No Frills Just Grills - Kabana

One of Pune prettiest and most romantic rooftop locations is Kabana, at Conrad. The location is serenely gorgeous, and the mean meals their chefs cook up is the reason why I frequent it so often. 

For the winter months, Kabana is hosting the ‘No Frills Just Grills’ festival and a few of us were invited to try the menu. 

It has extremely interesting meat options like NZ Lamb Chops, Salmon Steaks, Scampi, Pork Ribs and, of course, Chicken. Vegetarians need not be disappointed as they have grilled veg options too. These non-veg and veg options have to be paired with marinades and sauces of your choice.

To whet the appetite, they began the meal by sending out yummy Caramelized Onion Swirl Buns with a Sun-Dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Dip. Warm bread smeared with a delicious dip is such a joy to eat.

Our grills for the evening were Barbeque Pork Ribs, Caribbean Jerk Chicken, Salmon Japanese Teriyaki, Scampi Chimichurri and NZ Lamb Chop Peri-Peri. The salads and sides served that evening were, Tomato Burrata, Herb Quinoa, Baked Sun Chokes, Baked Jacket Potatoes with Sour Cream, Cajun Corn on Cob and Herbed Rice.

I’m mentally allergic to salads 😝 hence I gave all the salads a miss but, I did dig into the silken Buratta. I could have polished off that creamy ball of sinfulness all by myself. *greedy grin*

I had a bite of the Sun Chokes, but my hardcore carnivore palate could not handle the vegetable. The others at the table liked it, though. The Herbed Rice was also quite nice but, the stars (among the sides) were the Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream and the Cajun Corn on Cob.

The recipe of the Jerk Spice rub used for the Caribbean Jerk Chicken is Chef Hemant’s recipe and I have yet to have a Jerk Chicken better than this! 

The Salmon Japanese Teriyaki was beautifully flaky and the subtle flavour of the marinade allowed the salmon to shine. 

The Scampi was cooked correctly but I found it under seasoned. The marinade lacked salt. 

The Barbeque Pork Rib was delicious! It had a lovely smoky flavour and aroma, but the meat wasn’t cooked to fall-off-the-bone texture which was disappointing. It was sad to see pork meat going waste over the bone when ideally, I would have loved to bite into it and rip it off the bone. 

The NZ Lamb Chop Peri-Peri was cooked to perfect succulence and the peri-peri marinade complemented the chop beautifully. 

The Caribbean Jerk Chicken and the NZ Lamb Chop, undoubtedly, were the stars of the evening! The Salmon Japanese Teriyaki came a close second.

The meal ended with Pumpkin Pie with Pistachio Mousse Nougat. It was yum, but I merely had a bite or two as I’d eaten too much of the main course.

The menu for this festival is so well curated that I could not get enough of the deliciousness. I returned to Kabana, twice in the week that followed. Once for some quiet ‘me’ time and another time in tow with a friend.

I/we ordered the Home Fries with Blue Cheese Dip (apologies, no pic for this as I was too hungry) but as I like to control the flavour of the blue cheese as suited to my palate, I told them not to drizzle blue cheese over the fries; I requested the blue cheese dip be served separately. Chunky home fries fried crisp on my request with a dip so accurately flavoured with blue cheese: give me a book or a movie and I can spend an entire evening sitting at Kabana sipping cups of tea and hogging on these babies. We also requested for Cajun Corn on Cob which was just as delicious as it was when I'd had it the first time.

For the mains, we reordered the Salmon and requested the Italian Lemon Butter sauce on the side. The combination was superb! 

We also reordered the Caribbean Jerk Chicken. It was so moreish. My friend fell head over heels in love with the dish! They usually grill a chicken breast, but my friend is not a fan of that cut (actually, nor am I) which is why I requested the chef to grill a chicken leg instead. The chef readily agreed to do that. It is a mark of excellence when a restaurant, a hotel, a chef, happily says, ‘yes ma’am, we’ll customize it for you’. To me, that is stellar service! Such service gives me a major reason to return to a restaurant/hotel time and time again.

The current menu will be on all through December. Come January, the ‘No Frills Just Grills’ menu will change. Do give the festival a try. I cannot wait to go back to try more stuff from the current menu and I’m so looking forward to the deliciousness they bring forth in the January menu. Having been a regular at their restaurants I know exactly what their chefs are capable of; I cannot wait to be amazed. 😊 To sit back, put my feet up, enjoy the cold winter chill and eat delicious piping hot grilled meats; ah the small pleasures of life! Sigh!

Address: Kabana-Conrad, Mangaldas Road, Pune.

Tel: 020 67456745

Some more drool-worthy photographs...

Parsi Choi

I’m a Bawi and if there is one thing I cannot get enough of, its Parsi ‘choi’. We Parsi’s love our ‘choi’. Yes, most of us pronounce chai as ‘choi’. Time and again so many people have requested me for this recipe. I finally decided to stop procrastinating. Here's the step by step recipe for Parsi Choi. 

Before I get down to actually writing the recipe let me tell you what the main difference is between regular chai and choi? Well, we Parsi’s add mint leaves (phudno/phoodina) and lemon grass (lilli chai patti aka gavti chai) to our tea. There are a few variations to our tea. For example, if we are able to lay our paws on peppermint leaves, we would much rather use that in place of mint leaves. In the winter months, or on cold rainy days, we add black pepper powder to our tea.

The Parsi’s were originally from Persia (Iran). When we settled in India, a few from our clan slowly took on habits/tastes from local cultures. It is for this reason that certain Parsi’s prefer tea made the ‘Indian’ way; with crushed cardamom or ginger, or the typical Gujarati way by adding ‘chai masala’. Yes, there are a few Bawajees who take their tea the British ‘apri raani’ way; very light or very milky; to each their own. They’re safe from my fists as long as they never invite me over for a cuppa. 😝🙊

Here’s the recipe to Parsi choi as made in my house, day in and day out. The proportion to this recipe is based on a mug of tea, instead of a cup of tea. We’re major tea drinkers and a cup is simply too tiny. The proportions mentioned will make 1 mug (300 ml) or 2 cups of tea (150 ml each).

I have friends who crave Parsi ‘choi’ and love to drop in for a cuppa. I also have friends who cannot handle this tea at all. Parsi choi is a bit like me. An acquired taste; not everyone can handle/tolerate it (me). 😉

Ingredients:

200 ml water

100 ml milk

1 heaped teaspoon regular black tea leaves (my brand is Taj)

6-7 mint leaves

1 long shoot lemon grass, cut into 2-inch pieces

Sugar, served on the side

Method:

1. Wash the lemon grass and mint. Keep aside.
2. Put the milk and water to boil over low heat.
3. Add the tea powder, mint leaves and lemon grass. (This is the point where you add black pepper powder in case you are using it)
   
   
   
   
4. Allow the tea to come to a boil.
   
   
   
   
5. When you see it come to a boil, increase the flame and allow it to come to a rapid boil. (Please keep a close eye to ensure it does not overflow)
   
   
   
   
6. When the tea comes to a rapid boil and rises to the top of the vessel (without overflowing please), immediately turn down the heat and stir the tea with a spoon. That will enable it to settle down faster.
   
   
   
   
7. Simmer for 2 to 4 minutes. (The simmer time depends on whether you prefer a strong or a stronger blend of choi).
8. Take the tea off the stove and allow it to seep for a minute or two.
9. Pour into a mug and serve steaming hot with sugar on the side.
   
   
   
   

Chef’s Notes:

1. When I get back from visits to Udwada, in Gujarat, (our place of holy pilgrimage) I usually bring back fresh peppermint leaves and use them in my tea instead of regular mint leaves. Peppermint leaves simply takes the aroma of tea to another level. Sigh!
2. If you wish to add black pepper powder to your tea on a cold winter day, go a tad easy at the beginning and increase the quantity gradually. I add ¼ teaspoon (flat, not heaped) for a 300 ml mug. Please be prepared for a fabulous spicy hit at the back of your throat.
3. The ‘choi’ photographs I am posting with this recipe have been taken by me over the past few months with various biscuits, sandwiches, etc. Drool away, guys ;-)
4. If you prefer a milkier version, feel free to go 50-50 with the proportion of milk and water.
5. You may add sugar directly to the tea (if everyone in your family uses the same quantity of sugar).
6. In case you are wondering, ml stands for milliliter.
7. The photograph of the lemon grass, mint leaves, black tea powder and pepper powder are merely to illustrate how much is used for 1 mug of tea.
8. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own or you will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   

   

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