Chit Chat and a whole lot of delicious Indian snacks and popular cuisines are on the menu of the extravagantly crafted Wednesday theme night at Kempinski Hotel Muscat’s Bukhara Restaurant, which has popularised Awadhi, Mughlai and Peshawari cuisines. It is a specially designed all-you-can-eat dining experience that has been quirkily named ‘Khana Bazzar’ (food bazaar) to mimic popular street foods of India, alongside kebabs and biryanis and an array of desserts that have the mark of fine foods of northern India.
With winter imbuing the air with its patented magic and the restaurant amplifying its Indian quotient with creative elements drawn from India, Wednesday evenings wear a festive ambience at this aesthetically adorned restaurant; the enchanting al fresco section adding to the mood with warm notes of relaxation. For those who like to experience the cool wintry notes, outdoors is the place to be; it is designed to emulate a dusky setting with melting lights that seemingly blend with the evening skyline.
And inside, plush new furnishings, wooden tables and colourful seats and walls induce a warm, cosy touch to the proceedings unfolding at the open kitchen, where busy chefs are whipping up the evening’s line-up of starters, mains and desserts. Soft yellow lights from chandeliers that look like designer jewellery add to the Indian vibes, which are well complemented by the soft notes of classical Indian music in the background.
Taking the Indian theme forward, the menu for the ‘Chit Chat’ theme is presented in a tightly wound scroll that opens up to a beautifully scripted menu on a red canvas. In gold lettering, the menu reads as follows: Chat – Pani puri and Gol Gappe, Samosa chat, Keema pav, Dahi papdi chat; Kebabs – Murgh Bhatti tikka, Meat kakori seekh, Jhinga Hari masala kebab, Tawa fried fish; Sarson ka saag with Makki roti; Kacche gosht ki biryani; and Dessert. Each item is followed with a short description of the dish to help diners who cannot decipher the Indian versions of the names.
The evening starts with a welcome drink, which could be chaas (yoghurt based drink), jal jeera (cumin flavoured water) or lemon and mint. Ours was a shot of chaas, followed by the complimentary basket of pappads and dips – mint chutney, tamarind chutney and garlic relish. It is best to go slow with the pappads, as the feast following will require you to ensure that you are hungry enough to do justice to the flow of dishes on the table.
As we waited for the chats to make to our table, we sipped on large glasses of refreshing lassis (yoghurt based drinks), which were incorporated with our choices of fruits and spices. And then came the platter of chat… This first round of savoury items will make you wish you had starved through the day to enjoy every mouthful of the appetising spread. On the platter is the popular pani puri, with crispy shells laden with potato and garbanzo beans, accompanied by spicy tamarind water; samosa topped with ghugni (dried peas), yoghurt, mint and tamarind chutney; toasted buns with a bowl of minced lamb; and crispy fried bread with potato, roasted cumin, chat masala and yoghurt. On any day, that would be a wholesome meal by itself…but not when you are at Bukhara to savour the ‘Chit Chat Khanaa Bazzar’.
The kebab line-up featured a portion each of boneless chicken pieces marinated in a flavoured spice mixture; kakori kebab, which is a native specialty of Awadhi; tiger prawn kebab marinated in green chilli, coriander leaves, cashew powder and yoghurt; boneless kingfish fillet fried in Indian spices and herbs; and green mustard spinach with makki roti (maize/corn flour bread). This was followed by the mandatory Indian biryani – a large pot of divine mutton biryani. Although biryani is not a novelty in this part of the world, lovers of this dish ought to try the one at Bukhara to experience the flavours that come together perfectly. During the short span of its existence, Bukhara has become a favourite with foodies with a host of its signature dishes.
Back at ‘Chit Chat’, just when we wondered if the feast can get any better, it did. For, next came the dessert platter with a spread of four mini items that begged us to dig into every single one. The dessert features a bowl of badam (almond) kheer, shahi tukda (bread pudding), mango kulfi (frozen dessert) and kala jamum (milk based dessert soaked in sugar syrup). As suggested by our friendly host, we finished off our ‘Chit Chat’ session with Indian masala chai and made peace with our stuffed bellies.
Chit Chat Khanaa Bazzar, which is on every Wednesday evening from 6.30 to 11pm, is a perfect foil for the weekend around the corner.
