BENGALURU: Living far away from home makes most people crave their Maa ke haath ka khana, and bringing respite to all homesick Bengalureans is the ‘Ghar ka Khana’ menu being offered by JW Kitchen. With simple Indian food, you feel at home when you avail this buffet service. Started recently by the hotel, the menu keeps changing regularly.
The buffet included live stations, where food was prepared as per the order so that customers could be served fresh, says the chef. One can grab items from their regular buffet menu before moving on to the exclusive ‘ghar ka khana’ station.
There is a good mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, starting from salads, starters to main course. The salads were presented in such a way that we could pick the vegetables that we would like to have. The non-veg salad had options of red meat, sea food and chicken.
You can start your meal with some chaats. Dipped in fresh curd, the Dahi Bhalla was soft and spongy, and were a great way to start the meal. The Indian starters included Paneer Angara and Hara Bara Kebab. Marinated in red chilli and hung curd, the cottage cheese was grilled to perfection in the Paneer Angara. We loved the Hara Bara Kebab – different from most places – these deep fried mini patties were freshly prepared with spinach and green peas. The boneless chicken chunks in the Chicken 65 were deep-fried, crunchy and high on flavour.
We then moved on to the Ghar ka Khana counter. The Aloo Gobi ki Bhujiya reminded us of the Bengali speciality Aloo Bhujiya. Prepared home-style, the potato and cauliflower was cut into thin strips and deep fried, and the dish was simply delicious.
We ordered some fresh Indian breads at the counter to pair the dish with, along with other south and north Indian delicacies. The breads included makki roti, bajra roti, ragi roti, jowar roti, thali peeth (multi grain roti) and phulka. With ample ghee on the makki rotis and paired with the iconic Sarson ka Saag, we were instantly transported to Punjabi dhabas.
The other dishes at the station included Subz Kolhapuri (mixed vegetables cooked with red chilli, dry coconut and spice-based gravy), Bhindi Bhujiya, Mutter Paneer and Dal Makhani. The Dal Makhani and the Rara Gosht were absolutely delicious.
The meal ended with a plateful of desserts. You can pick from Indian desserts or continental ones at the station. We tried several of them – Peanut Butter Mousse Cake, Rava Laddu, Sugar-free Panna Cotta, Walnut Brownie, Coffee Cake, Chocolate pastry and Opera Cake. While the Rava Laddu was disappointing, we got lucky with the other desserts. The Panna Cotta and Opera Cake had a good balance of sweetness and sourness.
Cost for two: Rs 3,400 (inclusive of taxes)