Laajawab

Yesterday night was Radhesh's treat in Laajawab, a somewhat new restaurant in CMH road which I had heard about but not visited. They specialize in Punjabi fare and the menu is admittedly compact(especially if you are used to huge menus like at Shanti Sagar, Koshy's etc).

The ambiance is really good, and since I went on a weekday for dinner, the crowd was not much, you can actually afford not to book on weekdays I guess.

We were six vegetarians for dinner, and though the menu looked limited, I was hoping that whatever is on the menu is really good.

There are just three kinds of soup, tomato shorba, dal shorba and a non veg soup. We ordered tomato shorba, and the portions were generous(despite one by two). It tasted like authentic South Indian rasam. Now, I dont really know how an authentic shorba is supposed to be like, but this was good!

For starters, we ordered three since all of them looked rather inviting. The omni present Paneer tikka(was really good, very high quality paneer), Tandoori Gobi(was ok, not special, I like the one in Treat better) and another starter consisting of spinach and cottage cheese(forgotten the name already, but this was quite good). Probably, a platter would give a better idea of how the starters are, and one can order more of the best ones. Starters are all priced around the Rs175-Rs200 range.

For the main course, since I have recently become calorie conscious again, I ordered plain tandoori roti(good soft rotis), instead of the butter naans and stuffed kulchas which looked delicious. The vegetable kadai was good but a tad too spicy(no complaints there!). The other curry was something consisting of cottage cheese in a cashew gravy with kesar(forgot the name, but really rich!). This was very nice and somewhat sweetish, this complemented the spicy kadai veg perfectly well. Diced and pickled onions for salad was great as well.

Finally, the desserts! They have some pretty cool items like the paan flavored ice cream(which was supposedly very good acc to my friends). I had a gulab gulkand ice cream which was very different and very nice. There were the usual suspects like jamoon, rasmalai etc. Considering that our desserts were quite good, am sure most of the deserts are good here.

All in all, it cost us roughly Rs 400 per head, and I would consider this a tad expensive. But the food was really nice, ambiance pleasant and service quite attentive. They have valet parking(which is a must in Indiranagar I guess).

If you are in the mood for some good Punjabi food, I would recommend at least one visit wholeheartedly.

Location: CMH Road, after Chinmaya Mission Hospital, before the 100 feet road(so no Metro mess if you come from Airport road/JB nagar side).
I would rate the food as very good, say 7/10, the downside being that it is a bit pricey.
PS: Considering the variety is rather limited, I am not sure how the afternoon weekday buffet is, it costs Rs 249.

Paratha Plaza --- a parathas paradise

Last week, there was a get together in the speech and audio group IISc on the occasion of teachers' day. After the lovely get together, we had to select a place for lunch. While some headed towards Nesara, the restaurant inside IISc campus, some of us headed for Paratha Plaza in Sanjaynagar.

I started eating at this place about 5 years back, and even now, each time I think of it, I look forward to it as ever. This place as the name suggests sells only (veg) parathas, nothing else. Sweet and spicy chutneys, with butter and curd go well with the parathas, none of the usual rich, oily North Indian curries here, these curries are so strong that they will mask the taste of the lovely parathas. I feel you need those strong curries if the parathas are not good enough to be eaten with butter and curd!

I have eaten parathas at quite a few famous places, including Lalithas in Bangalore, including places in Old Delhi, Mumbai, etc but have till date found nothing to beat this. There is a photo of Gautham Gambhir eating parathas at this place near the cashier's desk (a celeb Delhiite eating parathas at a nondescript place in Sanjayanagar is a good enough indication how good it must be!!!)

You get the most mind boggling varieties here, approximately 25 types atleast. All yummy permutation-combinations of potatos, onion, paneer, tomato, gobi, palak, methi, baby corn, sweet corn, chillies, pepper, malai, peas, etc etc. The names of the parathas are very unique, so they 'stick' in your mind.

Some of the favourites are Onion delight(heavenly for people who love onions), 3M-Methi Matar Malai, Aloo.com Potato Onion Peas, Gobi delite Gobi onion tomato, Pepper checker cheese+pepper, 50-50 potato+paneer, good ol' Gobi paratha....the list goes on and on.
Despite the innumerable visits, am yet to try out all of them, the problem is that the ones I have already eaten are so damn good that I almost never feel like trying the others.

Wash all this down with lassi which is excellent. Sweets like jamoon are supposed to be very good, I have never had them...I get good jamoons at many places(KC Das for eg), when in PP, I stick to parathas. I have heard that the omlette is exceptionally good(yeah, egg is served here).

Parathas cost about Rs20-Rs50, a meal for two will cost you a max of Rs 200 (assuming 2-3 parathas per head with butter, curd and lassi).

Update: Earlier the place was in a simple shop kind of shed, where one would go scurring for cover if it rained...now with roaring business(no surprises there) they have moved to a better place right next door.

Location: On Sanjaynagar main road, if you approach from Malleshwaram on BEL road, turn right near Ramaiah hospital on teh 80 feet road, when this hits Sanjaynagar main road, take a left, you see PP on the right side. If coming on new airport road/Bellary road, cross Mekhri circle towards Hebbal and take a left onto Sanjaynagar main road. The place comes before Geddalahalli bus stop on Sanjaynagar on the right side.