AJA Chandigarh — Restaurant in Chandigarh

As has been expected of Aja for a few years now, the service was bad, with no host to greet/seat, and only one waiter to take orders. Understandably poor service since he is overworked, but that is not the customers fault or problem and his rude behaviour is out of place at such an establishment. But who knows, maybe they're going for an authentic Dhaba feel and train their staff to emulate it. Either way since the service has been deteriorating for a while, it was not surprising.

What was a surprise however, was the pathetic quality of the food that was served. They have released a new "cocktail menu" which would honestly have been better even if they used AI to generate the random cocktails on offer. The primary pain points here were the misleading and borderline fraudulent descriptions of said cocktails. Instead of honestly communicating their use of cheap vodka (probably Grey Goose, although the staff refused to confirm or deny the brand). They have written it as "French Liquor". While obviously it is technically correct (hence the "borderline" fraud) it is still extremely misleading because one does not read "French Liquor" and think of Grey Goose, or any vodka for that matter.

Upon clarification of ingredients I proceeded to order a cocktail (Rita, supposed to be coconut and kahlua flavored) and as expected it was disappointing and bland, arriving already watered down from the excessively large ice cube (Not even shaped and/or clear) that took up half the glass. Add to that a hasty garnish attempt with a dried out coconut rind and a lemon slice, and you've the recipe for the most pretentious and bourgeois cocktail of the city. But it's not like the rest of their bar menu is particularly inspiring so one might just gloss over the fact that their bartender can't mix.

The real object of attention here was the food, since Aja is generally known for good quality, well cooked food. Not this time. Upon ordering the worst chicken I've had this year, and perhaps this decade, I decided to consult the chef about the issues. Thinking that perhaps it was a one off mistake and would be acknowledged and rectified for future orders. Sadly, the chef did naught but make excuses, and defended his errors as much as he could.

One of the mistakes was the peanuts that were an essential component of the dish. The peanuts were burned on some sides, and completely raw inside. Anyone with basic knowledge of roasting peanuts knows that this is easily attributable to not paying attention to your pan, letting the bottom burn and then hastily removing it from heat. This will cause the pan facing side to be slightly burnt and the rest of it to remain raw. However instead of accepting the shortcomings of the dish the Chef insisted on defending his mistakes, and even sent out a bowl of similarly messed up peanuts to convince me that the texture was due to the sauce (which was nonexistent in the dish anyways) and not due to his incompetence. This kind of reaction to feedback is egregious and I fail to understand how an actual chef cannot tell the difference between cooked and raw peanuts. The cherry on top is when he informed me that he had worked in the industry for "17 years" and in Michelin star restaurants. While I find that hard to believe for several reasons, the first being no self respecting chef would quit a Michelin star restaurant for this dhaba in Chandigarh, I can only assume that it was his deficiencies in performing his job that led to him no longer working in those establishments.

Beyond the peanuts, the secondary issue was the dish being described in the menu as coming with an "Asian slaw". The slaw in question was merely shredded lettuce with some vinaigrette on top. That is neither slaw, nor Asian due to the inclusion of the vinaigrette. However at the very least the chef accepted that mistake and claimed it might be a clerical error.

Overall, an extremely disappointing experience and one I would not wish to have again. Which is rather sad because at one point aja had some of the best food...

Recently I visited AJA Café situated in the inner market of Sector 9 Chandigarh.

About the Place -  In African mythology Aja is a spirit of herbal healing. Aja with her mystic winds purifies the physical and mental state of being. They have designed a cuisine that keeps the authenticity of the world street food flavors at its core. Purity of herbal flavors in the recipes, earthly organic basics in the kitchen & nutritious along with being scrumptious as the only outcome. They have wandered the streets of the world and crafted dishes with surprising variations keeping in mind the sights of African meals, smells of European kitchens, sounds of Asian stalls & the taste of the Americas. Serving an evolved, innovative world cuisine in the quick & healthy fashion. Mr. Rajkanwar Singh a former International Tennis player and a culinary graduate from IHM Aurangabad  who has worked with 5-star hotels in India and abroad and also is a food consultant to many retail food product companies and restaurants. As a frequent traveler, he realized that there was a lack of healthy and nutritious eating places in India and at the same time, healthy food was considered to be super boring. He decided to fill this huge gap in the restaurant industry and thus, Aja was born. According to him, "At Aja, we tried to create an International experience which would appeal to all genres who enjoy eating out. We offer highest quality of food that any parent would be happy to feed their children”

About the food I tried:-

1)      Pulled Jackfruit Tacos – One of the best Tacos I have ever had. Highly Recommended

2)      Baked Cauliflower Bombs

3)      Skinny Small Pizza – Crispy Thin Base Pizza with fresh topped vegetables is another Highly recommended dish.

4)      Spinach Humus with Zaftar Flat Bread

5)      Veg Wild Rice Biryani – Made with 5 types of Rice served with curd and sprouts is a new dish i tried for the first time. It tasted good

6)      Singapore Noodle Bowl with coconut flavor

7)      Persian Falooda – Highly Recommended Dish or I should say Star Dish of Aja Café, A must try dish

8)      Chocolate Blueberry Hot Post – Hot chocolate brownie served in glass pot. The taste was very good. The taste would have been much better if served with Ice Cream :P

9)      Fig e Maple Smoothie

10)  Kokum Rose Coconut Cooler

11)  Berry Lush Shake

Overall a great place with calm, vibrant and beautifully built ambiance. The place literally won my heart in terms of ambiance and the concept of healthy food. Highly Recommended place for Diet Conscious and Healthy Food Lover People. Being a Punjabi I didn’t like much dishes but some dishes are really worth try as I mentioned above. The Staff is also very good and friendly

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Aja is 1 stop place if u are looking something to everything healthy, look no further. Aja grilled fresh and healthy, the tag line says it all and boy are they living up to it . Each day , day by day team Aja prepares everything from scratch , in-house with the best of the best ingredients . All in all addition to this they don’t use any corn flour, sugar, filthy syrups and kind of canned products .

The place is located in a busy market place sector 11 , u sure will get a hard time find a parking place . However as u walk in, the place has a very inviting soothing relaxing feel with grey wall, good use of a indoor plants , small Buddha statue with the water falling .

Starting of with my all time favorite and a must order is the vietnamese cold coffee

Prawn, salmon and baked wings platter – the platter looks divine , very less places in the city have salmon included in the menu certainly because of high pricing and less demand . Salmons are rich source of omega 3. With the platter we had 3 kinds of dips all home made with no additives

Green Thai curry with black rice- the only place in Tricity serving black rice , this rice is found in Assam , black rice has antioxidants , vit B & E , black rice is very expensive its about 5oors per kg . its best for people suffering for diabetes , fights cancer , prevents heart attack . The Thai curry was made with no canned Thai curry paste, they make it in house , the coconut use in the curry is proper coconut again not canned .

Slow cooked irish chicken stew with flat rice noodles – this 1 can swoop you off your feet , highly recommended , because its been simering away for long the flavoures are so good , keep on dancing on your taste buds for long , although the dish is served with rice but we had requested them to serve us with noodles which they agreed happily .

Yogurt parfait consisting of home-made yogurt, some blueberries and strawberries and granola bits. Zero sugar , perfect health kick u need for those lazy days .

Almond quinoa kheer – giving the desi dish a healthy makeover , quinoa is rich in fiber and proteins , quinoa is cooked with almond milk sweetened with jaggery .

Keeping with the trend and the depend of the market , aja has now come up with a vegan menu . we also want to specially thank the manager who is really well aware of the menu , the products the restaurant...