Music in the air and lots of food - remind you some place you`d love to be Sunday mid-morning? Well, Cafe in the Park at Radha Regent is just such a place.

There was a steady stream of guests and waiters were seen scurrying across tables catering to their every need though the brunch was a buffet.

The vegetarian spread was lavish; we started with the light, piping hot tomato soup which did its job of appetising well enough. The tandoori paneer tikka was crusty yet soft and well marinated.

The assortment of fruit and vegetable salads and fresh juices went down well with the guests.

The array of side dishes included a preparation as innovative as broccoli shahjani - tender florets of broccoli in a rich cashew gravy typical of Lucknow - and paneer in peanut gravy - a medley of the paneer butter masala from Punjab and the peanut gravy base popularly used in Maharashtra to something as down-to-earth as dhondakaya koora, a typical Andhra spicy stir fry of ivy gourd. Strangely the okra dipped in soy flour and fried to a crisp perfection went well with steaming rice and rasam.

The chef surprised us with names as innovative as his dishes - there were dal ganga jamuna and sabzi birbali tucked away among the vegetrain dishes.

Phuket chicken, a traditional Indonesian preparation of chicken nuggets infused with Indian spices, fiery fried pomfret and spicy kozhi varutha curry went well with the mutton biryani.

The Iranian murg tikka and chicken sausages were cooked just enough to retain the juices while being firm to the bite.

After such a sumptuous main course, we did not have much room for dessert but the floor manager insisted we try some of the fruit and nut strudel and the juicy balushahi which didn`t take much effort gulping given the excellent taste.

The variety on offer and the taste did not give us time to realise that the band had stopped performing and the clock was ticking on towards tea time. Some of the guests were still hesitant to move from the comfort of their seats after the feast-like brunch which will surely have more takers every Sunday.

Lakshmi Krishnamoorthy