Coquina
An experiential dining – by appointment
Coquina is an artisanal kitchen that experiments with food from local produce in small portions. It offers a combination of traditional and modern cooking by knowledgeable individuals, who are cooks by passion and not by profession. Our guests get a chance to learn about this Passion Cuisine, cook for themselves under expert supervision and learn the art of cooking a local meal. The concept is to learn from the local cuisine under a local expert guidance, while the booking at Coquina is for an exclusive private learning session only – It welcomes discerning travellers who intend to understand, learn and experiment with local cuisines for an experience. Many dishes that were once extinct or were just a home-kitchen names in Awadh homes or even were secret recipes from the royal kitchens of nobility in Awadh, are revived here to be once again spread all over, as a secret re-told by Coquina.
Coquina is a small immaculately furnished and a well equipped home kitchen (Booked privately by appointment, not an open commercial facility like a restaurant), that is happy to welcome a maximum of four guests at a time, but is rather happier with just even one or two for a private cooking session. Coquina welcomes only food loving discerning travellers who intend to understand and learn about Awadhi cuisine.
Our guests are discerning travellers, who look for experiential tours that give them a purpose to travel apart from leisure and pleasure. At Coquina they can learn to cook a few dishes from the array of complex Awadhi Cuisine and our dishes do not stop at the meaty dishes borrowed from the Nawabs, but also appreciate Awadhi influence in Kayasthas (white collared class from Hindu community), Anglo-Indian cuisine from Lucknow, Rastogis (business class, often associated with the selling of Chikan garments in Lucknow) and of course the staunch Brahamins from this Nawabi influenced city.
At Coquina we can give lessons to cook a special Awadhi meal in our private kitchen, let our guests cook under supervision, learn all about food history and enjoy a hearty meal.