Punjab Bistro‘s avant-garde style of North Indian food is earning high praise in Bangalore. Launched just a few days ago, it’s quite quickly become the most favorite North Indian restaurant of most people. Sajal Jassal,Founder & CEO of Punjab Bistro says “We have built this place on the principal of 3 Ps – Purity, Pride and Passion which will be reflected in our service and food. Culture evolves with time and so does food habits. We understand the changing taste of people in modern India and Punjab Bistro will showcase the fine balance between traditional and contemporary.” . After having known from the time of Punjab Grill, I knew the kind of quality and sophistication I was to expect here. Taking inspiration from the rich heritage of Punjab, Executive Chef Masaroor Waris Khan, has worked tirelessly to present each dish in a very contemporary way and yet in a very Punjabi style!

There are few cuisines in the world that can boast of exotic and delectable dishes and Punjabi cuisine is one of them. The use of Indian spices, desi ghee and butter feeds the soul. With Punjab being the bread basket of India, you’ll not be surprised to see several options in the Indian breads section. One new bread I got to try here was the Sheermal; a mildly sweet flat bread. Let’s look at everything I tried here on a weekday for lunch with 3 other food bloggers along with me.

Appetizers

Before we started with the meal, we were served Amuse Bouche. And as the name suggests, it’s mouth amuser, to give us a glimpse of the Chef’s culinary prowess. The complexity in the flavors of the dish really opened it up well for our lunch 🙂

We started with showstopper, Lahori Charga Murgh; a traditional dish mostly seen on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan. With chicken marinaded with special masalas, steam cooked, cooled and then fried to get that awesome crispiness on the outside. I simply loved this dish and is a must try!

Beetroot Peanut Tikki is an improvisation on what Punjab Grill served earlier. This time around it’s super crispy on the outside and the whole tikki is quite light and doesn’t make you feel bloated. The taste as usual was brilliant. I did have 3 of these beautiful tikkis, they were that good 🙂

Chicken Stuffed Drumstick is probably what I feel is closest to Malai Tikka, but with a stuffing. This makes all the difference! This was quite tasty, but I believe you can’t have more than one, because it is a bit on the sweeter side.

Quesadilla is a Mexican dish and the Chef has made this a fusion with North Indian styled Corn and Palak filling. Do not forget to try the Corn Palak Quesadilla! The warm sweet corn and palak sandwiched in a paratha was yummy 🙂

Mutton Seekh Kabab presented here is in the form of a huge cigar. And some seeing my Instagram Story mentioned it looked like a dandiya stick! So much for imagination 😛 The minced meat was soft, flavorful and absolutely wonderfully spiced. I somehow feel the quantity is not right, there should probably be 2 of these rolls per plate.

Some other dishes I tried were Bistro spl Murgh Tikka, Lasooni Kumbh Mushroom and Pathar Ka Gosht.

Main Course

We started the main course after a round of several appetizers. For us to really be able to enjoy the mains, it made sense to cleanse our palate. They served a nice sorbet popsicle!

Muradabadi dal tasted as good as it looked. This dish goes way back to 1625, during Shah Jahan’s time! There are many ways of garnishing this dish, and here it came with some moong dal, the quintessential red chilli powder, green chutney and some raw onions. I cannot come to a Punjabi restaurant and not have Butter Chicken. I did have it here and it tasted just the way I would have liked it to. I didn’t have too much space in my tummy for more because I gorged on the appetizers earlier.

Firangi sabzi served with the Sheermal was quite unique for me.

The Indian breads that I got to try here were a million miles better and different from every other Punjabi restaurant in Bangalore. I tried Chur chur paratha, Sheermal and Spring Onion cheese kulcha. If you still fancy the good ol’ Butter Naan, suit yourself!

Desserts

I tried 2 desserts ; Mango panacotta and Malpua Pudding . I have to say the consistency of the Mango Panacotta was pretty good, although not as wiggly as expected. There was very little sugar used and that was great for all of us trying to stay on a diet!

I didn’t manage to try their Mille Feuille, and that’s what will drag me to Punjab Bistro sooner rather than later 🙂

For more information on Punjab Bistro, please visit their Zomato page.