Located near Baner gaon, Balewadi this is debutant restaurant serving Maharashtrian cuisine. They have curated the menu such as they are trying to cover most of the famous and authentic Maharashtrian dishes. From Nagpur to Kolhapur, Solapur to Mumbai, they got most of them covered.
They have tried to keep the restaurant interior as authentic as possible with wooden carvings on doors like there were used to be in Maharaja’s palaces in old days. Sparkling chandeliers, a corner couch with fur on the floor where you can actually take a picture of yourself looking like a king!
Foodprowl team was recently got invited for food tasting at Deewan Khana.
The menu for tasting as set by the restaurant already, comprising of starters, mains, breads and dessert.
From starters we tried Mutton kheema Unde, Mutton chop in green masala, Kheema samosa, DK special chicken masala, Malwani sukke chicken and Malai chicken kebab. The kheema samosa was very flavorful with aromatic spices blended in minced mutton. DK special chicken masala was spicy, tangy and full on flavorful. Mutton chop was a bit overcooked yet the green masala wasn’t too spicy, in fact it was subtle. On the other hand the malai chicken kebab could have been better if they have used cream instead of mayo on top of the kebabs, nonetheless the chicken kebab itself was good. Kheema unde is basically khema balls sauteed in hard grounded spices. This one is recipe from Solapur.
Now it was time for mains, where we had Dahi chicken, Methi mutton, Nagpuri mutton masala, Vharadi kharda Mutton, Pathare Prabhu mutton masala, Mutton achar and Gharguti mutton rassa. This we had along with assorted breads including Jawar bhakari, Tandul Bhakari(rice floor), Bajra Bhakari and chapati.
My top picks from mains are Pathare prabhu mutton masala. This one is inspired from Pathare prabhu samaj in Mumbai where they add potato in the mutton gravy and the gravy itself has very distinct flavor. Next would be Nagpuri mutton masala, this wasn’t too spicy unlike many places we get to eat in the name of saoji mutton. Dahi chicken was again a decent dish.
Methi mutton was good but was lacking in methi flavor. Gharguti mutton rassa was bit disappointing as it had unpleasant smell of dry coconut to it.
After such heavy meal it was time to have chikki ice cream which always does wonders. This was quite a good one with some rabdi and crushed chikki topped on plain vanilla ice cream.
We also tried Purnalu which is shaped like bonda, where they stuffed puran (Cooked lentil and jaggery) in rice flour balls and deep fried. This wasn’t too sweet. While eating you can cut through it and add a spoonful of desi ghee for that extra richness.
Overall it was a mixed experience with few hits and misses. We have already shared the feedback with the owners. And sure they will implement accordingly. Cheers to that!
Chinmayi Reviews 