Punjab Grill is one of the very few North Indian Restaurants in Bangalore that does justice to the cuisine. The reason I say that is because while making a dish modern, it doesn’t mar it’s true legacy. At most North Indian restaurants, chefs are very liberal in use of desi ghee and/or butter and fresh cream to make food very rich in texture and taste!

I was invited by my good friend Nitin to join him & other foodie friends, for lunch on a lazy Saturday! What helps when you head to a restaurant is having another good friend in Abhinav, who manages the place, make sure we had a great time 🙂 Every little detail was taken care of and the service felt like I walked into a restaurant tailor-made for foodies!! The amount of patience needed is beyond imagination when you have a bunch of foto-frenzy people making life difficult for the staff 😉

There was a preset 6-4-2 menu; 6 appetizers, 4 main course and 2 desserts, split equally between vegetarian and non-vegetarian options! The vegetarian food was nearly as good as the Non-vegetarian, if not better. So, all you vegetarians can safely pick this restaurant and there are plenty of options to pick from. Science suggests that one must have only a finite number of dishes for a single sitting, to have a wholesome meal. The specially curated menu was indeed just about right as they didn’t overdo it and only featured the best of the best! Let’s see what I had 🙂

FOOD

Amuse Bouche

The amuse bouche here has made a lasting impression on me and that’s mostly because of how well it looked & tasted. A tiny Dahi Bhalla with just the right chutneys was a perfect start as it set the tone for a brilliant meal!

Appetizers

Vegetarian Appetizers

The first one on the eventful afternoon was Paneer Multani Tikka, which was a tandoori preparation that’s infused with secret herbs & spices. It was soft and extremely good to taste. It’s true that the real test of Paneer in the eyes of a layman is the knife test; one slice and if we’re able to get through real quick, it’s a pass! This one passed the test with flying colors!

We also had the Beetroot Peanut Tikki, which didn’t have any of the ingredients that would have made me interested. But, this one took me by a surprise and I couldn’t stop myself from asking for more. The peanut butter, potato and beetroot mixture was quite good in the form of a deep fried patty. Top it with some cheesy sauce and it’s a wonderful recipe!

These days, I’ve developed a fondness for Dahi Ke Kabab. And when you love something so much, you’re going to be super critical about it. The one here was good to taste, but didn’t quite have the right consistency. That made me lose half the interest in this one 😦

Non-vegetarian Appetizers

The first Non-vegetarian Appetizer that I tried was the Murgh Malai Tikka. It’s a tandoor preparation with the chicken marinated with not just yogurt and cashew nut paste, but cheese too 🙂 It was a bit sweet and just the way I like it my malai tikka!

The next appetizer completely stole the show. It was none other than the Chaamp Taajdar; Braised Lamb Chops. The presentation of this dish was spectacular, but it didn’t last for too long till I could get a shot of it! The taste however, did last for a long time in my heart!

We were pleasantly surprised to see a whole Pomfret cooked in Tandoori style! I’m not a big fan of fish meat, so I didn’t quite fancy this one. It was tender and flavorful though.

Main Course

They let us indulge in their signature dishes. We started with one of the most sought after North Indian dish; Sarson da saag. It tasted so good that it was way beyond my expectations. This was paired with the Makki di roti. Since, I don’t like to have any of the wheat Indian flat breads, I loved this combination all the more!

Next up was the Murgh Lababdar; it was a tomato based chicken gravy dish. Absolutely nothing wrong with this one as well. Loved this one along with the chicken biriyani.

They also served us the Daal and Raarhya Meat; marrow filled shanks and lamb chops. Daal was simple and mind you, a simple dish is not a simple thing! Raarhya Meat was if I may call it ‘exquisite’. I would have loved this more had I been more accustomed to this. But, I’m sure I will be soon as I’ve been seeing this dish a lot lately 🙂

Beverages

While I was having all of these lovely dishes, I sipped on some fine red wine and Pistawali Lassi. Super bad thing to have them for a single meal, but I love both of these, so I didn’t care!

Here are some of the mocktails that others ordered! The one with the green chillies was excellent too!

Desserts

The took the simplest of the Indian desserts; Gulab Jamoon too a whole new level. I have frankly never seen anyone do anything like this with the Gulab Jamoons! They dish was done 3 ways; Gulab Jamoons filled with:

• Pistachio
• White Chocolate with Honey & Almonds
• Nutella!

Take my word for it, the one with the Nutella was out of this world, and NO it wasn’t overly sweet, which made it all the more awesome. The serving sizes are massive, you’d need 3 people to finish this plate 🙂

The second dessert was the Kulfi Falooda. This was served in the usual way, which is in a tall glass, but, was served deconstructed on a plate. Do not ask me anything about the presentation!! I will end it here 😛

I believe the restaurant is clearly a pioneer in the North Indian cuisine, that is so easily abused by many a restaurant in Bangalore, South India. Head to Punjab Grill as soon as you can!! If you haven’t already, you’re missing out on a gem of a place 🙂 I know I’m heading there for not one or two dishes, but for a whole lot of them and that speaks volumes of how much I enjoyed the food & the experience here. The service was top class!