As soon as RWI was announced, I hovered like a hawk to snag a dinner table at Jolly Nabobs. This was ofcourse based on the interesting menu and rave feedback on zomato. The four of us went promptly at our scheduled 730pm slot and quite surprised to see the space rather desolate looking. We spotted the manager who confirmed our booking and lead us to our table.
The restaurant is rather intimate and is one of those painstakingly appointed spaces, which transports you to the Raj era. The heavy wood, green leather, interesting prints/photos, antique guns and our table setting was so immaculate with shiny glasses and silver wear, that we silently prayed that, we don’t have a clumsy moment!
We were handed the beverages menu and gulped at the fancy French wine bottle prices and felt a little relieved at the slightly more lesser mortal friendly beer and cocktail selections. The signature cocktails looked interesting and we ordered a last cocktail, mauryan sour, self portrait and a beer.
We were given some nibbles in the form of mini masala papad cones, chutney and a rather brilliant pumpkin relish.
The drinks arrived and looked rather nice and minimalistic. We sipped from each other's drink and The mauryan sour was truly awesome with the whisky and citrus blend, with cardamom hints. I couldn’t quite get the rosemary hit in, the last cocktail, but the self portrait, gin-cucumber mix was fresh and light.
We were handed the RWI menu and the manager made notes of our selection.
From the starters we got the chandi murg tikka, mahi gilafi and mutton dore kabab. For the mains, the mahi dum anari, murgh bemisal and the signature dish, a mutton dum biriyani. Finally for desserts, we got a kulfi, the shahi tukda and a zauk e shahi.
The food was all impeccably served in beautiful china, with a lovely bird motif. My design loving friend observed that, perhaps the plates were too decorative, as it took away from the food presentation! Guess, he had a point.
We all dug into our courses and tasted all the selections. The murg chandi tikka was soft and delicious, the mahi tikka was pretty subtle, while I didn’t eat the Dore kabab, my friend thought it was rather dry.
Of the mains, while I thought the biriyani rice was flavourful, my friend felt didn’t quite share the sentiment and thought he had eaten better. We all liked the mahi with pomegranate the most, definitely the best of the mains, the chicken was a take on rich butter chicken type dish. The dal dumpumkt, was very creamy, but a wee bit bland.
The mains came with a portion of naan khummach and warqi paratha and I thought the naan was really quite different and tasty.
The desserts were served in tiny portions, which was perfect, because they were clearly quite rich and decadent. The kulfi and the mini gulab jamuns were really yum! We finally ended the meal with a platter of pans and mints.
The Service, what can I say, simply text book perfection! When I placed the drinks and food order, I made it a point to say, "for her this, for him that etc..." and seriously not one false note. Between courses, the charming waitperson came with a little silver pan and brush and before we knew it, our tables were spotless. Some may find this overly fastidious, but once in a way, it nice to experience this.
The bill to my surprise did not have any Service Charge, there was only the VAT and ST bit; so without hesitation, we felt a decent tip was totally due. I really wish most places who charge that 10% SC send their folk here for some 101 on how to do an impeccable and unobtrusive service!
Since this is the RWI, their true signature dishes may be off limits, but I still think, this was representative, on what's on offer. Surprisingly for us, the drinks and food did overall seem like a mixed bag? Good in parts, but nothing which transported us collectively over the moon. Are we a difficult bunch or what?
Decor/Ambience-9
Food-7.5
Service-9.5
Overall-8.5
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