Rich flavours at Punjab Grill, Mumbai

Opened by renowned foodie Jiggs Kalra, Punjab Grill aims to showcase the best of Punjabi cuisine. But this is not all aloo gobi and dahi bhalla. This is Kalra’s attempt to give the cuisine a fine dine twist.

The restaurant looks very much like that too — fancy and kitsch at the same time. You have massive chandeliers, hostesses and waiters dressed in salwar kameez and churidar kurta, massive goblets for water and a little arrangement of artificial leaves on each table. It’s all mixed up and you feel a bit like you’re in a Punjabi restaurant in Connaught Place, not a mall in Lower Parel. There is also, alas, no bar licence yet, except for Fridays and the weekend.

So we console ourselves with matha — which has nice touches of mint in the yogurt drink. This is an attempt to prepare ourselves for a very rich and heavy meal, but of course nothing can. The tandoor section of the menu is the most alluring and we pick a galauti kabab, a champ or lamb chops and, in a nod to vegetarianism, a Lahori seekh kabab.

The lamp chops are very full — the meat still has some chew in it, this is not the “fall of the bone and melt in your mouth” variety. This is rugged, encased in a sort of tandoori masala which is spicy and chilli hot.

The galouti is melt in the mouth as it should be, each kabab served on a tiny little paratha. It is without the strong kewra essence which you often get in Mughlai or Lucknowi versions of it, which is actually quite welcome.

The Lahori seekh kabab — which is a mix of greens shaped like seekh — is a bit boring and vegetarians may be better off with the various paneer items on offer in the menu.

By now actually we were quite full up because portions are very generous. Large, Punjabi style explained the very helpful waiter. So four people could easily have eaten what we ordered for two and judging from the rest of the diners, the doggie bag end of the business will be doing very well.

Since no meal at a Punjabi restaurant is complete without it, we ordered a black dal — cliche rule I know, but when in Rome or Bhatinda. We also decided to try a Meat Rahrya in the fond hope that this would be light on the tummy.

This was a complete case of eyes being bigger than stomach and brain temporarily disconnected from optic nerve because the menu clearly said lamb shanks cooked in kheema with garam masala. It was delicious and extremely heavy. To try and lighten it, we ordered a Dahi Tarhkeywala or yogurt with tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves and so on.

It was excellent but the best encomiums must be reserved for the dal, which is the best black dal I have ever tasted. I know many people don’t like it, but now and then, it can be quite a treat. The menu also offers lobster and duck which seemed too much for only two, so maybe next time.

The desserts were the least successful for my money — we decided to give the chocolate gulab jamuns a miss and stick to kulfi and phirni. The kulfi was good enough but the phirni tasted too much like it had thandai masala in it for my taste and was not set, so the consistency was a bit like rice kheer. I don’t know if this is a Punjabi speciality, so it could a case of ignorance and expectation on my part.

But this is a small quibble. Actually by this time we were so full that we couldn’t manage more than a few mouthfuls.

The portions truly are enormous. And so are the prices. We got up groaning, but full and happy.