in a bowl or kadai. Serve with rice or tandoori bread.