Tigers Experience at Made In Punjab - Cyber Hub Gurgaon

Punjabi and Proud to be ONE !!!!!!

The Legacy lives on .... Zorawar the son of the legendary food writer ,journalist the honorable Jiggs Kalra ... has actually taken his father dream to the next level . A MBA , with a huge shared databank of recipes of his father , apparently every meal with his dad Jiggs kalra was a leaflet from the encyclopedia of food  and imagine all  this happened over every meal . Zorawar is certainly a successful entrepreneur , with an amazing palate and a out of this world father as a guide .  I was honored to be invited for a one on one with Zorawar and his dad ..... Jiggs left a bit early and left us both to dissect construct the food at Made in Punjab .

Zorawar is passionate and so is team at MIP , Zorawar is hands on with the happenings inthe restaurant , the customers , a great observer and a super hyper reactor hahahaha sees soemthing wrong jumps and corrects it lol  ,has a amazing young Team- Varun Duggal the man incharge ,Chef Negi who commands the place , a visiting chef from their newly opened  restaurant Masala Library in Mumbai Chef Saurabh ,he  is in charge of all the experimenting ,molecular etc etc .

Zorawar ran a successful chain of restaurants Punjab Grill and then sold it off some dear friends .

He now runs Massive Restaurants .. need we say more - they have a heart Made In Punjab.

The Young Wizard Chef Saurabh and The Legend in the making Zorawar Kalra

Pleasantly located at the cyber hub in gurgaon the next food capital for sure was flooded with office goers taking a walk post lunch , all restaurants were full up and specially made in Punjab with a crazily priced lunch buffet 650 , yes its an introductory offer but a killer spread of kebabs curries, rotis and pulao and yes chaat also . The parking was easy , the walk to the restaurant was cool , you cross a number of opening soon places - like hard rock etc .... 

 Enter MIP chic , transparent glass walled kitchen with gorgeous huge tandoors . Very fine dinning type look , lovely simple elegant decor with high chairs a total 120 seater with a private dinning room too. Greeted perfectly by the manager and a pretty hostess , im told zorawars two year old son loves the pretty girls - well so do we dude lol . Courteously seated with the men behind MIP . Buzzing with corporate honchos making a kill at the buffet and otherwise also licking the plates off , first impression is the last impression  well in this case it was a pleasure to see executives from the next table actually doing sweeping tactics on the plate to wipe it clean .  Which told me i was in for a treat .

Immediately  came Chef Saurabh - actually looked like a young hip happening  kid , i looked at him and said eh u the chef , just smiled ... thank god he didn say yes Uncle.. lol - he has worked in Old World hospitality his forte is Indian Cuisine but as per zorawar he is a wizard who can cook anything perfectly .  He recommended the chefs tasting menu and why not , thats what i was there for  . Normally i do a mix of chefs recommendations and also a few dishes from the menu to actually rain check the chefs creations .

 Before i go on - Punjabi cuisine is our birth right and we al have an opinion every house has a different taste , every palate is different - i tuned my mind to accept what they presented and not to have any pre conceived notion about the dish in totality .Not to compare with any other establishment not to compare it to home food , not to compare it to previously laid down bench marks in the mind . I buy what I am sold and if it appeals i write about ,if it doesnt it is blatantly told to the chef and not posted .

I am Made in Punjab Are YOU ??? Punjabi's besides their food are also known for the Kahtir Daari / Hospitality .... which is an Experience . I love my Kukkad , my daal , my tandoori roti , my lassi and some tikka shikas LOL 

The Killer Lethal Delicious LAssi of Punjab / Agra mixed

Zorawar I hate you for having fun at my stomachs expense .... what a awesome lassi , thick creamy full of flavors of pista and saffron and to top it eh damn agra ka peda which killed me even more .... while i gulped it down my host watched me and kept laughing becos he himself was sipping a silly diet coke. Lassi is the next big experimenting item - have had it with roohafza , with mango flavour etc - i still prefer my basi dahi wali meethe lassi .

Palak Chaat

Crisp Palak ke Pate ke Chaat wah wah ;tempura style made palak  - with sweet potato and guava chaat covered with imli and pudhina kee chutney - delicious crunchy and tangy . A good healthy combination for a Chaat lover .. papri chaat and fruit chaat mix .

Crusted Beet Root Cheese Tikki

This was a surprise item , not very fond of Beetroot for some reason - The chef insisted that i bit into it .. i was expecting some masala filling etc  but to my surprise was Cheese .. wah . The crunchy crust , the sweet beetroot and the cheesy acidic cheese was fun to eat .. finished them lol

King Burrah

pardon the photography the camera to got excited :)

Perfectly cooked , felt like chewing the whole thing together - actually tried chewing the  char burnt bones too and did manage to to do so .... hope that's appropriate. LOL  and good size also . Believe they do a 24 hr marination to soak the flavors in .

Disected Burrah 

Am sorry for posting this horrifying picture of the King Burrah - but it was important as i was impressed how the tender meat fell of the bone as a perfect mutton tikka .. beautifully marinated ,no red masala left on the hands , seemed like just butter was used in the marination .

Galouti Kebab

The Galouti were nice but didn really dig into them , well ground meat with masalas.

Chicken Malai Tikka

Je hui na baat - lovely juicy chicken tikkas with malai to make them soft and succulent - have had these before .

Tandoori Salmon

Impressive job of the Tandoori Salmon - pink , flaky and well just right cooked in minimum tandoori masala. The fish just fell  apart  and melted inthe mouth .

Maah Dee Daal

Slow cooked served in an earthen katori made all the difference - in Punjab its cooked over night when the tandoor is at its  simmering end ... doubt if they can do that but yes it was well cooked kali Daal , cant cal it dal makhni as it was more like maah dee daal from home .

The Famous Butter Chicken

No No Not comparing .. a promise to my self . hahahahhaha. This was Mr Jiggs Kalra's version - thick butter gravy , boneless chicken pieces cooked inthe gravy , perfect kasturi methee to give it the twist ... not too sour with tomatoes .. they put a piece of pickled onion in it for effects which i actually liked. A well balanced version of the famous butter chicken .Pyazz in any form is welcome lol .

The Railway Mutton Curry 

This was my favorite of the lot .. the mutton gravy was a perfect soup , had two helpings of it . Nice brown gravy , loads of kali mirch for the tickle int he throat ... A very popular anglo indian curry eaten with bread and now i know why . Dip Dip and slurp ....Super shoulder pieces .

Gucchi Pulao 

This reminded me of moms cooking .. the pyazz wale chawal , burnt onions in rice and gucchi ... very funtastic .. yes  i know  i know im not to compare but what to do .

Gulab Jamun with Chocolate filing 

Crisp Jalebi with Rabbdi

Crisp miniature Jalebis with rabdi is a fish i relish at al weddings and have to quietly go an eat it while the wife is not looking lol .. love the crispiness of the jalebis at MIP dipped in rabri makes it even more delicious .. rabri thick and ful of flavors .

Overall Tigers Experience - a very pleasant experience , a well crafted menu - average pricing 375 to 460 per dish which is not bad , and an introductory buffer at 650 is a total steal - you have to see the spread starts at the start of the restaurant goes thru a chaat section , ends at the cocktail bar .. whoops - filled with bar b q , curries , APC  , good quality for food at affordable prices what else does Gurgaon want . MIP is certainly Ambitious . 

Ambiance - Chic , elegant , fine dinning type , spacious , did i hear hip n happening music.
Service - Attentive , too many servers ..... which is good for us 
Aromas - Hmmmmm couldn smell anything besides food 
Food - Quite above the Punjabi food available in the market -  Sir Jiggs Kalras recipes and blessing , how can they ever go wrong . But honestly the quality of food was super , the plating was good , innovative hmmmmm not really and thank god ... flavors - yes ,authentic . The Food is certainly a crowd puller 
Going Back - YES .have to try the buffet and the vegetarian dishes soon.
Recommend- YES please try out the buffet and then go again for the ala carte or the chefs tasting menu .

PURe Punjabi