Kebab Kronicles – Very Impressive!

Conrad Pune is hosting the 'Kebab Kronicles' festival at their Indian Restaurant, Zeera.

One evening we were at Conrad, sipping on tea, when suddenly we spied the ‘creative’ of their kebab festival. On the spur of the moment we decided to dine at Zeera and give the festival a try.

They have two (UNLIMITED) menus on offer: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Each menu consists of 7 kebabs, a fabulous aromatic mutton biryani, a dal and two desserts.

They began the meal with roasted papad and chutney/pickle. There was a green chutney and a lehsun (garlic) pickle which stumped us in a wonderful kinda way. 

The green chutney had a wee bit of mango added which lent a hint of sweetness to it. 

I was a tad apprehensive about the garlic pickle, but I put one tiny bit of garlic on a piece of papad and I was hooked. Instead of the strong flavour of garlic, what I experienced was subtle garlicky deliciousness. Oh man, this was yum!!

I tried a bite of all seven vegetarian kebabs, and they were all unique and flavoursome. Of all the seven that I tried, the Barwan Mushroom with Portabello tapenade and truffle shavings and the Paneer Chunda Bharwan were my favourite. As a hard-core carnivore, though, the non-veg kebabs were the ones that stole my heart.

The 'Tandoori Gongura Jingha' were big succulent prawns; delicately flavoured and so moreish. The Radhuni Fish Tikka, Hapshi Chicken Tikka, Murgh ke Sooley, Mutton Kakori and Lagan ki Boti, all, were stellar kebabs. The only kebab that failed to wow me was the Pathar ka Murgh. I found it bland and compared to the others that wowed; I found this one lacking in flavour. My absolute favourite kebabs, in order of preference, were the gorgeous Tandoori Gongura Jingha, the melt-in-the mouth Mutton Kakori, Murgh ke Sooley, Lagan ki Boti, Hapshi Chicken Tikka and Radhuni Fish Tikka. All kebabs-tikkas were beautifully moist and juicy. As the kebabs served are unlimited, we, of course, requested an extra helping of the Tandoori Gongura Jingha. We were eager to try the biryani hence refrained from ordering any other kebab as second helping.

The Biryani, Gosht ‘Salarjung’ Biryani, was served with a bowl of Hara Choliya Aur Sura Ki Dal.

The Biryani was fragrant, and the mutton was cooked to fall off the bone succulence. They had also added tiny mince kebabs to the biryani. Without a doubt I’d give this Biryani a massive 10/10. 

As for the dal, I loved it when I had it by itself. Paired with the biryani, it failed to impress. In fact, it hampered the flavour of the biryani. My advice: eat the dal and the biryani separately to check out the amazing flavour of each dish.

We ended our dinner with two unique desserts. The Safed Badam Ka Halwa and Kanpur Ka Jhag. 

The Safed Badam Ka Halwa was a rich dessert. Sweet but not overly so and yes, you get to bite into bits of badam in every bite. They hadn’t been stingy with the badams. 

As for the Kanpur Ka Jhag, it stirred in me memories of my trip to our place of pilgrimage, Udwada. That is where we usually have this. We Bawajees, and people in North India, have something very similar to Kanpur Ka Jhag in our recipe repertoire. We Parsi’s know of this as Doodh Na Puff. This is milk, sweetened, chilled and frothed. That froth is then collected in a glass (or a container) and served cold. It can be sprinkled with strands of saffron or Cardamom-Nutmeg powder. It’s one of the lightest desserts ever. Had I not hogged on the kebabs, I could have polished off a dozen of these. This was such a fabulous end to a stellar meal.

This dinner, as mentioned earlier, was an impromptu decision. When we requested for the cheque, our server politely informed us ‘it was handled’. We insisted time and again, but they refused to budge. We finally gave in and thanked the Chef for his kindness.

The ‘Kebab Kronicles’ festival began on January 11, 2019. This festival is only available for dinner, 7 PM onwards. Food festivals at Conrad usually last 10 to 15 days so make that reservation now. Do not miss out the deliciousness! I’m surely going back, before it ends. Those jhingas, the boti, the kakori seekhs, that aromatic biryani and the jhag beckon. I know, I know, I’m a frikkin’ greedy soul. Sigh!

Address: Zeera-Conrad, Mangaldas Road, Pune – 411001

Tel: 020 67456745