Kiara Soul Kitchen — Restaurant in Greater Kailash II

"Woh Sawan chal rha hai na isiliye I finally thought of coming here". I kid you not, these were the exact words that I uttered to the manager/owner of the place when he asked me the whole story behind getting to know of the place😜

Kiara Soul Kitchen is a temporal anomaly. A place like this which caters to only vegetarians and has ample amount of options for Vegan and Gluten free community is not suppose to exist in such a time right?

The place is situated right next to YouMee in the same lanes as the Carnatic Cafe and Yeti. The entrance leads through a door with a lift option available but none of it prepares you for the gorgeous interiors that the place has to offer. Upon entering, we were greeted by the staff and the owner cum manager of the place and got seated at the corner table. We opted for the one with the sofa option. The view from the place was amazing. It was located near a window adorned with money plants and a clear glass to look out of. The lighting was gentle yet bright enough to not cause any vision impairments while browsing through the menu.

Our server was kind enough to guide us through and provide bombs of information about the various dishes present in the menu. It was a real nice experience to discuss dishes, cuisines and ingredients with him; the kind of fun I have only had Amalfi and Karma Kismet💙

Our dinner for the night started with an order of Indonesian Minestrone soup, Kakeage Rolls(Tempura stuffed sushi), Vietnamese Rolls with Spicy peanut dip, Flaky rice croquettes and Sweet potato and pumpkin galette. The soup was the first thing that hit us about the place. Instead of the regular minestrone that is served with Pasta in it, this creation has a base flavour of lemon grass with barley granules in it. The flavour was rich and creamy with a slight freshness of lemon grass coming through to freshen up the palate. Vietnamese rolls were a colourful assortment with sesame base. The rice paper was steamed well but the peanut dip was a bit so so. Too sweet for our liking. Flaky rice croquettes were a modern Indian creation, essentially Poha cutlets served on a base of sweet chilly sauce. The cutlets were soft on the inside and crispy on the outside but the sweet chilly sauce was a weak pairing with it. Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Galette were soft and mildly spiced with a tamarind base at the bottom. The tanginess of the tamarind provided the perfect hit of flavour for the mild galette. Our most enjoyable dish has to be the the Kakeage rolls. The tempura core was crunchy; the sushi was well made and the presentation was very good.

A minor pause to digest this and off we were ordering our dinner. We wanted to try some of the fusion/modern cuisine so we opted for the Gram Flour dumpling in rich yoghurt gravy and Mushroom overload with steamed rice. Gram Flour dumpling was their twist on the traditional rajasthani Gatta. The spicing was very mild, the gatta was soft yet firm and the gravy was not very runny. A good pair with steamed rice. The mushroom overload was a bit of a miss. The mushroom soya patty was well textured and shaped but the entire dish was a bit too dry even after adding the mushroom sauce. The flavours were very mild, almost lacking. The sauted vegetables served with it was a nice crunch though.

Our dessert was the Banana Delight which I enjoyed with a glass of Sangria🍷. The dish was a banana cake creation on a spread of caramelized toffee and little chocolate berries. The banana chips were toasted and placed on top of the cake. The dish was not overly sweet, the nuts in the cake were a nice hit of crunch and the toffee caramel provided a hint of bitterness to elevate the sweet nature of the entire dish.

Our entire meal ended up with a serving of in house palate cleansers and a huge smiles on our faces.

The service was good. The servers were responsive and well versed with the menu and ingredients. Our only piece of concern was the long waiting time between food even though the restaurant traffic...

Throughout our lives, we've desiderated for Non-Veg, but this was an exceptional step that we decided to dine in this alluring restaurant. They claim to be an outlet who can even make non-veg lovers iffy towards their taste. So in this anticipation, we were here to savour our taste buds with some lip-smacking vegetarian food.

An ample amount of parking space in the front gives you easy access to the restaurant. So, as we got snugged into our chairs, we ordered a 5-course meal to avoid getting addled about what to order. Initially, they served us focaccia bread a complimentary dish from the chef. The bread accompanied by hummus and smidgen of tangy salad mixture. Our meal started with Indonesian minestrone soup and this was something which made our day. It was a tomato and veggie soup with a topping of cream on it. Moving a step further our eyes got served with a beautiful glass with salad in it, but don't get tricked so easily...Kiara Flower Pot as it named, was a quinoa salad with cabbage, peanuts and a chilli sauce. Although it sounds tempting, personally was not up to our expectations.

Alongside this, we ordered a Virgin Mojito and Classic Ginger Ale to accompany us till the last bite of our meal. In starters we had 3 dishes which included; Sweet potato & Pumpkin Galette, Steamed Pokchoy Dumplings, and Vietnamese Rolls. The sweet potato was something I wish they could've served us more. You should really try this one out if you love tamarind sauce. The dumplings were not made of ‘Maida’, in fact, they were covered in pok choy, a Chinese cabbage, tasted like as if we were eating boiled veggies covered with spinach. Lastly, the Vietnamese Rolls had a mixture of taste with different veggies rolled up in rice sheets.

This was not enough because we were still left with our main course. We had Bao Bhaji with Coconut Froth and Caramelized Onion, and Organic Black Rice with Paneer Served with Green Thai Curry in our mains. Although our initial dish was a synonym to what we call Pao Bhaji in our street food language, it had different styles of bread which made a different combination with the bhaji. Black Rice was a healthy dish, but the taste was completely different from our staple rice meal. We concluded our meal with Kiara Crisp Apple Crumble in desserts. It was a modernised apple pie with apple ganache and vanilla ice cream. Our overall experience with Kiara was good and will recommend to those who are keen to try something different.

-by...

The culinary experience at Kiara which means God's precious gift started with a JAMUN SLUSH from their special ingredient of the month Jamun. Simple blended jamuns with black salt served in my favourite martini glass was beautifully presented and tasted really good. Another good one was THE CLASSIC GINGERALE . Gingerale mixed with orange juice and lemon juice . Coming to the salad , THE KIARA FLOWER POT was a colourful quinoa based salad layered in a glass flower pot with a coconut based dressing . It was not just a pretty looking salad but tasted great and was high on nutrition . INDONESIAN MINESTRONE SOUP was a hearty and a totally soul comforting soup. Perfectly balanced flavours of minestrone yet with an Indonesian twist with coconut milk. Another signature starter was THE SWEET POTATO AND PUMPKIN GALETTE . Elongated kebabs made of a sweet potato and pumpkin mash presented in individual glasses with tamarind chutney at the bottom was quite innovative. For mains THE RED RICE WITH RED THAI CURRY , the red rice was an absolute delight . It was beautifully cooked , had a bite to it and had excellent Thai flavours. When I was told that GRILLED CAULIFLOWER ROLLS WITH PUMPKIN GRAVY was a take on the gobhi ka paranthas, I really got curious and wanted to try it out. This was a dish where rolls were made out of flour stuffed with cauliflower with a fancy presentation . The pumpkin gravy came in a small glass jar to be dramatically poured on the rolls . The yellow pumpkin gravy was absolutely soothing on the palate but I found the roll covering a bit hard. Dessert was chosen from the second ingredient of the month , AMARANTH ( chulai) . Loving it ,the way amaranth is being promoted these days because it is so high in protein . Ordered the AMARANTH TART WITH RAW MANGO CREAM. The tart looked beautiful , it was made up of amaranth , then a jaggery based sauce was poured in it and finally topped with the mango cream. The signature dessert THE KIARA CRUMBLE is their take on the apple pie.It had thin crisp sheets layered with apples and miso ganache and topped with crushed almonds . Lot of care has been given on the presentation and quality of the food. They also have a high tea menu where you enjoy an array of high tea sandwiches,snacks and desserts. The service was great . When they call themselves a soul kitchen ,it can be seen in most of the food ,it's actually soul comforting . Had a...