Mumbai chef Sarfaraz Ahmed brings flavours from India to this limited-edition pop-up in Kolkata

Have you ever tried a cacao phuchka paired with the tangiest khatta paani? Well we did, and we are mind blown. No, this is not a chocolate phuchka stuffed unnecessarily with choco bits and brownies, but a utterly delicate cacao shell filled with lemon aguachile and mint. And who whipped it for us, Chef Sarfaraz Ahmed the from Michelin Star awarded Mumbai restaurant Tresind, who is in town for an amazing pop-up at the newly opened diner at The Westin Kolkata, Ruh-B-Ruh.

What else boasts the menu that Chef Sarfaraz Ahmed curated?

After that amazing flavourbomb, what graced our table next was Duck ghee roast, dal vada waffle and curry leaf honey. The melt-in-mouth shredded duck, tossed in an aromatic ghee roast curry was comforting yet appetising. And though not a huge fan of honey, the curry leaf flavoured one was really a game changer. With this spicy dish, comes a subtle tasting gin-based cocktail, Cardamom, with refreshing base notes of cucumber and basil, and with a slight hint of the aromatic spice. The ratio of the spice was just right, else, this could have tasted extremely overpowering.

Up next, was the Ghewar chaat, with an avocado kachaloo, which boasted of chopped strawberries and pomelo for that much-needed citrussy break, and the ghewar? Added the crunch which was a lot more that a papdi.

The warm, prawn and asparagus salad up next, served on a bed of aloo zeera espuma, paired with a hot cup of rasam had ur hearts. The creaminess of the espuma was well-balanced with a juicy bite of the prawns and aspargus, and a crunch from the cute floral papads, The rasam? Washed everything down, and felt like a warm hug.

The spicy, mouthwatering Chicken cafreal, ross omlette and Xacuti curry from Goa, is the best that we have tried in recent days. If you like the flavour of a coriander-dense gravy, and has a good spice tolerance, you are gonna love this! Wash all the spiciness with a sweet mango-coconut based tequilla cocktail, Turmeric.

All this food, and the cute khandvi icecream with picked papaya and chilli and Maas ka soolah, missi roti and smoked curry made us so full, yet we sat tight and waited for the much-anticipated Khichdi of India. Comes on a trolley with a 3D Indian map marked with local ingredients, like kasundi from Bengal, saffron from Kashmir, chilli paste from Assam, green apple from Himachal Pradesh, dry garlic chutney from Maharashtra, and more, we did not know really what to expect. But the final result blew us away. A super-comforting khichdi, laden with ghee, butter and other local Indian comdiments, made us realise once again, how even a simple meal can be amped up so mcuch, with a few tweaks here and there, and for us, kesar, garlic chutney, green apples and raw papaya salad, stood out the most.

We ended this elaborate meal with Caramel milk, roasted barley ice cream and rose cookie (achappam), garnished with goji berries, served on a bed of soan papdi, was paired with an in-house coffee liquer. Though the liquer was a little too strong after all-this sweetess, the cute Milkbikis biscuit, served alongside, balanced all the right flavours.

We called it a night and ended the one of the most-flavourful meals in recent times, with a Paan temaki!

Where: The Westin Kolkata, Newtown, Kolkata

When: Till Sunday, August 3 | 12-3 pm & 7.30-11.30 pm

Price for the set menu (for 1): Rs 4499+

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.