Best Kashmiri restaurant - Times Food and Nightlife Awards 2013
Best Local Hero – Time Out Food Awards
The best Indian
Restaurant in Delhi. HT Eating Out Guide
Chor Bizarre – A play on
the phrase Chor Bazaar, or Thieves' bazaar… The best Kashmiri food in India can
be found here… The New York Times
… Chor Bizarre is the
complete eating out experience - great décor, distinct ambience enhanced by
assorted Hindi 50's music, wondrous cocktails, superlative food, charming 'Old
World' service…
The Economic Times
The Economic Times
Chor Bizarre is a
gourmet restaurant. Every item served is excellent. Business India
There is a playfulness
about Chor Bizarre… hard to resist when combined with competent cooking and an
Aladdin's cave décor… Evening Standard,
London
It's a fabulous and
magical setting. The Economist
Chor Bizzare , New Delhi - Located on one of the most powerful streets of Delhi , actually in between Old Delhi And New Delhi - the stock exchange , the red light area, the main whole sale markets ,the ramlila ground opposite , the football stadium on the left one of the most popular hospitals in front .... Asaf Ali road is a busy street ,impossible to sight a parking slot hereon weekdays. Oh Yes need to mention this for sure - every sunday you witness Asias largest Street Book Market - vendors come and display all their books (new , Old , antique) onthe pavement right from asaf ali road to Jama masjid - it is incredible and people are actually buying books - its a must visit .
Chor Bizzare / Broadway hotel belongs to Old World Hospitality - Old
World Hospitality operates the hospitality and cultural facilities at Habitat World, India Habitat Centre,
New Delhi as well as at Epicentre, Gurgaon. The company also operates 2
hotels (Hotel Broadway and The Manor), an outdoor catering company
(Events Etc) and over 30 restaurants
in India and U.K. including Indian
Accent, Chor Bizarre, The All American Diner, Drift, Oriental Octopus and Tikka Town. Was very important for me to mention the same - people should know who is behind the epic restaurants in India.
I salute Mr Rohit Khattar for his Vision, consistency - Old World Hospitality definitely has made dent in the Indian Food Business - may it be cuisine, interiors ,service ,food and chefs . The group has turned out some of the most famous chefs in the country - some of the most popular magicians are Manish Mehrorta of Indian Accent, Gurpreet Gehdu or Punjab Grill , Himanshu of masala Library, just to name a few - totally incredible.
The current Corporate
Chef of OWH is Rajiv Malhotra who over sees the entire chains kitchen
and establishments with special focus on QSR and Casual Dinning formats -
the man has three decades of experience behind
- don't think there is any hotel chain where
he hasn't been , Chef Malhotra experiments a lot at home
and tries out his dishes with his mom who is the yardstick for him .
Chef Pradeep Khullar the handsome young man
looks after Chor Bizzare , he is the Chef
De cuisine .The entire team of Chor Bizzare is seasoned
they know how to handle Goras and also hard core foodies like
tiger . The Kashmiri Tarami is one cuisine which has to
be served with love and tender and they excel in the same
.
3 Hotels and Over
40 restaurants - Rohit Kahttar is the czar of entertainment -
Hospitality and Cinema is his passion - he has an amazing collection of cinema
Posters and Photographs ./ Chor Bizarre was his
first restaurant in the family run business - Broadway
hotel . Rohits family is one of the most known families
from Kashmir - they have their own waza ,who have
laid down the basic ground rules of Kashmiri food at
Chor Bizzare.
Rohit if you are reading
my blog - " Please Adopt Me " hahahahahahahahah
Corporate Chef OWH Rajiv Malhotra |
Chef De Cuisine Pradeep Khullar |
The Chorified Interiors |
Everything out here is
supposed to be chori ka - hahahaha just because the chor bazar lies
right behind them LOL , Btw they have a pub called thugs which is
filled with all the stock brokers more than the chors of asaf ali road .Chor Bazaar or ‘thieves market’
within its kaleidoscopic interiors and is dedicated to serving authentic Indian
cuisine in a unique atmosphere. There was a time where in
the crockery no fork no spoon no plate was identical - but i
guess over time they have standardized the same of the chor has
learnt to match and steal hahahahahah. The Interiors - a vintage
fiat stands in the latte half of the restaurant on which
they usually serve the starters . It is a 1936 Fiat Bolela - wonder if this is
also stolen . Ideally chor bizzare shud have stolen
- crockery , decor , and event he recipes shud be
stolen lol . Anyways the interiors are dimlit , totally antique loaded ,
gordy velvet , squeaky chairs , beautiful table tops ,
amazing arte facts and the lamps were something to go mad
about ;The resplendent furnishings and décor were collected from various
bazaars of India, and have been creatively arranged so as to inspire diners to
venture beyond their immediate and uniquely decorated surrounds and explore the
wealth of objects d’art displayed in each corner of the restaurant-just like
the bazaar to which it owes its name. - ek dum mughalo ke zamane ke
beautiful purple lights - i read somewhere that if u
like something ask the waiter he might oblige -
but sadly he didn when i asked , now how mean can that be . Make us an offer we cannot refuse and you may walk out with more
than just an enjoyable meal.
The Menu |
The Event Menu |
Before i reach the menu
of the event - the regular menu consist of dishes from across the regions of
India and their forte lies in kashmiri cuisine . Hence the mash up . Lets go
starter by starter - Pepper
Prawns - beautifully marinated
and infused pepper in the prawns - served nice and hot on wooden
skewers , easy to eat as the tail was removed ; Aamras roomali paneer - something never tried before - if i didn know the name
i wudn have been able to guess - passable ; Chatpate phal - yes Rajiv insisted i tried this - a very common dish found on
the streets of dilli - cut fruits with amchoor and served cold -
very refreshing ; Kashmiri seekh kebabs - hmmm this
was questionable - the flavor was mast but were they kashmiri
hmmmm no - i have had kashmiri seekh which are long a bit dry
and have mustard oil in them - the flavor is mustardy
... nevertheless they were nice seekhs served hot ; Nimboo Murh tikka - basic chicken tikka marinated
in juice of Kafir lime yum flavor - punjabis as it have the habit of
squeezing nimboo on the hot tikkas so loved them ; kurkuri Makka - very interesting starter - nice
crunch of kur kure dipped in a yellow sauce which
had coconut flavoring making it real delicious and kind of thai
sauce dip ; the khus
khus dahi kebab - beautiful presentation -
a good veg option ; the rest Sev puri , Galoti on
ulte tawa roti were ok ok had
too many of them at shaadis in town.
The Starters |
The
Kashmiri Tarami - Essentially meaning eating
out of one plate called the traem four to one plate is the order. Rice is the
basic component and then the waza keep serving one dish at a
time till u r Fed Up . Traditionally a 36 dish meal
- majority of it is non veg . I am told most of
the established families in Kashmir have their own waza - so stylish . it is indeed a pleasure to see them at work - huge aluminum
containers being cooked on wood fire . I am actually doing a research on food
and cultures which bring the family to eat together from one plate , i think t
is a great idea for family bonding.
The Kashmir tarami
is a a very scientific meal - each dish has ingredients which work on
the body and stimulate different organs - as per the season - i feel its more
for the winters - red meat galore .
Tarami |
The Famous Haaq Ka Saag |
The Tarami consisted of Mutton Roganjosh beautifully red thanks to the kashmiri de seeded
kashmiri chillies , traditionally the dish is to be full of flavor of
spices rather than chilly - cooked in fat and strong heat - the dish had a
beautiful lingering flavour of saffron in it , Mutton Yakhni not a complicated dish cooked in yogurt with
beautiful mild spices the aroma is divine, Goshtaba beautifully pounded red
meat - pink in colour from inside i just love this dish but
unfortunately cant eat more than one - heavy and filling for sure - the
art of pounding is actually an art - wooden hammer keep beating the meat til
the time is not spongy and bubbly ;Murg Rogni or Kashmiri Kukkad tender pieces of chicken cooked with bones served in the
same yakhni yogurt gravy .,Tamatar chaman tomatoe puree fully loaded with kashmiri masala
with big pieces of chaman = paneer , Karela
Yakhni this i had for the first
time and i want to go back to chef rajiv malhotra for the receipe for soem
reason the karela was not bitter it was abit sour which made it so much eaasier
to eat and relish in the yakhni yogurt gravy .,Haaq - Ilove Haaq ka saag- a
friend told me that the best haaq saag is from the Dal Lake dont know if its
true or not but it is then im headed to kashmir - so simple to cook and taste
of mustard makes it even more delicious , just haaq and plain
rice is a killer ,Dum Aloo - Kashmiri do it
differently they stuff the aloo with dry fruits and then cook it in thick gravy
of spices m the server served these balls and told us its rishta we got excited
but when we bit into it you shud have seen all our reaction Haiiin? ,Gobhi
Roganjosh didn fancy this but try
karna toh banta than a - very shaadi type gobhi masala not very impressed ,Nadru Palak ,lotus stem with palak wah wah if the haaq came
from dal lake im sure this one is also a delicacy from the same lake
,have seen people go mad about Bhe or lotus stem ,im not too found of it
tho - i prefer mine fried the chinese way but
my partner in crime sitting opposite me kept asking the server
for and more hence concluded it must be good hehehehehe- Rajmah jammu Ke rajmah wah jee wah quite different ly made like the ones
made every sunday at home - thicker
gravy lesser masala or rather no pyaaz and
timatar just some spices for the flavor and essence thats it , always
fun to eat . tabak maaz -twice cooked lamb Ribs first braised in spices and milk and then
browned in ghee , actually this piece of meat cooks in its fat or charbi - i
love the stickyness and hate it when some restaurants microwave it to
serve - the one at chor bizzare was freshly made this was confirmed by nt
only me but also the critics on thee table ; and RISTA the grand finale , logic is that its made in yogurt helps in
digesting heheheheheheh dont know from which angle ,its heavy dude and whatever
lil space which was left for the desert was over and out lol .
All the above dishes
were amazing , and they can only be had with steamed rice and akrot ke chutney plus laal pyaaz on the side . all the dishes need to smelt first
for the aroma of kashmiri masala , saffron and its freshness. Yes forgot to
mention the soother of the day - The Safforn Yogurt - chilled mild flavor of safforn , a bit sweet was a well
deserved accompaniment for the huge course of dishes laid out at
the wazwan.
The Deseerts |
Jamun Ki Kulfi
was something new i have tasted , loved the
deep purple colour of the jamun , the phirni was passable ,
the Sharabi Jalebi was topped with Old Monk .. hmmmmmm
no justice done to either , prefer them standalone.
Overall
Tigers Experience :
For a good Kashimiri Tarami Experience there is no other place
better than Chor Bizzare - authenticity , originality all intact . Would
definitely go only here when ever the craving for Kashmiri food comes again .
They need to work on their deserts for sure and also try and experiment with
some new Authentic Kashmiri Starters . Highly recommend a must visit place .
Food : restricting my
self to the Kashmiri Cuisine - Fantastic would love to go back for the Rista
,the Karela Yakhni ,the akrot chutney and the saffron yogurt.
Service - Super Duper -
the team is well versed with the Kashmiri Cuisine ,makes life so much easier .
The Gm , The Chefs the serving staff are extremely courteous and
humble
Ambiance - Freaked
out Chor Bazar Experience - you can spend a day checking out
the artifacts and other stolen thingies ... lets steal them
from the chor bazaar , now that would be something .
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