Review: The KNK Project serves up local dishes from across the country — but with a twist!

MUTTON CHUKKA TOPPED with sour cream, prawn masala with garlic mayonnaise, beef salli and straw potatoes — if you are a fan of fusion food, The KNK Project is a place you should not miss. Positioned ideally at the heart of the bustling Khader Nawaz Khan (KNK) Road, the month-old food joint serves up local dishes from across the country — but with a twist!

“We have always wanted to open a place in KNK Road and we also wanted it to offer something that is new to the place. Here, the idea is to get traditional recipes from across the country, that aren’t commonly available in the city,” says Shreyas Asthana, one of the two partners who own the place, adding that the menu is curated by chef Navin Prasad of Chef’s M & N Prasad has also curated menus for 6th Avenue and Trella. “We have sourced the recipes from home cooks and housewives who have been using it for ages. Our menu consists of traditional Indian cuisine but with some tweaks,” he adds.

Tikka all our boxes
Contrary to what it may seem on the outside, the restaurant is spacious and can seat up to 95 people. Sporting dimly lit, warehouse-inspired interiors, charcoal wall art and with old Hindi classics playing in the background, the place is snug and makes us comfortable almost instantly.

Senthilvel, the resident chef offers us our first round of starters, Charcoal Chicken Tikka. With an intriguing black colour, the dish is creamy in texture and is for those who prefer mildly spiced appetisers. The next item that comes to us is a plate of Kane Fry with a podi mayo dip (mayo mixed with traditional idli podi, quite an interesting combination), and garnished with grilled pieces of star fruit. Crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside, the fish fry, with just the right amount of spice and tanginess is a must-taste.

Uttapam tacos
We move to the next seafood specialty, the Jhinga Tawa Masala  — spicy fried prawns with garlic mayo as dip, another fine combination. Next came a pretty black bowl of Beef Bone Marrow Salli — a very photogenic dish — with straw potatoes and egg masala as sides. The spicy minced meat masala placed in the half-cut bone marrow is good enough to be consumed alone or with any choice of roti or rice.

Mutton Chukka Tacos, the star attraction here is nothing but traditional uttappam stuffed with delectable mutton chukka. With a generous topping of sour cream and shredded lettuce, the dish is so filling it can pass off for a meal in itself. As for the main course, we decide to look past their signature thalis, which offer a bit of everything and instead go for Dhunar Murgh, a (very) smoky chicken curry with rotis and we end the meal with some refreshing sugarcane juice.

Meal for two `650.
— Fathima Ashraf

fathima@newindianexpress.com
@fathiimaashraf