Follow your passion is the catchphrase amongst millennials these days. A lot of youngsters fancy opening a cafe, but the co-promoter of the recently-opened 50-cover restaurant Rasoi, Parvez Mohamed, believes that harbouring a ‘craze’ just isn’t enough. What fueled his dream were two other factors: the right space and people.
“This 13-year-old property belongs to an old classmate of mine who used the kitchen only to serve breakfast for in-house guests. I roped in my cousin Amjath Kamarudeen, who is a Scotland-based corporate chef with stints at properties like Centre Parcs, and Rasoi was born after a few tasting sessions and research into the city’s palate,” says Parvez, as we seated ourselves at the outlet located within Hotel Arches, tucked away in the quiet folds of Rose Street.
Overwhelmed by the number of dishes on the menu, we seek help from the light-hearted guy who suggests we start our North Indian culinary excursion with a shot of tangy and spiced-up tomato shorba, reinterpreted with fresh apple juice.
Punjabi by nature
The team intends for their menu to be different from the seafood-loaded ones at most restaurants in the area. Biting into their cheesy mushroom kurkure was surprising as the crunchy batter gave way to the earthy taste of the succulent filling.
“We keep our dishes natural with no additives for enhancing flavours,” informs the co-owner, who is also an IT professional at InfoPark.
The dahi ke kebab—made with hung curd and crumbs—is a pleasant experience with its mushy inner texture releasing a complex set of flavours including that of sesame and coriander seeds.
Upon flipping the page of their menu, we notice that their grill section runs for a page sporting dishes like murghi kalmi kebab.
We pick the herbal-marinated hariyali bhatti da jinga with the prawn pulled out of the grill at just the right time.
“We’ve especially been careful in choosing kitchen staff who are experienced enough to ensure that the dishes attain the right texture,” says kitchen head chef Bahadur Poudel, as we try out the yoghurt-rubbed tandoori chooze.
Humongous portions
It’s when we’re already loaded that we realise that the there is too much to be tried in the main course. But, we pair the cheddar cheese loaded naan—which I’d easily have by itself—with the creamy and mildly-piquant chicken tikka masala.
“We’re exploring options on how we can utilise our terrace space,” says Parvez, but too full to climb up to the second-floor area we decide to leave the area unexplored. It was definitely a struggle to stay awake after the satisfyingly-filling oreo and KitKat monster shake.