Karim’s is said to be a legendary restaurant located in Delhi, thats famous for being the master when it comes to Mughlai Cuisine… Said to be founded and run by the descendants of the royal chefs of the erstwhile Mughal Empire, the first time I heard about this place is from Anthony Bourdain’s old show which included this place when it featured Delhi… Over the years I have seen others feature Karim’s in their respective shows including the youtubers like Mark Weins and so it has been a place I have been waiting to have the chance to visit… Recently, when I visited the Lulu Mall here, I saw that a branch of Karim’s was being constructed and it wasn’t long before the place opened… I tried visiting a couple of times but the rush was too much for me… In the meantime I had been hearing mixed reviews including some really bad ones about the food which made me feel skeptical cause I have seen examples where franchises completely ruined the reputation of otherwise, popular brands… However, when I got the chance to visit today, I just went for it and here we are 🙂
It was a relatively small menu at this place, a couple of Tandoori items and Kebabs each of Chicken and Mutton respectively and then a handful of Curries of Chicken and Mutton and then a few selections of bread ie, Naan and Roti variants… Thats it… The waiter informed me that in addition of whats mentioned in the menu, they have Biriyani but that wasn’t available yet… I wasn’t interested in having Biriyani at the time and so, Karim’s being known as the best specialists on Mughlai Cuisine, I wanted to try something from it and so, as per the waiters suggestion, I went for the Chicken Mughlai and their Roghni Naan which the waiter told me is the traditional Mughlai Butter Naan… Karim’s is also famous for their Tandoori items and so among the options, I went for the Makhni Chicken Burra cause the waiter mentioned it to be the one thats medium spicy… The following pics show how the food was served…
So, lets first talk about the Tandoori starter (as the waiter mentioned) ie, the Makhni Chicken Burra… As per the waiter this is basically Chicken cooked in the Tandoor oven and then tossed and coated with a lot of Butter and Cream… As can be seen in the pics below, it clearly looks like it and was served with a cup of Mint Chutney and Onion Rings… Regarding the taste, I must say that the buttery creamy coating was just yummy and seemed to have the flavours of Yogurt and Garlic and was seasoned just right… However, sadly, the Chicken was heavily overcooked and the meat was just dry and tough to chew… Another thing which I felt quite weird is that the whole dish seemed to lack the flavour of Chicken itself even when having the meat by itself without the coating… This tends to happen when boiled meats are used and this dish left me wondering if that is indeed the process in use here…
Next up is the Roghni Naan which was as shown in the pics below… As the waiter mentioned, clearly it had the aroma of the generous amount of Butter used and just looks yummy… But regarding the taste, it was completely different from any version of Naan that I have ever had… It had a slight sourness in its taste and also had a crispiness outside especially at the top… Inside felt a bit weird for me that it seemed to have an airy texture which reminded me of the Pita bread… Otherwise no complaints on taste… However unfortunately, two of the three given pieces of the Naan were undercooked with the bottom still remaining quite doughy… Oddly the tops looked perfectly cooked though…
Last but not least was the Chicken Mughlai, the one dish which I was hoping would save the day… As can be seen in the pics, clearly the look seemed promising as it did look like the Chicken Mughlai that I have had before from the North which is completely different from the creamy, white and sweet curry that we get in the restaurants here… The sight of Watermelon Seeds is clearly an indication of authenticity as it is my understanding that traditional Mughal Cuisine does use Watermelon Seeds… Regarding the taste, I did end up liking the taste of the gravy… The taste of those melon seeds was very much present throughout the gravy as it clearly has been made with the seeds blended in along with the typical style of north indian masala gravy made with onions and ginger garlic paste along with spices and then with a heavy use of Cream and Yogurt… It was indeed thick… However, again, the Chicken pieces ended up being a disappointment as they were overcooked and bland when had on its own…
Overall, I must say that I was disappointed with this lunch as my experience ended up being consistent to the really bad reviews that I had heard before… As I mentioned before it was like the meats that got served today just looked like Chicken but didn’t taste of it… I have heard about this practice by quite a number of restaurants where they precook meats by boiling and then use those pre-boiled meats for preparing the final dishes to order… But usually the better ones among them tend to compensate for the loss of flavour by adding stocks to the dish… Here unfortunately, whoever cooked the dishes I had today did no such thing and also ended up overcooking the Chicken as well, while leaving most of the Naan undercooked as well… What was even more weird was that as I was struggling with the overcooked meat, the table next to me was struggling with undercooked meat… Anyways, I do seriously hope that it was just a bad day for the Chefs as this branch had opened up very recently and that this doesn’t repeat ever cause Karim’s is such a legendary brand and hence it would be a shame thats extremely unfair to that brand if these issues continue… I for one have informed the staff about everything and I hope that the issues get resolved asap… The positive part is that unlike most restaurants in Trivandrum, the amount of Butter used is incredibly generous just like how we see about Karim’s in various shows… So, I think the recipes are good… They just need to correct the way the cooking is done 🙂
That’s it for now… As I mentioned before, I did end up disappointed with the food I got today from Karim’s at Lulu Mall, Trivandrum… I hope that the issues get resolved asap and that when I visit again, I would finally get to experience what the legendary Karim’s is all about… Hopefully soon…
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