ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Restaurant Name: Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs: ITC Windsor
Phone: +918061402610, +918861547548
Address: 25, Windsor Square, Golf Course Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560052 India
Time: 12:30 PM – 14:45 PM, 19:00 PM – 23:30 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 6,000
Cuisines: North Indian, Awadhi
Facility: Wheelchair Accessible, Full Bar Available, Wifi, Luxury Dining, 4/5 Star
Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs: ITC Windsor, Bangalore: Decor
To step into this restaurant, tucked away inside the ITC Windsor, is to go back in time -to an era of Nabobs, Burra Khanas and Khansamahs. The char wooden floors and sepia prints on the walls, antique fans and green leather button back chairs, all exude an unmistakable vintage charm. On a restaurant-scape that is in constant flux, the sedate, unchanging nature of Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs affords a sense of comfort.
Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs: ITC Windsor, Bangalore: Food
I returned to Dum Pukht -which has, over the years, been my favorite North Indian restaurant -after several months and was happy to note that little has changed. The kebabs were as fragrant and succulent as I remembered them and the biryani is still the best. What’s new here is some additions to the menu. The restaurant is now open for lunch as well.
For me, the highlight of the Dum Pukht dining experience is the Kakori, which is as refined a kebab as you’ll ever eat. The meat is pounded to a melting soft texture, scented with precise quantities of cloves and cinnamon, and a multitude of other spices, artfully wrapped around an extra thick skewer and grilled over coals. It comes to the table, anointed with a sprinkling of saffron, and must be slid on to your plate, lest it falls apart in all its delicate m deliciousness. If you eat just one thing at Dum Pukht, make it the Kakori. The Jhinga Dum Nisha is another of my favorite kebabs here -fresh prawns marinated in yogurt, flash cooked in a tandoor and finished on dum, which is a signature style of this restaurant.
The kebabs are followed by Qorma, Qaliya, Salan and Nehari -curries that emerge from ancient culinary traditions, cooked in vast, covered vessels over slow fires, sealing in all the richness and flavor of the spices, herbs and condiments that go into them. The Subz Purdah is one of the more recent additions to the menu – capsicum, tomato, paneer and pineapple cooked under a veil of puff pastry, an indulgent dish for vegetarians. For meat lovers, there’s the Shahi Nehari, redolent of potli masala and tender from overnight cooking. As I savored the silken gravies, I was again convinced that when it comes to refinement and the sheer elegance of its dishes, Dum Pukht is in another league altogether.
The breads are very special, and I especially love the Naun E Bah Khummach, made of semolina flour, scattered with poppy seeds and saunf. And it sounds exotic, too. I would consider going to Dum Pukht just for the Dum Pukht Biryani -its dough crust prised open at the table, releasing the most exquisite aroma of ittar, mace and kewra.
Dessert is an excess after a meal of such richness. But if your sweet cravings are undiminished, then wrap up the meal with either the Begum’s Pudding or the floral-accented Gulab ki Kheer.
Service:
If the restaurant captures the graciousness of an earlier time, so does the service. Many of the staff are ITC Windsor veterans and their service is genuinely warm and welcoming.
Plus & Minus:
The meal lives up to its description as ‘grand cuisine’ and is luxurious in every way. Be prepared to pay for the pleasure and also forgive yourself for the calorie indulgence.
