Khe Vakh! (What a pleasure!) is what the folks in the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan, say to celebrate good life and good food. The award-wining restaurant, first started its operations in Mumbai and now have taken the challenge to tempt Punekars by offering a unique journey of exotic Royal Frontier Bhukara Cuisine. The restaurant is located in Phoenix mall, third floor, next to Copper Chimney. The ‘Asli Dum’ preparation of food is Khiva’s pièce de résistance, along with earthen pot cooking, simmered for long hours to ensure that the taste buds get ticked with every bite. Khiva tries to revive the lost art of slow cooking, using fresh and pure flavours and ingredients, keeping it simple and minimalistic - the true taste of Maharajas. The chefs at Khiva have mastered the art of Peshawari and Bukhara cuisine. The iconic dishes such as the ‘Sikandri Raan’ and Dum Biryani offer a sampling of the menu’s best features. I was Invited for the food tasting as a part of the Media Preview of Khiva Restaurant. As we settled down after the brief introduction with the owner himself and Imran who handles the operations of restaurant was there to take care of us. We started with Virgin Mojito and the traditional complimentary dish known a PARRA which was served with three different Dips. Parra is basically are crunchy sticks which are suppose to be dipped in the dips and enjoy till your food arrives. As it was mentioned to me that everything is made fresh and taken full care to maintain the quality of the food which the patrons can enjoy and relish the Royal Cuisine. Three Dips were Fresh Mint dip, cheese garlic mayo, and the spiciest one was the Tomato Chilli dip (Have it with caution) Appetizers: Paneer Peshawari Tikka: This was tandoori cooked Creamy Soft and big square pieces of Malai Paneer marinated in Yoghurt and spiced with yellow chilli served with basic salad. This had its own distinct flavour not too spicy not too sour but right amount of flavours made this paneer yummy. Mutter Aur Cheese ka Tikka: This was just out of the world dish!! Served hot enough to hold the googy cheese within. The base was of green peas and gram flour which was shallow fried. Perfect to start with and highly recommended for the Vegetarians. Makai Sheek Kebab: Sheek Kebab preparation is not everyone cup of tea. This has to be perfectly cooked from within and at the same time it should not get overcooked or burnt from outside. The Moisture in the dough plays a important role in it. These were so well cooked and sprinkled with homemade masala to add the extra flavour to it. Recommended. Mains: Paneer Khurchan: This is served in a Flat plate cottage cheese or Paneer sautéed in Capsicum, Tomato, fried onion to give extra flavour. Its colourful and flavourful dry subzi. Subzi Nargisi Kofta: Soft Mix Vegetable dumplings or kofta's fried and cooked in Tangy Tomato Onion Gravy. Little sweet -little tangy at the same time made this subzi unique of the lot. Meloni Tarkari: As the name suggest its a kind of a seasonal and fresh mixed vegetable with perfect consistency of the gravy. Dal Khiva: Black Dal cooked overnight and shimmered with tomatoes, Ginger, Garlic, Cream and butter is added to get the perfect taste and thickness. The dal has to be cooked at least for 8-10 hours to attain exact consistency and aromatic flavours of all the ingredients. Dum Biriyani/Subzi Biryani: This is one of the dish to be Musthave to end your Mains. Steaming within the Covered clay pot gave the rustic taste to the Biryani. There are very few places you will get biryani less oily and more and rich in flavours this is one of those places. It was served with Raita and Mirichi ka salan which blended with it very well. Desserts: We tried Lychee ki tehree, Elachi Jamun, Baked Anjeer Halwa, Zaffarani Angoori Rasmalai. Out of this Lychee ki Tehree was the winner, flavourful not too sweet. I found Baked Anjeer Halwa bit too greasy not for my Palate. Overall... It was a royal and wholesome experience for the evening.

This is a food testing review for khiva. The best thing about this place the Ambiance is really awesome and created for a great meal with your loved ones and family. Beautifully placed small lights and in background an ear catching music is playing. We have tried a lots of different foods. The menu is bit different but all are pretty good. Cheese kurkure : Wheat rolled mix of cheese and kurkure. Perfect blend of spices with kurkure. A different taste started our journey of towards a great food. A must try dish. Sabz lacheela: A mix of all vegetables dip fried coated with fried sebaiyan. I haven't tried this kind of dish previously. Taste like mix of spicy and sweet. I like the taste. Chandni murgh: It is a chicken kebab of different preparation, taste is really awesome. A must try dish. A midium spice kebab. Paneer tikka: A yellow coloured Paneer tikka. For vegetarian people it would be a best option. Sabuta choosa: A full chicken tandoori roasted in ghee. Smells very nice and really an awesome taste. Barra kebab lazeez: Finely cut Mutton chop cooked in ghee with mixed spice. The taste was very spicy and delicious. The best dish of the house and my favourite. Coming to main course we tried below dishes with roti. Dal khiva: it's kind of Dal makhani the In house speciality. A must try dish. Lahori ghost: A mutton gravy dish. The mutton was very soft but the gravy need to be cooked more. We have informed the restaurant they will take care of that Murg peshwari : In main course I liked this dish very much as it cooked perfectly and an different spicy taste of chicken which is really good. Paneer khurchan: A dry panner dish perfectly for roti. Chicken biryani :A perfect blend of spices as a biryani should have and the smell. Nicely presented and dum biryani. Really awesome. In desert this place is 5 star. As they have something called anjeer halwa and lychee ki teyhree. The king of desert. Seriously both are very yummy. The best dessert I have ever had. Service : 4/5 Food:5/5 Ambiance :4.5/5 Value for money :4.5/5 Recommended dishes: Cheese Kurkure, Barra kebab lazeez, Dal khiva and lychee ki teyhree.