How often do you find authentic langar dal the lip smacking one from Golden Temple, Amritsar? Or well cooked chicken curry, dhaba style? Or even rustic flavoured aloo vadiyan. As a hard core Punjabi I sometimes miss my roots. And though we try the best to replicate these flavours at home the perfection is not there.
So we had a chance to try the rustic punjabi food at the Amritsar Food Festival at Dilli 32, Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, we jumped in joy.
Unlike the usual notion, Punjabi food is not heavy it’s more flavourful and masaledar.
The Grand Trunk Road festival is ongoing till March first week and a must visit for ardent food lovers. It will cover the important places which are a part of the Grand Trunk road. First stop Amritsar, then Delhi, Mathura, Benaras, lastly Calcutta.
Price for two: 3k excluding drinks
Ambiance: Right outside the main restaurant, Dilli 32 has brought Punjab to Delhi with their beautiful set up. Complete with a ganne ka juice wala, a desi sharab ka theeka, barf ka gola and dhaba looks!
Drinks: We tried the kanji first, Kanji is a fermented black carrot water and super yummy. I loved it. Then we tried the special kala khatta chuski cocktail, with its slight tinge of chat masala and a small pouring of tequila it is amazing.
Food: The starters were amazing, the Lawarence road ke tikke, were tandoori chicken tikkas did not taste of butter and while being masaledar they were juicy enough. The masalas were not over powering either. The bhutte ka seekh is a great as the corn gives it great texture. The Tikka Rajma Diyan are mouth melting rajma galouti a must have.
The main course was the tastiest I have had in a long long while, the chicken curry is a beauty, the masala’s do not overpower the flavours of the chicken. The Rara chaapan is a mutton dish, good in terms of taste, what shocked me is that unlike most places its not oily and tastes like those Amritsar dhabas. The main reason for this is that Chef Ashwini, from Dilli 32, actually went to rustic dhabas in Amritsar to get the perfect melancholy of flavours.
The basic food from Amritsar is here too but made with such precise recipes that you fall in love with aloo vadiyan, matar paneer, chole, kadhi pakoda. in fact I missed my native place in Punjab a bit more by each bite, that is the beauty of food here.
The staple sarson ka saag, makki ki roti was also served and the saag was not ghee laden but you can taste the freshness of the sarson. The makki ki roti was soft and the best I have had recently. They also served us aloo kulcha which is quite popular in the by lanes of Amritsar.
The desserts were a delectable, the gulab jamuns were the softest I have had, melt in the mouth variety. The gur ka halwa has jaggery and some sooji to make a fiery orange halwa with a different kick because unlike sugar gur has its own flavour that enhanced the halwa. The gajar ka halwa was god level amazing.
Rating: 5/5 for such rustic, true to it’s root and delectable food.
