Special occasions like celebrating a foodie Mum's birthday warrant unique and finger-licking food, a fabulous ambience, hassle-free parking, immaculate service, for which we really don't mind shelling out the bucks. With all these criteria, when I approached my foodie friends (who I've had the fortune of meeting thanks to Zomato), among a couple of names that came up, Kebabs & Kurries (Thank you Aarti Kamath!) caught my attention. Now, I knew there is a K&K in Delhi and Mumbai (The Mumbai one is a regular participant at Restaurant Week India and a friend of mine cannot stop raving about the Mutton kebabs he had there). I did not know the Bangalore one had opened up as well. But well, the last time I had visited Gardenia, way back in 2011, they didn't even have Edo. So, some change is definitely good.
K&K is ITC's way of allowing one restaurant to offer the specialties of all their other restaurants. So, the signature dishes of Dum Pukht, Peshawari, Bukhara (all names of ITC Mughlai Fine-dining restaurants across India) all find their place in the K&K menu and are clearly marked out as well. I had a lovely experience at Dum Pukht during RWI in 2012 and going by that expectation, a restaurant serving signature dishes of all these places is bound to set high expectations in my mind!
The birthday falls on Rajyotsava Day, so I was prepared for some crowd and worriedly called up a day before to make a reservation. We booked our table for three for 1 pm and when asked if we were celebrating an occasion, I told them about the birthday and asked for a good table. We made it in time, to discover K&K was empty. Our waiter for the afternoon, Vineeth told us the place was ours and we could pick wherever we wanted to plonk. The place is pretty big for a five-star (comparatively to its closest and most similar kin - Dum Pukht in ITC Windsor, it is HUGE!). They have some strange-ish sofas, with no back-rest, so we picked something against the wall, before Mommy noticed this, so she would be more comfortable.
Some lovely pink colored welcome drink was poured. Rose, Khus and light lime flavoured, absolutely the perfect start to what would be an excellent meal. Vineeth informed us that they had two options for menus - Set menus and and a regular a-la-carte menu. The set menus are great for a normal visit to the place - they arrive in a thali we were told and from what I saw, they have a little bit of everything to savour. They have two-three Vegetarian options and non-vegetarian options (Nothing in only chicken, please note. The meat eating but only-chicken eating husband was a little sad by this arrangement) and two Biryani options - One vegetarian and one Ghosht based. I'd strongly recommend considering these options if you're just visiting casually. For a Birthday meal, I didn't want my Mum eating out of a thali, so I decided to go for an a-la-carte selection.
At the outset, from all reviews I had read, I had decided we HAD to order the Biryani and the Dal Bukhara. The rest of the blanks would be filled in. To re-affirm my faith, the Dal Bukhara was part of every set menu as well. It really is their specialty and by the end of the meal, I was convinced why.
We asked Vineeth for some recommendations in starters and settled in on a Paneer Kebab - It doesn't feature in the menu, but is basically thin sheets of Paneer, rolled with some finely chopped veggies inside and then coated with some saffron batter and grilled a bit. Excellent is an understatement for how this tasted. The soft paneer, the lovely aroma of Kesar - true Royal dining. The other starter we picked was a Hara Kebab Awadhi. Intense flavour of all the greens, a bit too intense for my tastes, but if you love your Palak and Methi, you will love this. The starters come in 3 pieces per plate, which worked perfect for the three of us, but if there are more of you, speak to the host and figure out how much you need to order. The 3 pieces by themselves are loaded with richness and will fill you up considerably. By the time the mains started, I was half full!
For mains, we had a Roomali Paratha, a Warqi Paratha and a Pudina Paratha, the Dal Bukhara and a Vegetable Biryani. The Dal is fabulous. One spoonful and you feel the hours it must have been simmering away for. Each lentil is delightfully cooked and melts in your mouth, courtesy the cream and the beautiful tempering of garlic and spices. The Biryani again, seems small when served but is extremely heavy! 5 spoonfuls per person is ideal, with that super thick raita they serve. The parathas were all great, Warqi Paratha in particular is very heavy.
For dessert, we had a Kulfi, a slight bit of a let down. Very hard kulfi, refusing to be cut and the rose sherbat flavour on the falooda on top was too strong and almost overpowering the creamy kulfi.
A complimentary lovely rich chocolate mousse cake was brought in for my mum to cut and I really appreciate this gesture.
Regards service, in a place like ITC, you expect the best, expect to be spoilt, pampered and taken care of well. Vineeth, our server was always on his toes, always helping and checking on something we might need. In fact I didn't realise we had finished the Dal and when he came around to check for something, no one else at the table but me asked for some Dal, he went in and brought me a bowl without fussing about or charging us extra for that bowl of Dal. The emphasis is on customer delight and that clearly comes through. Easily, a 10/10 for Service.
ITC K&K is the perfect place for that celebratory dinner or taking some non-Indian clients out for an Indian meal. If you do just want to visit and try the place without splurging, the meal options work fine as well. Definitely take the time to stroll around the property and be amazed with the green architecture and ambiance. True Luxury, a little pricey, but worth every penny in the end.
http://www.zomato.com/review/alXrE
K&K is ITC's way of allowing one restaurant to offer the specialties of all their other restaurants. So, the signature dishes of Dum Pukht, Peshawari, Bukhara (all names of ITC Mughlai Fine-dining restaurants across India) all find their place in the K&K menu and are clearly marked out as well. I had a lovely experience at Dum Pukht during RWI in 2012 and going by that expectation, a restaurant serving signature dishes of all these places is bound to set high expectations in my mind!
The birthday falls on Rajyotsava Day, so I was prepared for some crowd and worriedly called up a day before to make a reservation. We booked our table for three for 1 pm and when asked if we were celebrating an occasion, I told them about the birthday and asked for a good table. We made it in time, to discover K&K was empty. Our waiter for the afternoon, Vineeth told us the place was ours and we could pick wherever we wanted to plonk. The place is pretty big for a five-star (comparatively to its closest and most similar kin - Dum Pukht in ITC Windsor, it is HUGE!). They have some strange-ish sofas, with no back-rest, so we picked something against the wall, before Mommy noticed this, so she would be more comfortable.
Some lovely pink colored welcome drink was poured. Rose, Khus and light lime flavoured, absolutely the perfect start to what would be an excellent meal. Vineeth informed us that they had two options for menus - Set menus and and a regular a-la-carte menu. The set menus are great for a normal visit to the place - they arrive in a thali we were told and from what I saw, they have a little bit of everything to savour. They have two-three Vegetarian options and non-vegetarian options (Nothing in only chicken, please note. The meat eating but only-chicken eating husband was a little sad by this arrangement) and two Biryani options - One vegetarian and one Ghosht based. I'd strongly recommend considering these options if you're just visiting casually. For a Birthday meal, I didn't want my Mum eating out of a thali, so I decided to go for an a-la-carte selection.
At the outset, from all reviews I had read, I had decided we HAD to order the Biryani and the Dal Bukhara. The rest of the blanks would be filled in. To re-affirm my faith, the Dal Bukhara was part of every set menu as well. It really is their specialty and by the end of the meal, I was convinced why.
We asked Vineeth for some recommendations in starters and settled in on a Paneer Kebab - It doesn't feature in the menu, but is basically thin sheets of Paneer, rolled with some finely chopped veggies inside and then coated with some saffron batter and grilled a bit. Excellent is an understatement for how this tasted. The soft paneer, the lovely aroma of Kesar - true Royal dining. The other starter we picked was a Hara Kebab Awadhi. Intense flavour of all the greens, a bit too intense for my tastes, but if you love your Palak and Methi, you will love this. The starters come in 3 pieces per plate, which worked perfect for the three of us, but if there are more of you, speak to the host and figure out how much you need to order. The 3 pieces by themselves are loaded with richness and will fill you up considerably. By the time the mains started, I was half full!
For mains, we had a Roomali Paratha, a Warqi Paratha and a Pudina Paratha, the Dal Bukhara and a Vegetable Biryani. The Dal is fabulous. One spoonful and you feel the hours it must have been simmering away for. Each lentil is delightfully cooked and melts in your mouth, courtesy the cream and the beautiful tempering of garlic and spices. The Biryani again, seems small when served but is extremely heavy! 5 spoonfuls per person is ideal, with that super thick raita they serve. The parathas were all great, Warqi Paratha in particular is very heavy.
For dessert, we had a Kulfi, a slight bit of a let down. Very hard kulfi, refusing to be cut and the rose sherbat flavour on the falooda on top was too strong and almost overpowering the creamy kulfi.
A complimentary lovely rich chocolate mousse cake was brought in for my mum to cut and I really appreciate this gesture.
Regards service, in a place like ITC, you expect the best, expect to be spoilt, pampered and taken care of well. Vineeth, our server was always on his toes, always helping and checking on something we might need. In fact I didn't realise we had finished the Dal and when he came around to check for something, no one else at the table but me asked for some Dal, he went in and brought me a bowl without fussing about or charging us extra for that bowl of Dal. The emphasis is on customer delight and that clearly comes through. Easily, a 10/10 for Service.
ITC K&K is the perfect place for that celebratory dinner or taking some non-Indian clients out for an Indian meal. If you do just want to visit and try the place without splurging, the meal options work fine as well. Definitely take the time to stroll around the property and be amazed with the green architecture and ambiance. True Luxury, a little pricey, but worth every penny in the end.
http://www.zomato.com/review/alXrE
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