Soccer stars served on a platter in UP

Lucknow, June 12 (UNI) While they continue to delight the football aficionados worldwide with their incredible skills, soccer stars are also tickling the tastebuds in Uttar Pradesh.

Beckham's favourite, Zidan's backshot and Ronaldinho curry are making debut on the culinary table, in keeping with the soccer mania that has gripped the state.

The Clarks Shiraz hotel in Agra has installed a big television screen in the hall while arranging alcohalic beverages for foreign and domestic tourists,.

Vinod Sharma, the CEO of the hotel told UNI that special World Cup arrangements are not confined to those only.

''Dida punt, Oliver Kahn loose ball and Ronaldo Penalty are some of the culinary delights being served here to celebrate the soccer World Cup,'' he said.

And they are not alone to whip up the hysteria.

The Taj Ganges -- a swanky five-star hotel in Varanasi-- is offering a variety of dishes named after the likes of Ronaldinho, Zidane and Beckham.

Talking to UNI here today, Hotel's Food and Beverage Manager Sanjoy Kumar Das said that an international soccer-food festival would be organised at the restaurant of the hotel between June 30 and July 9, the period spanning from quarterfinals to the grand finale of the quadrennial event.

The food and drink combinations, especially from coutries in action at Germany 2006, will be served under different packages to customers at the restaurant, which will offer them an additional attraction of live final round matches on giant screens in the same culinary space.

''We are also trying to arrange jersies of hot teams like Brazil, Argentina, Holland, England, France and Germany and other props like whistles to give a truly world cup experience to the visitors,'' Mr Das added.

Even the smaller cities in the state are under the soccer mania and besides the tourist towns of Agra and Varanasi and the state capital, Allahabad, Kanpur, Meerut and Bareilly have also geared up to celebrate month-long extravaganza in style.

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