One thing I miss terribly in Bangalore is a good Dhaba joint to eat good old Punjabi food. Dhabha By Claridges seems like one stop solution for it! Good old North Indian food, located in Indiranagar and great drinks too. Just what you need for the indulgent Friday!
Dhaba by Claridges is now open in Bangalore, bringing with it the taste of my childhood in delicious creamy gravies and crispy naans.
I grew up in Delhi, with the best of the dhabhas in the driving distance of the city. And that assured a constant supply of butter chicken and garlic naan as cliche as it sounds. And then once we grew up a little, I remember those very special occasion meals at Dhaba in Claridges Hotel, an attempt to bring roadside food to an upmarket upscale restaurant. Clearly targeted at tourists and growing upper middle class segment of Delhi, it was a delight while growing up and would be reserved for special occasion diners.
Then I moved to Bangalore, where I struggled to find a naan which is crispy yet soft, a mutton curry where I could taste anything apart from cream and garam masala, oh may be a bit of ghee and butter. Like any good Punjabi girl I like that stuff but dude, I want to taste my food beyond these. As a result, I stopped eating out Punjabi/North Indian outside completely. I would cook at home or I would have my fill when I go to Delhi. Occasionally if the cravings got very high, I would go get a take away from good old Treat in Indiranagar and that’s about it.
But then I heard about good old Dhaba by Claridges opening in Bangalore and I secretly prayed that it doesn’t let me down and boy IT DIDN’T. Sure, some things could have been better but on the whole it felt like I am having a good North Indian meal in Bangalore after what seems like forever !
Come, let me take you through what we ate that day in pictures and captions (yes this after writing 350 words 😉 )
Tiger prawns marinated and grilled in their special dhaba masala. Outstanding stuff and one plate could be a meal by itself
The fuzzy feeling when deep fried potatoes meet chaat masala and lemon !
That green drink needs a special mention! Called Gaane ka ras it doesn’t contain sugarcane at all. Do try this ! And if you are like me, get a shot of vodka on the side. What trust me at that !
Paan Mojito, Toofan, and Imli Bai were some other cocktails I quite liked. And have to say all their cocktails looked so pretty!
The star of the show. Raan from the tandoor ! With mutton flown in from Jaipur a trip to Dhaba by Claridges is worth just for this !
It has nothing to do with the Balti Cuisine and is called so just because it is served in Balti and I promised it will also have you licking the Balti !
Dhaba’s version of Dal Makhani and a great one at that !
A different version of the butter chicken it reminded me of Rajasthani safeed chicken. Not bad but not something I will order again
The chicken in dabba just didn’t work for me. It reminded me of Chilli Chicken in a not so good way! Another thing that didn’t work for me AT ALL was the amristari fish. The beauty of amritasri fish is in that tempura like light coating and the hit of ajwain, unfortunately both were missing. If you want my advise, don’t other that !
One would thing at the end of this meal, we wouldn’t be able to eat desserts but we did and they were honestly some of the best “Indian” desserts I have eaten in Bangalore. Good old North Indian style Gulab Jamun Outstanding Rabri,Phirni that could do a tad better, and an excellent Badam Halwa (more like moong dal halwa though). The desserts were the seal that sent us all in food coma that afternoon
A meal at Dhaba by Claridges is rich but delicious and I for sure know that if I have to pick a mid level North Indian place in town where am I heading
PS: All pictures by the very talented friend of mine Swapna from The Food Porn Diaries
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