It’s the last evening of our Indian adventure and hubby and I decided to find a more upmarket restaurant. Up to this point, we had been eating at markets, street stalls, at our homestay and cooking classes.
Our energy levels were low and we were famished. We were spending our last night at The Grand Hotel so I decided the easiest option was to check out Caraway Kitchen, an in-house restaurant.
Brett looked after room service for the children, and I went on a reconnaissance mission. The hotel had a number of restaurants but given that we would be childless I was only interested in the hotel’s signature restaurant.
Caraway Kitchen is the hotel’s signature restaurant and it looked beautiful. After perusing the menu I was sold! There were so many delicious dishes on the menu, I knew we would have trouble choosing.
The atmosphere as we walked into the restaurant was so relaxing. The lights were low and sounds of relaxing Indian music mixed with the smell of incense. We were shown to our table and given a menu.
Given it was our last night in India I ordered a Mojito. Mojito’s have been off the menu for me as they’re made with ice. After previous having some tummy issues and recovering, I figured I would be fine.
As we looked over the menu a generous basket of papadums was placed on the table. A range of condiments and a salad was also brought out from the kitchen.
Brett and I demolished the papadums as we looked over the menu. We dipped them in some of the condiments until the basket was empty. The waiter seemed surprised that the pappadums were all gone. Perhaps we were supposed to wait and eat them with our meal?
We eventually decided on a few dishes to share. Our waiter brought us some more pappadums and we tried to show some restraint and not demolishing that lot too!
I ordered the lamb Rogan Josh as I want to include a recipe in my cookbook so I’ve been sampling as many as I can. Brett liked the look of the chicken Dhaniwal Korma. We also ordered a variety of naan bread to have with the dishes.
When the meals arrived at the table the waiter served us with a portion of each dish. It took all my self-control not to dig in immediately. The delicious aroma had me salivating as I watched hubby’s meal being served.
Our table went silent as Brett and I devoured the rich curries. We were in food heaven, dipping the naans in the flavoursome gravies and rolling our eyes with food lust. I wanted to never feel full so I could keep tasting the delicious curries forever!
Our ever-attentive waiter checked on our meals progress so we let him know how thrilled we were with the dishes. I enquired as to whether the kitchen offers any cooking classes as I particularly wanted to learn how to make the Rogan Josh. Obligingly the waiter said he would check with the chef!
When the waiter returned he brought with him a bowl of one of my favourite dishes, Dahl Makhani! He said the dish was compliments of the kitchen and the chef would be out shortly to speak with me!
If you haven’t eaten Dahl Makhani you are missing out on a real treat. This vegetarian dish is a slow-cooked Indian comfort food which features black dahl and beans in a creamy, mild curry. I was in my food happy place.
When the chef approached the table I complimented him on the food. It was the best meal we had experienced in India, and we had eaten a lot of fabulous food during our trip. The chef explained that whilst he doesn’t run cooking classes he was happy to share the recipes with me so that I could make the dishes when I returned to Australia.
I was overwhelmed by the chef Pankaj Deshwals’ generosity. I told him I would be converting his recipe for my Thermomix Cookbook and he was happy to help. True to his word, the following morning I received an email which included both recipes.
Thank you so much for a wonderful meal to remember and your fabulous recipe.
Caraway Kitchen
Nelson Mandela RoadVasnat Kunj Phase – II
New Delhi-110070
India
