Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!

When you are a blogger and get an invitation from PRs and restaurants, it is always tricky as one would wonder how objective you would be. I always follow certain rules: always disclose that I was invited, be honest about the food (if I do not like it, I will write it), never talk about the service as they know that you are coming for a review and for sure will give you extra attention. People sometimes ask me: if you get invited and do not like the food at all, what do you do? Frankly, I would not post as a courtesy to the person who invited me. Benares is an interesting case though: I went two years ago and did not like it. So, going back was weird and the experience was different, the food we tried much better than what we had the first time we went to their location in TriBeca (although I still find their samosa just ok), and we tried a lot of it, as they proposed a tasting composed of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Here is what we had:

High Society Old Fashioned:

Mango and sweet lassi (perfect for soothing my mouth as the food was a bit spicy):

Far Far Crackers:

Paneer (cottage cheese) with onion sauce:

Khasta Gobhi (lightly battered crisp cauliflower with garlic and crushed pepper in a tangy sauce):

Aloo Papri Chaat (wheat crisps, chickpeas, potatoes, topped with yogurt, roasted cumin, mint and tamarind sauce) and vegetable samosa:

Aloo Papri Chaat and samosa at Benares in TriBeCa

Tandoor specialties: it was composed of Aamiya Jhinga (jumbo prawns marinated in mango, chili, rice vinegar, ginger and molasses, cooked in tandoor), Chicken Tikka Smokey,