Miami’s Best Labor Day Deals August 30, 2017  1:00pm Alona Abbady Martinez

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and though Miami’s mercury might dip only from scorching to sizzling, here’s where it’s at in beachside, poolside, and restaurant specials for the long holiday weekend.
Villa Azur will be promoting a special offer this weekend on Labor Day, ladies will receive half off all food and drinks. Villa Azur has created a new Labor Day-inspired cocktail, the Dragon ($19), made with Casadragones Blanco, homemade dragon fruit purée, lime juice, Grand Marnier foam, and agave nectar. 6:30 to 11 p.m. Monday, September 4, at 309 23rd St., Miami Beach;  villaazurmiami.com.

Ananda Spa Healing Holidays are truly transformative, looking at each individual in a holistic manner. The Dhyana Self Realisation Program allows guests to gain more control over their physical and mental faculties, balancing them emotionally as well as spiritually. Wellness guests are guided through daily meditation sessions including Yoga Nidra (physic sleep), Ajapa Japa (spontaneous mantra chanting), Antar Mouna (inner silence) and Trataka (gazing on a candle flame).
One-on-one hatha yoga sessions are personalised for each guest to help release physical stiffness and tensions and attain stillness, whilst Pranayama breathing techniques balances the energy and internalises the mind to assist meditative practices. Topics related to Yogic philosophy and its incorporation into daily practices are discussed with the Yoga Guru. The Dhyana program also includes Swadhaya or self-study which is a deeper reflection on each day’s experiences.
Multi award winning Ananda in the Himalayas has long been known as one of Asia’s top luxury Ayurveda resorts with a fantastic focus on holistic wellbeing. The resort looks like a palace and has royalty and celebrities gracing its doors. We love the authenticity of the wellness programs.

Cajun chicken then made its way- relished the flavors of crushed red peppers, paprika, dried oregano and thyme in this one,but lacked that punch to call this as the perfect one. The wedges served with this one in the chilling weather was the right one to binge on and we went on and on…This was followed by Fishy-vishy Prawns sizzler with in-house spices, prawns could have been slightly more softer, but went well with good portion of veggies & wedges. Caramelized Button mushrooms with pepper seasoning was a nice one- simple and full of flavors!
I vividly remember my encounter with this distinct meal. The aromatic flavors and most importantly the hissing sound, suddenly all eyes are attracted to your table.
Without any guesses, sizzling sizzlers it is!
I ordered sizzlers for the first time during my school days, the reason to call for this unique dish was simple -elder bro did so and I was very good at being the baby sissy!
So,when I was invited for the Sizzler Festival hosted by Hyatt, Pune (Baan Tao and Eighty Eight) was totally excited and this sweet memory was cherished all over again.

Did you know?
Sizzlers were first seen and experimented in California, US sometime in late 1950’s.
Coming to this one, the ambience of this place is amazing- loved the Fish Bowl section- complete paparazzi venue!
We were informed by Chef Sunil about the oriental and continental dishes curated for the tasting event. Here, unlike the regular sizzler experiences where you have the fries, patties, rice and veggies-some of the items were categorized as what we call-starters and mains.

​We started with Kiwi and apple refreshing coolant high on vitamin C.

Dumbells and Drama

The baby sister has been a huge fan of momos all her life (I fail to get the obsession, I mean steamed white flour dumplings stuffed with vegetables/meat served with sauce fail to get me as excited as say a butter chicken would, you know what I mean?) But well, when Baan Tao at Hyatt Pune reached out to me for a Momo Festival, I decided to take the baby sister out on a momo date to have the night of her life.
I’ve always considered momos as snack food, and now in hindsight I think we should have gone a little more prepared (read hungry) for the festival. Don’t get me wrong here, it all went good. But eating 20 momos is not as easy as it sounds, a fact that we realized that night as we enjoyed a delicious dumpling dinner, not in the mood to miss out on anything.
That night we enjoyed all types of dumplings you could imagine; dumplings stuffed with chicken, shrimps, sea bass, dumplings made of carrot dough, beetroot dough, potato starch, dumplings served in soy sauce, open dimsums, the works! And we ate them all.

My personal favorite- the Sichuan Dimsum (I think this has something to do with the fact that I enjoy familiar flavours rather than experimenting with tastes; this one was a typical Oriental preparation made in soy sauce) The Cheung Fun came a close second, once again due to the fact that it was a familiar flavor. Made in a typical oriental style, this one was served in a truffle oil broth.
By the time we reached dessert, there wasn’t much place left in our tummies. We managed to taste a bite each of the Pistachio Bao and Chocolate Bao. I’d go back for the chocolate bao, but I’ll still feel more comfortable sticking to the savoury baos if I had a choice.

​The dessert that caught our attention was the chocolate brownie served with mascarpone cheese and honeycomb crumble. Knowing how stuffed we were, I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly we finished the dessert.

The Momo Festival at Baan Tao is a refreshing change from the usual dining experience.  You can walk in and choose a plate of dumplings of your choice from the a la carte menu, or opt for the unlimited rounds of dumplings (Rs. 1750 per person) You can also be a part of a masterclass where you learn how to make the dumplings along with Chef Sunil and his team(You’ll have to call ahead and make a reservation for a masterclass)
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I think we are still hungover with all that momo overload. Not complaining! I wish they add this to their regular menu though; a dinner of dumplings is a fresh, delicious change Pune could do with.
http://dumbbellsanddrama.com/lifestyle/momo-festival-in-baan-tao-hyatt