Food

Saffron – Curry & Kebab Sultan at Park Plaza

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Saffron is one of the best really good restaurants in town situated inside the Park Plaza hotel.  We are all aware that ‘Saffron’ is one of the costliest spices in the world.  Infact, it originated in Greece way back in 12th century before coming to India.  Saffron is called ‘Kesar’ in Hindi and ‘Zaafraan’ in Urdu.  Well, the name itself sounds quite exquisite and now the same name has been given to the special restaurant inside Park Plaza.

 

Background

The restaurant serves some wonderful North Indian food.   And the best part is that they try bringing different into restaurant and not just stick to the contemporary.  Recently they had the ‘Twin Cities’ event where in they served food that is famous from Amritsar and Lahore.  Now, they brought in this special menu called as ‘Curry & Kebab’.  The menu was titled SULTAN’s , which signifies ruler.  I guess they wanted to serve the royal food to all of us.

 

 

Menu Options

I wanted to specially write something about this coz the Chef have tried to make sure that a separate menu is available for Vegetarians and Non-Vegetarians.  Though some of the veg options were also there in the Non-Veg menu, I like the concept of having separate menu for Veg & Non-Veg.  This shows the kind of thought flow that goes into making a menu.

 

 

Location

My words in the earlier paragraphs might inspire you to immediately to go to the place.  Let me share some simple directions.

If you are coming from Sarjapur Outer Ring Road junction towards Maratahalli.  Drive across the Cisco office to the right side, 24/7 offices to the left side and hit upon Maratahalli.  Soon after you cross the @Home store, the ‘Park Plaza’ hotel is to the left side.  Take the lift to the lift side, go to 1stfloor and walk down.  The 2ndrestaurant to the right is the ‘Saffron’.

 

If you are coming from Whitefield or Outer Ring Road, drive across the ‘Innovative Multiplex’.  The ‘Park Plaza’ appears to the right side.  And the Saffron is right inside on the 1st level.

 

Time to share my thought on the food, which for sure is the highlight.

Food

The menu for Veg is quite long.  Infact, the menu(s) for Veg/Non-Veg is huge and unless you plan for your meal, it might be hard to taste all of it.

 

Soup

Bhune Tamatar Adrak Da Ras
Char broiled tomato and ginger soup tempered with garlic
A wonderful refreshing soup that has the right mix of tomato and garlic.  It has the sweetness as well as the spice.  Its more like the ‘Shorba’ and not the cream soup.  But I am glad to have tried a nice soup to start off.

 

Kebabs

All Kebabs are served with Saffron special masala, Missi Roti and white butter

 

Bharwan Gucchi Paneer

Cubes of cottage cheese stuffed with Kabul morel mushroom and exotic vegetables which char grill in Clay oven
The description of the kebab is simply amazing along with the dish in itself.  A lot of effort has gone into bringing all of the items together to bring up this dish.
The masala in the dish was simply awesome, clearly it seems to be Saffron special masala.
The only problem I felt was the paneer was a bit on the chewy side.  It was have ben nicer if it were a bit softer.

 

Kumbh palak ki Lahori Seekh

Lahore, Paris of the East, home to the most creative chefs in the Land of the Five Rivers, crafted this seekh kebab of spinach, mushrooms and almonds grilled in the tandoor
This was one of the best kebabs I have eaten by far.  Coz the taste of the kumbh and palak was so well blended in the kebab that you love it.  The taste was so good that I took 3-4 serving coz I somehow could not resist myself by eating just 1 piece.  Some of the foodies did try to ask the recipe to which the Chef smiled.

 

Gobhi Naal Broccoli

Cauliflower and Broccoli marinated with different spices of Tandoori masala and cooked in Tandoor
Another well executed dish that has the right amount of masala put on the ‘Cauliflower’ and on the ‘Broccoli’.  Infact, both the items might look same but the flavor certainly varies.  The masala added inside sure does give different flavors.

 

Tandoori Annanas

Pineapple cubes marinated with olive oil, honey, cinnamon, hung curd and group spices cooked in Tandoor
This is one of the very important kebabs that are served.  Coz its got the right mix of sweetness, tanginess, grill effects and spice.  Overall the kebab is simply yummy and makes you feel like eating more than 1 always.

Butte de Kebab

American corn kernels cooked with Chef’s special spices and griddied in tawa
This was one of the best corn based kebab that I have eaten.  The masala added in the corn made a lot of difference to the overall taste of the kebab.  I took nearly 2 serving as I somehow enjoyed eating more of it.

 

Tariyan Te Sukhe Vyanjan

Vilayti Subzi

Melange of exotic vegetables cooked in rich onion tomato gravy, flavored with mustard and coriander
If you look at the mix of veggies and gravy, it might be hard to predict how the final subzi is going to come out.  But, I am glad that the flavors blended quite well and the overall outcome was a wonderful subzi that went along well with some wonderful Tandoor Roti.

Paneer Lababdar

Another culinary legacy from Punjab, prepared with freshly homemade cottage cheese cooked in rich creamy gravy of onion, tomato and Indian spices
Another dish which had the right amount of masala, which would take you to some dizzy heights.  The paneer was also pretty fine but I would have loved it to be abit softer.  But, I realize the effort that has gone into making the dish is awesome and I appreciate.

 

Sarson da Saag

Signature dish from the state of Punjab and one of the Indian recipes that is a labor of love, time and patience.  Made with Mustard leaves & spices, topped with generous amount of white butter or ghee.
This for sure is one of my favorite dishses in the North Indian food.  I generally take it everytime I go to North/Punjabi restaurants.  ‘Makkhi/Corn Roti’ is the right combination. 
I must say that the ‘Saag’ was well made with the right amount of spinach in it.  I loved taking every bit of it.

Hing Dhaniya Aloo

Crispy fried potatoes tempered with crushed coriander seeds and asafetida
Another dish that is made of Potatoes, which might be easy to put it in words but to be able to pull it off, is hard.  They made sure that good amount of coriander was added as seasoning and potatoes were well cooked.  So, it tasted wonderful with the Tandoori Roti, Naan that were served.

Gucchi Saat Dal

Kashmiri morel mushroom delicately cooked with seven varieties of lentil, tempered with clarified butter and Indian spices
Another well described dished which might look simple in term of the ingredients.  But then when you start making it, becomes hard coz the boiling points may vary, flavors may go along well when mixed and served at a specific temperature.  The folks here have done a great job to pull off a great daal.

 

Mirch Pyaz ka Kulcha / Roti / Naan

These are some of the items that we enjoyed along with the wonderful Subzi.  Each of them was well done.  There was right amount of softness and the butter was surely spread freely so that the flavors stay intact. 
With the variety of ingredients in the subzi(s), I think the standard roti & naan helps get all the flavors.

 

Lahori Subz Biryani

Popuar dish from the streets of Lahore, Seasonal vegetables cooked with basmati rice on dum, flavored with fresh mint
This is one of the best biryani I have eaten in Bangalore.  Hand down this is the best for the simply reason that the biryani in itself tastes wonderful.  It has the right mix of vegetables and some special spices.  I don’t think I have been able to eat biryani anywhere without adding some raita.  In this case, the biryani can be consumed as is.  I would surely want to take the recipe and try it at home sometime.
It does not have that extra masala or spices, all the ingredients are perfectly mixed and blended.
The non-vegetarian menu had quite a few options.  And I heard from my friends telling that the food was quite good.

 

Dessert Platter

Kulfi Falooda

Pistachio-almond flavored Indian iced Dessert made with reduced milk, adorned with rose syrup
A wonderful desert in which, the kulfi and rose syrup blended quite well to bring up the flavor. The falooda along with the other ingredients let you enjoy the same with the plain falooda.

 

Kesar Rasmalai

Freshly made cottage cheese dumpling soaked in sweetened, thickened milk delicately flavored with handpicked Kashmiri saffron
This happens to be one of the favorite deserts for many folks.  And when you read through the description, you start to appreciate the dish.  They sure did pull of the desert quite well.  May be some amount of sweetening was required I suppose.

Gajar ka Halwa with Ice Cream

Rich Indian Dessert made with fresh carrots, milk and sugar encapsulated within the generous amount of ghee added and topped with ice cream
An all time favorite desert fro many of us back home. A dish that needs to be well done coz there is every possibility that the carrot may not be cooked well, the sweetness might be more or less.  But here in Saffron they seem to have been working with some of the top chef, who has done a great job.

 

This brings me to the end of the food reviews. 

Drinks

This for sure is one of the strong aspects of the Park Plaza.  Some of the drinks that I tried included –
 

Cranberry based Mocktail

I felt that the taste was a bit on the sweeter side.  But otherwise the mocktail is pretty refreshing.

 

Tamarind based Mocktail 

This was a mocktail that was well thought after and presented quite well.  I enjoyed the drink coz it was some amount of tanginess and sweetness to it.

 

Overall Experience

This was one of the best dinners I have had in a while now.  There are a few corrections that I have mentioned, may be if they can be brought in.  The food served will become all more top notch.  Apart from the food Ambiance and Service are all simply amazing.  I am glad to have got this opportunity with some foodie friends of mine.  My overall rating for this place would be 4.0/5.  I sure was tempted to go higher which I think I might do shortly.

 

Rating in other departments is as follows –
Food – 4.0/5
Service – 4.0/5
Ambiance – 4.0/5
Drinks – 3.75/5
Food for 2 people will cost anywhere between INR2500-3500.