AN AUTHENTIC TOUCH 5

TRADITIONAL FLAVOURS RULE AT TAJ BANAGLORE'S INDIAN RESTAURANT

Tamarind, the Indian restaurant at the newly launched Taj Bangalore is more than just a pleasant surprise amongst the flood of fusion restaurants the city has been churning out. There’s Punjabi (a majority), Rajasthani and Awadhi food on offer, with a few dhaba recipes that have made their way to the menu. What sets Tamarind truly apart is the fact that Chef Alok Anand has kept all the traditional ingredients and flavours intact, playing only with presentation. “Every Indian curry uses a different spice mix and has a certain order of ingredients. And everything is with a purpose. I want people to stop believing Punjabi food is the greasy, heavy kind they often eat at restaurants,” he says. Instead of a bread basket, a meal here begins with assorted ‘fans’—a flaky, savoury snack often paired with tea from North India. The basket comes with a variety of chutneys and the spring onion chutney served in a mortar and pestle with its sharp and sweet flavours is a good introduction to the meal that is about to be served. The menu is organised on the basis of cooking methods and ingredients and is a welcome change. The bakli salad, made of soft wheat in a tangy tamarind chutney and a crescent-shaped namak para (crunchy savoury snack) on top is deliciously soothing. The sheermal tart mein galouti is a galouti kebab with a twist—the sheermal comes shaped as a tart and the safed masale ki dum biryani flavoured with light masalas like cardamom is densely aromatic and yet light. The meal ends with a baked gajrela, a modern take on the gajar ka halwa, baked in a tandoori roti crust.

All in all, the ingredients and flavours remain consistently authentic and impressive. AT Taj Bangalore, near Kempegowda International Airport TEL 66003300 PRICE Rs 3,000 for a meal for two