Bangalore food review: Punjabi By Nature

There’s nothing intimate or unobvious about Punjabi By Nature and Beer Garden. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if their agenda is to stun people — with their ambience and their portions.

Someone remarked, “It’s a very Delhi thing!” I believe it’s a more cultural thing… Punjabis (if I am allowed to say so) have this capacity to flood your heart —with fun, love and commitment; it’s amazing how they can fit into any culture across the globe and become a part of it, blending seamlessly.

So similarly, Punjabi By Nature in Bangalore welcomes a full house — you need reservations even on a weeknight and it can host a whole wedding party comfortably.

What it also isn’t, is a place for two; don’t expect to find a cosy corner there to impress your date. There are darker lounge bars and exotic restaurants in the city for that.

Punjabi By Nature is a place you bring your friends — all of them; or the family, or the team. And if you’re just a nuclear family, I suggest you get some relatives along as well.

The place is divided into two sections —  there’s a bar area which serves some decent home-brewed beer and cocktails and there’s the main restaurant section.

The dining sections are divided by glass walls — a bit tacky one would say but it actually offers the remote privacy you might aspire for without being inside a closed room. In fact, those glass walls don’t really affect your appetite. A nice little water body inside the restaurant has a gentle gurgle that might help to calm your nerves, if you have had a bad day that is.

Drink the Wheat beer from the Beer Garden menu — Rs150 for a tall glass of it is refreshing and will bring a smile to your face. I don’t like beer and even I was happy.

What’s actually brilliant about the bar menu is that they’ve taken the trouble to pair your beers with different foods. So, if you’re a beer virgin, you get an idea about what your beer will taste like and what it is best eaten with. I wish more restaurants would actually do that, considering a maître d’ isn’t always qualified to be one.

Their food menu is the actually the simplest thing about the place.

Printed on a big wooden slab (no, it’s not heavy) it has the non-vegetarian section on one side and the vegetarian section on the other. Each side is divided into two columns of starters and mains. There are about five to six dishes under each column. Simple!

We began with the vegetarian Sheekh Kebab that went perfectly well with the beer. The kebabs were a combination of various ingredients — paneer, bits of potato, corn and peas making an obvious statement.  There was no aftertaste of binding and the flavour was as delicate as it could get; served with a mint curd dip — the mellow green kebabs were a good way to start.

Along side, was the Jahangi Chaamp; lamb chops, coated with Indian spices and cooked over the tandoor, served with a sprinkling of aamchur. The first taste has a superb bite to it that sort of blends into the tender meat easily. Completely to be shared, try these fiery red lamb chops with a vodka drink. Without much delay, we dug into the Dal Makhani — a specialty at the restaurant. And I have to say it’s better than most I’ve had before.

Eaten best with roomali rotis and some more kebabs — the makhani is laden with butter for sure, but while you can taste it, it doesn’t really attack your gut much.

Just to satiate the greed factor, I ordered a portion of the Nihari Gosht to go with the dal and rotis. This wonderfully delicate stew was traditionally a breakfast food, (Nihari comes from the Urdu word ‘nihar’ which means morning). It began as a beef stew but lamb is used more often these days.

There was nothing about the dish that I could find wrong. It was cooked perfectly; the lamb fell away from the bone like magic and the gravy would go with either pulao or any kind of roti. I did smell a little more of that ginger-garlic paste than I’d have liked but it’s not worth cribbing about.

With that — I had reached the end of my ability to eat and got the rest of the stuff packed for another day. There was no room for dessert and I left with the promise that I would come back, as soon as I had a ‘large contingent’ with me.

It’s every bit of the Delhi you might have experienced at some point in your life; it’s loud but doesn’t make you uncomfortable and the waiters are helpful but don’t seem to complain about the constant rush of people. There are children running around with loud laughter ringing through the place. Yes, eating Punjabi can be loads of fun.

Punjabi by nature
6, Krishna Nagar, Industrial & Residential Area, Hosur Road, Near Forum Mall, Koramangala
Call: 30412940
Rating: ***1/2
Meal for two: Rs1800