A corporate affair

Food at this new Punjabi eatery is best had when you don't want to spend too much time thinking about what to eat

When youu00a0 have a Punjabi restaurant located in a busy corporate park sharing space with a host of fast food and coffee shop chains, you know that the restaurant probably isn't pitching on the experimental food front.
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When feeding the busy IT junta during quick breaks from work during lunchtime is the order of the day, then the dishes on offer would probably be the good ol' Punjabi fare we are used to.

The restaurant has broken up Punjab into Punj-aab to drive home the point that they are focusing on cuisine available in the basins of five rivers that give the state its name. Plush interiors with minimal decor, open spaces, dim lighting, warm wooden furniture, clean lines form the decor.u00a0



A lunch buffet feast can be found spread out at one end of the restaurant When we walked in during a workday afternoon, we were surprised that no one seemed to be ordering anything from the a-la carte menu and were heading towards the buffet table instead.

We solved the mystery when we opened the menu. The prices were a bit much even for the starters. Quickly following the herd we decided to go for the buffet too.

The buffet was priced very reasonably and promised more than 15 different kinds of dishes. We started with a plateful of all things tandoori such as Chicken Reshmi Kebab, Veg Shaslik, Tawa Fish and Aloo Corn Tikkis.
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A steaming hot bowl of Murgh Ka Shorba was served along with the starters. The shorba was a watered down version of a chicken gravy. Instead of having a hint of fresh ginger or a dash of lime and some fresh coriander, this shorba was more of of a watery broth.

The Aloo Corn Tikki was a clear winner among the starters. A deep fried patty constructed out of spicy boiled potatoes and corn and sprinkled with a dash of chat masala, these tikkis were absolutely melt-in-the-mouth. Throughout our meal we kept going back for more of these.

The Shaslik and the Reshmi Kebabs were decent enough, but the fish, which was Rohu fried in a tandoori batter, was a little undercooked for our taste.

For our mains we ladled onto our plates Nargisi Kofta, that had a khoya and nutty centre and was dunked in a heavy cream-based gravy along with Murg Peshwari, a tomato based chicken gravy with Ghosth Biryani and raita. Both the Nargisi Kofta and the Murg Peshawari were delicious but heavy on the palate.
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The biryani was strictly average but a portion of Aloo Arbi ka Mela, a dry fried preparation of potatoes and colocasia along with spices made us really happy.
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The arbi added that smokiness to the potatoes and tucking into these root veggies became the high point of our meal. Next up we moped up some Mutton Saagwalla with butter naan. The mutton was cooked well and was tender but was drowned in the heavy spinach gravy.

Punj-aaab serves a tri coloured rasgulla called the Tiranga Rasgulla and honestly we were creeped out by the green and yellow colours on our favourite spongy balls of sweetness. Instead we focused on the Jalebis, fresh watermelons and papaya, strawberry ice cream and Galiasi Halwa.

The halwa turned out to be the dessert saviour. Made from simple ingredients such as ghee, flour, sugar and nuts, the halwa was smooth yet crunchy, sweet yet not overpoweringly so and made us a complete slave to its taste.

The buffet at this restaurant seems to have been tailored keeping in mind busy office goers in the corporate circuit. Whether Punj-aab will do brisk business outside of the corporate park is something that only time will tell. For a new restaurant on the block, it was quite crowded during lunchtime.
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But we wish they would experiment a bit with Punjabi cuisine instead of dunking everything into thick coma-inducing gravies. And even though the buffet is value for money, the a-la-carte menu is priced too steeply for food that is not very innovative on the palate.

At Punj-aab, RMZ Infinity Building, 3, Old Madras Road.
Call 4093 0914
Price Rs 250 plus taxes from Monday to Thursday and Rs 300 plus tax from Friday to Sunday for buffets
Punj-aab didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.